When I left my condo in obedience to God's call and moved into an apartment I gave up a lot. Surprisingly one of the things I have missed the most is having my own washer and dryer. Many times you don't realize the significance of something until it's no longer there. The ability to launder one's clothing affects what one wears, which affects self-esteem, etc. The laundry center in my apartment complex was in bad shape. The room itself was dilapidated and the machines rarely worked. Putting your money in a machine was like playing the lottery. Often there were giant mosquitoes and beetles that were attracted to the humidity and had many places to hide in the room.
Even though I desperately needed to do laundry I put it off as long as I could. When I finally went to the laundry center I was shocked. It had been totally remodeled. There was new 
tile and all new washers and dryers. These modern machines actually have the ability to get clothes clean! When I went to the office to get a laundry card (no more quarters, the machines take cards) I learned the laundry center had been updated about 3 weeks prior. 3 weeks! All that time I could have been enjoying the new center and clean laundry but all the past negative experiences had kept me away. I thought about how often we do this in life - miss opportunities because of our past negative experiences.
Most of us can acknowledge we've had many failures; experiences that didn't turn out like we hoped. Maybe it was a relationship, or a business, or a job, or a ministry. Whatever it was those negative experiences, especially those painful ones can make us gun shy. We can't give into fear and avoid doing what we need to do to move forward. Just because you've failed or been hurt in the past doesn't mean it will always be that way. The sooner you get back into the game the sooner you can win the championship.
