if He wants to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all we ask or think, if we can do all things through Him who strengthens us, then why do we experience such frequent failure? Why do we repeat the same mistakes over and over again, often spending years stuck in the same moral or behavioural rut? Why are so many of us dominated by our fear of failure?
Every day thousands of Christians meet with a pastor, counsellor, or therapist seeking help for personal or interpersonal problems. Hundreds of thousands more struggle alone in silence, afraid to expose themselves as "failures," especially within the church.
All of us have past or ongoing internal obstacles in our lives, whether we admit it or not. Frequently, a major cause of these struggles is repeated mistakes or failures we have failed to identify, learn and grow from. Left untended, our failures can cripple us emotionally, spiritually, or relationally.
What we need, says author and counsellor Gary Oliver, is not a pointed finger or condemnation or even a pat of sympathy, but the merciful touch of our just, but loving God, whose eternal perspective on our earthly shortcomings can make all the difference.
How to Get It Right After You've Gotten It Wrong is a book that will help you get your theology of failure back on track.
"Gary Oliver is gifted at balancing personal experience, professional insight, and biblical truth, and coming up with practical guidance for hurting people. To him, no failure is final when we know how to use the tools God has given us. This book not only encourages and instructs, but it also motivates you to want to turn failure into success."
WARREN W. WIERSBE,
Writer-in-Residence, Cornerstone College, Grand Rapids, Michigan
"Since we all experience failures in various areas of our lives, we all need to know how to learn from them. Gary Oliver helps us do just that as he weaves together biblical and clinical examples, personal experiences, and Scripture with honesty, warmth, and humour."
SANDRA WILSON,
Therapist and Author of The World According to Me and Released from Shame
"Gary Oliver tackles a difficult but rarely discussed subject in a way that will impact your thoughts, feelings, and actions. He will help you look at your failures with new eyes and open up a fresh understanding of what it means to be and to become 'more than a conqueror.'"
H. NORMAN WRIGHT,
Speaker, Teacher, and Bestselling Author of Quiet Times for Couples and Always Daddy's Girl
"Gary Oliver has helped me understand, in a fresh way, that instead of fearing failure we can let God use it to mature us in ways that would never be possible otherwise. This is a 'must' book for those who desire to experience the transforming power of difficulties."
RANDY PHILLIPS,
President, Promise Keepers
Gary J. Oliver (M. Div., Talbot Seminary; Ph.D. in Psychology, University of Nebraska) is Clinical Director at Southwest Counselling Associates and visiting associate professor at Denver Seminary. He is the author of Real Men Have Feelings Too and the co-author, with H. Norman Wright, of When Anger Hits Home, Raising Emotionally Healthy Kids, and the "Wonder Woods" picture book series for children ages 4 through 7. He also hosts "Confident Living," a national radio program for men sponsored by Back to the Bible. Gary and his wife Carrie live in Littleton, Colorado, in suburban Denver, with their three sons, Nathan, Matthew, and Andrew.
