Word Study: Setbacks

At times things seem to be going well for you and you are excelling in several areas of your life. Then suddenly, out of nowhere it seems, you receive a call that changes the entire trajectory of your life. It is a setback! Some setbacks have the potential of throwing us off course for a short time, while other setbacks leave us reeling from its devastating effects for an extended period of time.  

Setbacks are defined as adverse events which delays or prevents progress towards a desired outcome. We all face setbacks at numerous points in our lives. They can be in our careers or in our various relationships. While having setbacks are quite common, it is in dealing with them that we find areas of difficulties. 

Learning from our setbacks should be our goal. Avoiding or ignoring them altogether will prevent us from stepping back and assessing the situation to see what went wrong and where we can improve upon the next time. Setbacks are a part of life, and if we are not careful, a minor setback can cost us a lot of time and lost productivity. Taking ownership of our mistake, if we are at fault, and not spending time blaming ourselves will get us on the road to recovery from our setbacks. We must also allow ourselves time for wounds and broken hearts to mend and heal.  

Some setbacks are minor, and we overcome them quickly. But some setbacks can have a devastating impact on our lives, and we may resort to some coping mechanisms which are not beneficial but rather quite detrimental to us. When we experience setbacks, emotions come into play and sometimes we cannot look at the situation objectively because our emotions prevent us from seeing the situation with clarity. 

When we have setbacks, we tend to feel like a failure, but even the most successful people experience setbacks. If you were to ask a relatively successful person how they achieved their success, they will undoubtedly tell you that they had several setbacks along the way but they did not allow the setbacks to stop them. Rather they used them as building blocks to their success.  

We must remember that a setback is not necessarily a failure, but it can be used as a learning moment. Let us lean and depend upon the Lord to help us overcome our setbacks and use them to help us to improve the next time!