After a setback you can live ‘Like it never happened’

A friend who lives in a distant city told me that she saw a water and fire restoration company truck driving around her town with the logo, “Like it never happened,” emblazoned on its side.

She loved the promise of that slogan, she said. It implied that a water pipe may burst in your house and cause extensive damage, but they could clean up the mess, restore your house, and have you living “like it never happened.”

“Wouldn’t this be a nice way to live our life?” she went on to note. “That after something bad happens to us, we could bounce out of the misfortune, leave it behind, find our peace and live like it never happened?”

“Yes!” I agreed. “That would be marvelous.”

But how is it possible? I wondered.

As I considered the possibility, I remembered a poor investment decision I made years ago. What appeared to be a very promising investment never showed a return, and I lost a lot of money that I’d never see again. It hurt.

At first, I was critical of myself and depressed about my past decision. But I soon realized that this was not a healthy way to live and carry forward. I needed to let it go. But how?

In praying for peace of mind, I decided that to move past the feeling of loss I needed to improve my understanding of real wealth.

I had been measuring my wealth monetarily, and now that I had less money, I felt poorer and unhappier. I knew from my spiritual studies, though, that real wealth is spiritual, coming from God, an all-knowing, all-wise mind, that gives us the enduring assets of wisdom, intelligence, and creative ideas to act on and benefit from.

I had not lost this wealth.

To improve my outlook, I stopped dwelling on the temporal loss of money and started dwelling on my immortal riches coming from God. I saw wealth in spirit-terms, rather than dollar-terms, and knew that everything I needed to prosper was coming freely and abundantly to me from my spiritual source without limit.

I started to feel wealthy again!

My hope was restored, and over time, all was well. I had the money I needed, plus I became a wiser investor! Loss was turned into gain, and I was able to live “like it never happened.”

The Psalmist wrote, “I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me … . Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name” (Psalm 30:1, 4 NLT).

The substance we have coming from God is eternal. It is spiritual and never lost. It is always present to bless us.

A water pipe may burst in our house and cause disaster or a poor financial decision may lead to a loss of money, but if we can see past the temporal loss to our eternal substance with God, we can move past that misfortune to spiritual gain.

We can leave it behind and live like it never happened.