Setback or setup?

I am a fan of popular television preacher Joel Osteen. There are countless times that I’ve listened to him speak and he’s said something in a certain way or used an analogy that just clicked with me. The other day, I rushed to jot down 3 separate, inspiring things that he said in the course of one sermon:

• Setbacks might actually be setups. You might get fired from a

position or break up with a significant other. Other examples: bad test results from the doctor or falling back into negative patterns/addictions. These kinds of things feel like setbacks. But they actually might be a setup – setting you up for the next big thing. You won’t always know, but sometimes you will be blessed with the 20/20 hindsight to see that the setback was actually your setup.

• Don’t put a question mark where God put a period. For example, it can be hard to move on from a relationship. But you need to move on when a door has been closed. Don’t keep knocking on it, and certainly don’t kick the door down. It doesn’t help you heal if you keep asking yourself questions like “what could I have done differently?”

• The front windshield is larger than the back one because it’s more important to see where you’re going than where you’ve been. This one floored me. Yes, of course it’s important to see where you’re going. And it’s good to keep in mind where you’ve been. But you shouldn’t let the past dictate the possibilities of your future.