Thirteen years ago today, I was officially unemployed. It had been coming for several months, so it wasn’t a surprise, but March 1st was my first day without a job. It’s a long story, but within a week I had a new job.

My new job was with a start-up company. The circumstances leading up to my new position led me to believe God had provided this great opportunity. And it looked like it was going to be a very successful business…at first. It wasn’t long before I was no longer being paid.

Because I believed God had led me to the position and because it would have felt like a lack of faith to quit, I used what little money we had saved for the future to live on. I didn’t want to get out right before we hit it big, so I stayed in as long as I could.

Nine months after I started, the owner and I sat down over lunch at a Mexican restaurant and concluded the start-up didn’t quite start. It coughed. It sputtered. But it never started. It failed. We failed.

So in January of 1997, I again found myself unemployed. Only this time I was also disillusioned. What I was sure had been God’s will for me hadn’t worked. I’d stepped out in faith, gone through what savings we had…and had nothing to show for it.

I had no Plan B. The start-up company had been Plan B. And Plan B had blown up in my face.

My disillusionment turned to anger. Anger became bitterness. Then I became cynical. It took me a long time to recover.

So where did I go wrong?

My biggest mistake was assuming that my definition of success was the same as God’s. It wasn’t. God’s goals include growing my character and faith, revealing Himself to a watching world and gaining glory for Himself. My goal was financial success and comfort. Those goals are incompatible.

The next time you find yourself in a situation that looks like failure, when your Plan B or even Plan C or D has failed…check your goals. Are they compatible with God’s goals?

The failure of Plan B may be just what God wanted to use to grow your faith and character, to reveal Himself and to be glorified through your life. Resist the temptation to get angry and question God’s goodness. Choose to trust and seek Him instead.

It’s never failure if God’s goals are being accomplished.