From Setback to Success

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A New Day eDevotional

From Setback to Success

Romans 5:3-4, “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope.”

In 1965 a financially struggling divorced mother of two found a classified ad offering a restaurant for sale. Ignoring the advice of her banker and lawyer, she mortgaged her house to purchase the restaurant. It was the original Chris Steak House in New Orleans. The business had been sold six times previously, failing each time. She knew nothing of the restaurant business, but taught herself how to butcher steak. At just five-foot-two and 110-pounds, she would saw up 30-pounds of short loins by hand until she could afford an electric band saw. She became renowned for hiring single mothers for her staff, knowing that they, like herself, would be reliable. In 1976 a fire forced her to relocate. Under the original purchase agreement, though, the name “Chris Steak House” could not be used at any other location, and she did not want to lose customers already familiar with the Chris name. So Ruth Fertel decided to use her first name ahead of “Chris Steak House.” Her attorney thoroughly researched the issue and confirmed that she could do so without violating her original purchase agreement. So “Ruth’s Chris Steak House” was born. In 1977 the restaurant began to be franchised. It is now the largest luxury steak house in the country with 136 locations. Ruth Fertel refused to allow setbacks in her life to keep her from not only providing for her family, but from achieving the pinnacle of business success. It is the struggle that produces strength.

We can be victims if we choose to be. Each of us experiences our own measure of adversity. The key is how we respond to unfavorable circumstances. Choose today to be an overcomer. Like Ruth Fertel, we can all begin where we are now, and use hardship as a motivating factor in propelling us from our present plight, into the bright future of hope and success, that begins now, with this new day.