When Losing Hurts

TeenPact National Elections are right around the corner. This has given me nearly a year to reflect on my own experience with the election process.

Wow. What a journey. Over a year ago, I had decided that running for President would be an adventure and a challenge that God wanted me to boldly embrace. My running mate and friend, Sicily Holmes, and I had embarked on this journey to pursue God, utilizing this platform to share what God was teaching us. Through my experiences, I learned many things and among these things were how to be a better follower of Christ, a better lover of people, and better friend.
We did not receive our party’s nomination to move onto the general election.

In short, we lost.

Not everything about the election process is supposed to be easy—by the very nature of it, someone must lose. I get that, but it hurts when you see something that you’ve worked tirelessly for not work out. I had a lot of questions. What could I have done differently? Why did God instill in me a passion to share if I was destined to lose? Why did it have to hurt so much?

Today, I still do not have the answers to all my questions. Here is what I do know: God used what I considered failure and turned it into something that is far beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I learned what it really means and looks like to pursue God in everything. I learned that friendship is not based off merit or accomplishment or likability, but love – love that was consistently shown to me by people I interacted with throughout the campaign process. I learned that when I embark on a journey such as this, I am not alone. My family and friends gave unwavering support, always reminding Sicily and me of what truly matters.

For those who are running this year: Know that this process is not for the faint of heart. It will challenge you in ways that you’ve never been challenged before, but it is worth far more than you can imagine. Prepare yourselves for success, but also prepare yourselves for failure. Wherever your decisions take you, check your course, always looking back to the fixed point that remains unchanging: Jesus Christ. Plot your course, seek His direction for your life so that you can glorify Him in everything. So that we can glorify Him in everything.

“I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me.”

Psalm 119:19