How do we become successful at what we do?

The first singing competition I ever entered I came 12th. I was so gutted that I refused to enter the following year! It took me a long time to feel confident to sing again. I eventually decided to having some singing lessons and spent a term at school getting my grade 7 voice exam.

Since then I have had plenty of good gigs (and my fair share of bad ones.)

So what makes me carry on and keep singing anyway?
Partly I can’t help it! It is part of my DNA! I love it and it comes naturally to me to sing.
Secondly, I believe that sometimes something happens to other people when I sing. It can unlock certain emotions, feelings and allow God to do something in their lives. This belief keeps me singing.
I know I am not the best musician or the best singer in the world. But I know that I carry the presence of God in my heart and this comes out of my mouth – albeit in my failings as well as my triumphs as a musician.

Job 11: 15 declares “…you will lift up your face without shame.”

My bible reading notes the other day contained this helpful paragraph:

“Many of the world’s most successful people were at one time considered to be failures. A banker in Iowa laughed and told Alexander Graham Bell to remove that ‘toy’ from his office. The toy he referred to was the telephone. Talk about missing an investment opportunity! A movie producer once scrawled ‘reject’ on the screenplay of Gone with the Wind. In 1906, the man who was Henry Ford’s greatest investor asked that his stock be sold because he didn’t believe the company would go anywhere. Imagine living with that memory! Mr Roebuck sold his part of the Sears and Roebuck Company for $25,000 because he said it would ‘never fly’ But it did, and in its heyday it was selling $4,000 worth of goods every second. Understand this: you have everything every winner in history had – plus God. The God of the Red Sea, the lion’s den and the walls of Jericho is your God! So get your eyes out of the rear-view mirror and start looking ahead. Celebrate the fact that you survived. The devil may have tried to destroy you, but the good news is that he failed. In spite of all you’ve been through you’re a walking, talking, living, breathing miracle of God’s grace. He must have kept you around for a reason, so find out what it is and pour your life into it. You say, ‘I’ve got more troubles than Job.’ Maybe, but Job trusted God and came out on top! His book reads, ‘If you devote your heart to [God]…you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear.'”

Be a success today! Tap into what God has told you to do and stand firm without fear!