Episode 15 - When Surrender Feels Like Failure
Show Notes:
Summary
What do you do when the life you built starts falling apart — and you cannot fix it?
In this episode of Glory & Grit, Stephanie talks with W. Bruce Cameron about a season that shook his marriage, work, identity, and sense of control all at once. After 25 years of marriage, Bruce’s wife wanted a different life, and not long after, he also lost his job. As someone who had always been a doer, provider, and problem-solver, Bruce found himself in a place where grit and resilience were no longer enough.
Bruce shares the moment he pulled into a roadside park while listening to “Jesus Take the Wheel,” sobbed, and realized that although nothing in his circumstances had changed yet, something inside him had. He could breathe again. Hope had returned.
This conversation is about surrender, but not as a passive or polished idea. Bruce talks about surrender as a daily practice of trusting God, asking for help, opening the bills, making the hard phone calls, rebuilding with his children, and learning to wait on the Lord.
If surrender has ever felt like failure to you, this episode is a reminder that releasing control is not the end of the story. It may be where God begins showing you another way.
About W. Bruce Cameron Contact
Contact Info:
Phone: 312-952-9952
Book Title: Fragments to Freedom available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble
Bio
W. Bruce Cameron is a motivational speaker, author, and leadership coach committed to helping people transform adversity into purpose and possibility. Drawing from a deeply personal journey marked by loss, reinvention, and resilience, Bruce speaks with authenticity about surrender, growth, positivity, and second chances. His message challenges audiences to move beyond fear, self-doubt, and limitation in pursuit of a more meaningful and connected life.
Bruce began his career working with emotionally disturbed teenagers in both residential treatment and classroom settings, experiences that deeply shaped his understanding of human behavior, emotional resilience, and personal transformation. Today, he delivers impactful keynotes for schools, organizations, leadership teams, and conferences on topics including mindset, emotional wellness, navigating change, and purpose-driven leadership.
A speaker at Harvard and a certified positivity coach through Jon Gordon’s program, Bruce is known for speaking on the transformative power of surrender — not as weakness, but as the courageous decision to release control, embrace truth, and step fully into growth. He is also the creator of a unique approach to Heart Led Leadership, using emotional stacking as a modern leadership framework centered on authenticity, emotional intelligence, human connection, and leading with both accountability and compassion. Bruce is the author of "Fragments to Freedom," a powerful exploration of healing, identity, and the courage to begin again.
Key Topics
When life falls apart after years of building and providing
Marriage ending after 25 years
Job loss, fear, and identity being shaken
The difference between surrender and giving up
The roadside moment when Bruce heard “Jesus Take the Wheel”
Finding breath and hope before circumstances change
Asking for help and taking practical next steps
Rebuilding family relationships after loss
Learning to wait on God
Why surrender is a daily practice, not a one-time decision
Practicing faith in the good times so it is there in the hard times
Takeaways
Surrender is not failure. It is releasing control back to God.
God may give peace before He changes the circumstance. Sometimes the first miracle is being able to breathe again.
Surrender does not mean doing nothing. It can give us courage to take the next hard step.
Waiting on God is active trust. It requires faith, patience, and openness to His timing.
God can rebuild more than we know how to ask for. Bruce’s story includes restored purpose, deeper family bonds, and a stronger relationship with God.
Faith is practiced before crisis. Trust built in good times can help carry us through hard times...
Transcript:
Stephanie (00:01)
Welcome back to Glory and Grid, where faith meets real life. I'm Stephanie, and I'm so grateful that you're here because today's conversation is with W. Bruce Cameron, and we're talking about surrender, especially when surrender feels more like failure than faith. Bruce walks us through a season where so much of what he had built was shaken all at the same time. His marriage, his work, his role as a provider, his sense of control.
After 25 years of marriage, his wife wanted a different life. Then, when he was already carrying the weight of that loss, he also lost his job. And for someone who had always been a doer, a problem solver, ⁓ and you know, there's always another way kind of person. This season brought him to a place where he couldn't fix anything any longer or force or figure his way out through it, right? But in that place, God began teaching Bruce that surrender was not failure, it was not quitting.
It was learning to release what he couldn't carry and then trust God with what he couldn't control. So if you are tired of trying to hold it all together, and if surrender has felt more like failure for you.
I pray that this conversation reminds you that God can still meet you in the middle of whatever's not fixed yet. Here is my conversation with W. Bruce Cameron.
Stephanie (01:58)
we'd like to welcome you to Glory and Grit. We're very glad to have you here with us today. When we talked during our pre-interview, one phrase that kept standing out was surrender feels like failure.
William Bruce Cameron (02:04)
Thank you. I'm very glad to be here.
Stephanie (02:17)
your story walks through a season where you have already built a lot. Your marriage, your work, your sense of identity, and that was all shaken at the same time. But but what I heard in your testimony wasn't just your loss. I also heard God teaching you how to release what you couldn't fix and to trust in Him when nothing was resolved. And
William Bruce Cameron (02:29)
Yeah.
Stephanie (02:44)
to discover that surrender was not the end of your story. So I kind of want to start there today. For someone who hasn't heard your story before, can you take us back to that season when your life stopped going according to your plans?
William Bruce Cameron (03:06)
Yeah, I noticed ⁓ my body, ⁓ Stephanie, when you said, Can you take us back? I mean I found myself involuntarily taking a deep breath. ⁓ because it it it was ⁓ it was a big moment in my life. It was a ⁓ it was all life altering. It it so I was married twenty five years, two beautiful kids, two beautiful dogs, two beautiful homes. And ⁓ wi without blame or pretext or anything else, that marriage came to an end. ⁓ my w my wife decided that she wanted a different life and it was a life without us.
The blow. And I know that your listeners know that. They've felt it whether they've gone through something like that themselves or or something similar. The the punch in the chest of that, where I'm a doer, or in the past I've been a doer. So I could work my way out of it. I was that keep going guy and find solutions. One of the my favorite ⁓
Stephanie (04:16)
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (04:30)
quotes to my kids is there's always another way. And at that point, there was no other way. I d I didn't see what I could do differently, what I could say differently, what I could fix. There were I didn't I I was at a loss. The r the resilience was gone, the grit was over.
And so I was driving home from work one day, and as as I was going through this, and the song Jesus Take Wheel came on, and I know how cheesy that sounds, but I bet she's gotten a lot. I bet Carrie Underwood has gotten a lot of comments similar to this, because it spoke exactly to where I was. And I was able to pull off the road into a little roadside park.
Stephanie (05:16)
I bet.
William Bruce Cameron (05:28)
And
I didn't cry. I sobbed. I I because I didn't I was afraid. I and I was at a loss. ⁓ because I'd always been able to figure a way. out, around, up, down, through, and I just didn't have another, I just didn't see another way. And Jesus Take Wheel was the most appropriate message that I could have heard from God at that time. And
I felt
The ability to breathe for the first time in a few months. Yeah, you don't know that you're not breathing. I mean, you are because you're still alive. But I didn't I didn't know that I was able to breathe in this something. There's this time when you finally take a breath, when your shoulders relax and ⁓ your blood pressure goes down and you
Stephanie (06:14)
Yeah. ⁓
William Bruce Cameron (06:32)
finally able to center and and detraumatize, if that's even a word, your nervous system a little bit and become stable. And i this isn't a a miracle story ⁓ in a sense, because nothing changed. I mean the marriage was still coming to an end. I had two mortgages, car payments
Stephanie (06:41)
Mm.
Mm.
William Bruce Cameron (07:01)
kids to get into middle school and high school and help them through the trauma, ⁓ you know, dogs to look after and and job a job to go to and bills to pay. And on top of that, ⁓ you know, within the next week or so, I I don't quite remember when, I lost my job because, you know, my my ⁓ employer had said, you know, Bruce, you're wearing your heart on your sleeve and
you're affecting the the attitudes and and personalities of other people. So it actually got worse before it got better. ⁓ but that one breath
Stephanie, it gave me hope, I think. I think he gave me hope that there was
Stephanie (07:48)
Mm.
William Bruce Cameron (07:53)
It it and it wasn't failure. I learned through the process we're taught that surrender is bad, that it's failure, that it's giving up, that it's you know, you're not enough, you're you're a bad husband, you're a bad dad, w whatever those things that we those voices in our heads tell us. And ⁓
I learned through the process that it's not that actually. Because I was able to take a breath and I was able to s somehow just get that l that light to be able to come in that crack, I was able to garner some hope. And I was able to turn it over to God. Not all at once. ⁓ that's a tough thing to do. ⁓ but I believe it is the thing.
Stephanie (08:38)
Mm. Yeah.
William Bruce Cameron (08:46)
to do. It's it's like there's this paradox. Surrender is failure, but surrender is really success. It's how we you know we we bandy that phase that that phrase ⁓ you know ⁓ what is it ⁓ let go and let god and it you know you see it as a bumper sticker but it is I know but it is so
Stephanie (09:05)
Yes.
I say it often.
William Bruce Cameron (09:15)
True. He is so much bigger than we are, and he and he has such a bigger plan. And if we can let it go, ⁓ I once had a a friend, she's she's Catholic, and she was kind enough to send me a novella. It's a nine-day
Novella, I guess that's what novella means, on on surrender. And one of them makes me laugh because it's this day and it says, you know, it's God talking to you, and he says, or Jesus, whichever. And he says, Look, I know you want to give it to me, but then but you're like little kids.
Who wanna take it back. Say you because you say, Okay, would you fix this for me? But I want you to fix it this way. As if we know the best way. And I'm laughing because that's what I'm guilty of, you know, is right, right. Like, sure, do it, but I'm not sure you understand God exactly you know about this and how you should do this.
Stephanie (10:05)
Right. Right.
Right. We all are.
You don't know about this part, so let me tell you about this particular
part.
William Bruce Cameron (10:27)
Let me just let me
just let you straight. Let me just give you the whole story. And I think if you do this, this is gonna work out much better. So I d I tend to believe he has a tremendous sense of humor. Like like okay, sure, sure. So it's it's this idea that it's a practice. It's a muscle. That's what I've learned. It's a muscle that you have to develop. I do it daily, several times a day, and and ⁓
Stephanie (10:33)
Much better. Much better.
he has to. He has to.
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (10:57)
You know, just say, Okay, thy will be done. That's you know, you take care of it. And I'll give it to you. And what you d what I found in my journey with that is that
Stephanie (11:01)
Mm-hmm.
Awesome.
William Bruce Cameron (11:14)
That's where trust comes from. And with trust comes faith, ⁓ because that's the only way to do surrender. Because if you're giving it up, right, you're you're saying, okay, I'm gonna trust that you're not gonna screw this up, God. Any more any more than I already have. And
Stephanie (11:16)
Mm.
I'm gonna trust that you can do it better than I can.
William Bruce Cameron (11:43)
And so, but with that trust, that's when things start to open up. And for me, it wasn't things that open up that you say, ⁓ Eureka, here we go. It was a confidence ⁓ in your despair, in your tragedy. I had been afraid to call the bank, to call the credit card companies, to call the mortgage companies, and say,
I need help. And somewhere in there I give credit to God to giving me that little bit of courage.
To that 20 seconds of courage to make the call. You know how it hey often in the movies, and I know I did it, so I know other people have done this too, is when the bill comes in that you don't have the money to pay, for some strange reason we don't even open it. You know, and it goes in the pile and it goes over here like it's I don't know, like it's magically gonna go away. It's the dumbest thing in the world, right? But
Stephanie (12:42)
I don't know.
William Bruce Cameron (12:52)
I know I did it, so I know other people do it as well. And I see it in the movies, right? So it's it's i but what he gave me
Stephanie (12:53)
Yeah, yeah, I did it too.
William Bruce Cameron (13:04)
Was the trust to make the call?
Stephanie (13:07)
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (13:10)
They helped me. ⁓ you know, they reduced interest rates or they eliminated interest rates and or they reduced payments or they skipped payments or they helped me. And with that help came
Another little boost of of confidence. And these were practical things that I did and that I believe he he did through me to to help me get myself back on my feet. And it it may sound small to your listeners, but it was
Stephanie (13:28)
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (13:44)
It was huge for me. And it was only in looking back all the things that happened through that journey. For instance, because I'd lost my job, I was now able to take what I was really good at and passionate about, which is is customer service and hospitality and and helping develop ⁓ positive cultures within organizations. And I was able to start my own company, ⁓ Frontline Marketing, which I ended up having for fifteen years.
Stephanie (13:45)
Hm.
Mm.
William Bruce Cameron (14:14)
And I got my first clients and they were throughout that fifteen years they were referrals. So they they it brought in income. And because it was my own company, I was able to travel to my parents who were elderly and help them transition them into that next stage ⁓ of their life and be with them when they when they finally passed.
Stephanie (14:36)
Mm.
William Bruce Cameron (14:43)
the the the relationship that I have with my son and daughter is is I I call it the best gig I've ever had. And before that it was good. I was a good dad. I think I was a good dad. I'm a great dad now because of them. And it's not bragging, it's because I was concerned for them and
Stephanie (14:54)
Right. Okay.
Mm.
William Bruce Cameron (15:09)
in our lives together, we ended up getting tattoos, the same tattoo on the same day. Different places, but ⁓ and it was my daughter that came up with that. That we were in this together. We were we're a f we became a stronger family unit. And this is nothing about my wife. It it's what happened for us. And to this day we talk, you know, weekly ⁓ at least.
Stephanie (15:14)
Mm.
Right.
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (15:39)
if not more often and I give that credit to him because he opened up things that I hadn't even thought about. because up until that point my job was to be a provider. That's what I did. And that was I was responsible for that. And it that didn't change. I I was still obviously a provider. But it was but he gave me a new perspective.
Stephanie (15:52)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (16:06)
He just allowed me to look at the reality that I was in from a slightly different angle. And by being able to do that, I was able to allow other things into my life. I was able to help my son as and and my daughter as we all authentically moved through this time in our life to find a different space, a different way of living.
Stephanie (16:31)
Right.
William Bruce Cameron (16:36)
ultimately a forgiveness for ourselves and ⁓ and for my wife and their mom. So it became this when you look back and connect the dots, that's what he was able to do. And and I wouldn't have been able to to do that without him.
Stephanie (16:42)
Right.
Right, right. I love the story about the tattoos, you and your kids getting the same tattoos. That is such a bonding thing when people do that together. When you look back now, what did God rebuild that you couldn't have planned for yourself?
William Bruce Cameron (17:21)
The the first thing that comes to my mind is my relationship with him. I was that guy that grew up in the church. You know, I went to Sunday school. I d got the attendance pins and you know, was in, you know, the church group and all church camp and all those things. But it was at a level that
Stephanie (17:32)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
William Bruce Cameron (17:50)
wouldn't have changed, I don't think. It would have continued throughout my life like that, taking my kids to having them go to Sunday school, which we did. It but it wouldn't have had the depth that it has now. It took me on a whole different journey to to find out, okay, who is this really? And who and what is my purpose here? And not
I don't want to say it as an going to church and being involved as a nice to-do, but it's the best way I can describe I think how I was moving through it. Because, you know, I'm a privileged white guy that was making, you know, I not that I didn't have challenges, but I was having a normal white guy's life. And it
Stephanie (18:25)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (18:52)
This took it deeper. This took it to, okay, what is this li one life that we're given that we know of? What is it really about? What is it why are why are we really here? and I b believe now that it is to
become as close to him in this mortal body as we possibly can. How much of that can I experience in this reality, however we got here? ⁓ and and that I don't know that I would have done without that challenge.
Stephanie (19:18)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Mm. When
If we have some say one of our listeners is feeling that surrender feels like a failure, that it means they failed. In their mind they're thinking that. What could you say to them to help encourage them to look at it differently? That surrender is not failure.
William Bruce Cameron (20:01)
Maybe i maybe this story. If you can imagine yourself in a boat and you're rowing upstream, ⁓ so against the current, and you've got to be careful because the current's gonna move you one way or the other. So you're very con you're very focused on your rowing. And ⁓ you're fighting the current and you're moving upstream.
Stephanie (20:15)
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (20:27)
And because you're focused on that, you're not looking around. You're you're completely focused on trying to move upstream. But all of a sudden, you lift for whatever reason you you lift your oars out of the water and the bow of the boat turns and you begin going with the current.
And so there's fast parts and there's slow parts and there's eddies and but all of a sudden what you begin to see is ⁓ wait a minute, there's other tributaries that you could take or there's other
There's there's trees, there's there's there's the sunshine, there's the warmth of the sun, there's there's the breeze, there's all of these things that are surrounding you. And what it does, I think, when you surrender is it opens up your imagination. Because when you're only focused on one thing and the goal is to get up the river.
Then that's then the only thing you see you're is you have blinders on. The only thing you see is rowing. And as hard as that becomes, you say, I have to keep rowing. And so even with blisters on your hands and tired, and because you know if you stop that you're not going to reach the goal that you've set for yourself. What surrender does
Stephanie (21:48)
Exactly.
William Bruce Cameron (21:51)
Is it's not failure, it's not giving up. In fact, as we started the our conversation together, it's exactly the opposite. It instead opens up this whole vista. It doesn't give up the goal that you're trying to get. I am still a provider, that's who I am, and I've become a better provider. But
Stephanie (22:09)
Right.
William Bruce Cameron (22:13)
What it did was open my imagination. It's because there's a lot of different ways to reach your goal. And surrender allows you to breathe. It allows you to think, ⁓ there's always another way.
But now I can start begin to see what those other ways might be. Maybe it's, you know, taking the boat to the shore and walking up, or maybe it's yeah, i I we're not gonna go into that, but it's this idea that traveling with the current will take you to your goal. ⁓ and and in a much more joyful, creative, exciting, loving,
Stephanie (22:32)
Mm.
Yes.
William Bruce Cameron (23:00)
Thought process of possibility. But if you don't surrender, then you don't give yourself the opportunity to see another way. That's give yourself grace or accept grace, whatever's the right way to say that, I don't know. But give yourself the gra th the grace of compassion. It's not that you're not doing your best, it's in fact finding a different level of what your best is. Victor Frankel, ⁓
Stephanie (23:07)
Right.
William Bruce Cameron (23:30)
You know, the guy that wrote Man Search the Meaning when he was in the Holocaust camp. That's what he did. He he said, Okay, everybody is being tortured, starved, punished, killed.
Stephanie (23:37)
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (23:51)
That's the reality. And it is, and it was. But somehow he was able to take a look at that and say
I don't have to go this way. I have the opportunity to surrender and find a different way. And in his book, Man Search to Meaning, he says, and that made all the difference. Because I was able to surrender, I was able to see good in the guards. I was able to see possibility and kindness in the fellow.
prisoners. ⁓ I was able to see kindness as people shared what little they had. And it was in that moment of surrender and and being open to that rather than the tragedy of what looked like was gonna be ultimate
outcome of this thing, he was able to see a different possibility. And that gave him hope. And with hope, there's another way. There's and and so you know those are those are two examples of
Stephanie (25:02)
Hmm.
Right.
William Bruce Cameron (25:21)
We created the definition around surrender. God didn't do that. We made up the word surrender. And we're the ones that said surrender's bad, surrender's failure.
Stephanie (25:24)
Mm.
William Bruce Cameron (25:32)
We gave ourselves that definition. We just need to twist the way we think of the word.
Surrender is life-giving. Surrender is allowing life, God to show up and show us all the wonderful opportunities that we have. That's what we're surrendering to. We're surrendering to life. We're surrendering to the gift, the maker that you know is so far beyond this little time that we've got.
So although it takes practice, although it takes it'll take some of us, me, longer than other people to achieve it, surrender gives us is actually what we're supposed to be doing. It we just mo monkeyed with it.
Stephanie (26:17)
Right,
right. I remember us talking about that word in the pre-interview and how I've definitely gotta do an episode about that about that word surrender. And now I wanna know what does just wait mean for you right now?
William Bruce Cameron (26:37)
man, it has been such fun. It has been such fun. I we did, and it's this whole idea that I had a dream, and I believe it's God. Couldn't tell you what he looks like or anything, but he's in my face in the dream, and he's saying, just wait. And it's and I'm laughing now.
Stephanie (26:45)
We talked about that during the pre-interview.
Mm-hmm.
Ha ha
William Bruce Cameron (27:06)
So I'm laughing in the dream because he's not admonishing me, although he's saying, Will you just wait? And so I wake up laughing and I don't know what the thing means. And you know, I had the ⁓ and I had a I have a men's support group and I told them of the story and one of the guys made me a hat that that ⁓ says just wait. Says just wait on it. And and so I was
Stephanie (27:13)
Right, right.
There it is.
William Bruce Cameron (27:36)
Then
I feed these Catholic missionary kids that give up give up that spend a year of their life in in college helping ⁓ the homeless and ministering to the homeless and they depend on people to help feed them and and house them. So I was overfeeding them and I said, Okay, let me tell you this story about just wait. And so I tell them the story. And I say, So what do you think it means? So I love the first guy. He raises his hand and I and he says, Well,
Stephanie (27:49)
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (28:08)
It means just wait. And so I'm laughing because I'm the overthinker, right? And here's this guy is saying, can't get much clearer than that. Just wait. ⁓ so had fun with that. Another girl said, well, here's what I think it means. I think it means just wait. You're not gonna believe what I've got for you.
Stephanie (28:15)
Ha ha ha.
That
Yeah.
William Bruce Cameron (28:35)
And heaven is gonna be such a wonderful place for you to be. And I I can't wait. So just wait until you see this. So she took that bent. And then there was another guy that said
Stephanie (28:44)
Right.
William Bruce Cameron (28:48)
Just weight to me means that
If you will just wait on me, I'm going to give you the answers that you've been looking for, the opportunities that you've been seeking, the people, the love that you've been wanting to have, the abundance that you've prayed for. But you've got to just wait and you've got to trust the process. So isn't that fun?
Stephanie (29:03)
Mm.
That is, I am forever going to remember that phrase, just wait.
William Bruce Cameron (29:27)
So
If we've got time, I got an an actual example of just weight coming into being. All right. So, just wait. And it's two days before Memorial Day weekend, so it's pretty close. And I have this opportunity. Guy calls me and he says, I've got some land, and do you want to come see it?
Stephanie (29:32)
thank you for sharing that. I do have time.
William Bruce Cameron (29:59)
I just wait and I and I pray about it and I talk to a a couple of people that called in and I said, What do you think this means? And so I got them to their input. So I flew to see this this land. ⁓ and I bought it.
So I want to build a community and I've wanted to build a tiny home community. So I was able to
buy this land. I don't know where the money's coming from, by the way. But so I but I have enough for the down payment.
Stephanie (30:29)
Yeah.
William Bruce Cameron (30:34)
And I said, but the other th so you have to take action,
But I said before you take action, you have to just wait. Because what you're waiting for, after you've dreamed it, after you've felt the emotions of what it's gonna like be like to have it come into existence, you have to just wait for the opportunity.
Stephanie (30:58)
Mm.
William Bruce Cameron (30:59)
And this is what I'm trying to get to. The opportunity didn't exist until two days before I flew down there. And then after you just wait and and be open to the opportunity appearing, then you leap. So just wait. I got to add, and then you leap. Because there's a courage.
That follows just waiting. Because we can't just wait forever. Well, I guess we can. But I think the message was for me, because it was to me, it was really divinely inspired, Stephanie. That God opened this up for me. Just wait. I'm bringing you this opportunity. Be o surrender to me so that I can show it to you. So you're available to see it.
Stephanie (31:31)
Right. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (31:56)
And then you leap.
Stephanie (31:57)
I love that.
William Bruce Cameron (31:59)
Yeah? I'm so glad you like it. Because it made all the sense in the world to me. Like, At least in this case, that's what it means. Wait until it's right for you, make sense for you, and then follow your intuition. Because I'm behind that intuition.
Stephanie (32:01)
Not it. I didn't.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Love that, love that. Well, Bruce, before we close, I definitely want to make sure we get to talk about your book and what you what was birthed out of your ex your season of going through all of that. How do we contact you? How do we find out about it? What's happening? All the details.
William Bruce Cameron (32:42)
Well, the book is called Fragments to Freedom. Thanks for asking about it, by the way. It was published last month. I the biggest thing about it, Stephanie, was in the writing of it myself. And if you're an author or if you have authors that are listening to this, it's gonna resonate with them because as the book is totally different than the original the the original manuscript that I wrote.
Stephanie (32:47)
Yes.
⁓
William Bruce Cameron (33:09)
And when I go back and look at it, I'm I really think it was divinely inspired. I really do because I know I wrote it. I mean I did. I wrote it. ⁓ but it's it follows
Stephanie (33:18)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah.
William Bruce Cameron (33:29)
The premise is this.
If you had the opportunity to become a blank slate, meaning you don't remember your past, you don't know your name and y you don't carry any of the the baggage, both the good and the bad, would you take it? And so it follows this gentleman who wakes up in a field below a mountain that wakes up as a blank slate.
Stephanie (33:40)
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (33:59)
And through his journey and the choices that he makes, he is f he is encouraged to ask himself that question. Do I continue where I am from here or do I spend time looking at my past and going back? And it doesn't offer a conclusion, but it offers a message.
Stephanie (34:11)
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
William Bruce Cameron (34:28)
that the reader is gonna have to look for. It's a little Easter egg in there, ⁓ but I think it is the purpose of the book. But it also offers these eight reflection questions that encourage book clubs or church groups or leadership teams to ask these reflection questions about what is the value of your past?
And what is the value of being a blank slate and starting fresh and starting free? One of the questions in a Stephanie is if you woke up tomorrow as a blank slate, what are two things that you would most miss ⁓ from your from the history of your life? And so it just encourages people to have a conver to stop, to slow down.
Stephanie (35:13)
Yeah.
William Bruce Cameron (35:22)
And to reflect on the life that they've got and how they want to live the next portion of their lives. It's available on Amazon. I'm excited to say it's globally. Nice, yeah. At least I know about some sales that I've had in Canada as well. So it's and it's also at Barnes and Noble. And ⁓ yeah, I'd love for you.
Stephanie (35:32)
Yay! Congratulations!
William Bruce Cameron (35:48)
For your listeners to pick it up. It's a short book. It's I think it's only about forty-eight pages. But yeah, it was a joy to write because I ended up having to do the process myself. New Year's.
Stephanie (36:00)
Mm.
Mm. Yes.
William Bruce Cameron (36:03)
That is a beginning. ⁓
birthdays. That's a new beginning. in in religion, it's that idea of becoming born again. all of these are blank slate moments that I think we pass through without taking the time to actually
Stephanie (36:08)
Right.
Mm mm.
William Bruce Cameron (36:25)
recognize what the the opportunity that they're providing us. So yeah, it was a it was a fun journey for me to write.
Stephanie (36:33)
Awesome.
I I am asking and I will be glad to share all that information with our listeners. And I can't wait to get my own copy. I'm gonna have to mail it to you so I can get it autographed and
William Bruce Cameron (36:47)
It would be my honor.
Stephanie (36:49)
All right. All right. Also,
I usually end each episode with a prayer. ⁓ I'm sorry, not a prayer, a scripture on whatever the topic is of that podcast episode. Do you have a scripture that you clung to during your season of going through all of your hard times, or do you have one that it's just your favorite that just really
motivates and encourages and gets you back to a spiritual space when you start to wander off course.
William Bruce Cameron (37:27)
⁓ there there is one that I that I go to and I might butcher it, so my apologies. But it but it is this one where those that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They'll mount up with wings like eagles, they'll st they'll
Stephanie (37:33)
I don't expect you to remember it.
Mm.
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (37:51)
walk and not be weary they shall run and not faint. It's that it's that one. And I think it applies to my story about surrender because you won't fail. You're not failing. You're actually doing just the opposite. And that's why that scripture applies ⁓ to me. I is so appropriate for from me and my story.
Stephanie (37:53)
And not faint, yes. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Right, right.
I say that all the time in almost all the episodes. Some way I end up saying, You're not failing. We're not here to fail. We're here to well, we have failure, but we need to rely on the turn it back over to the Lord and rely on him to help surrender it to him to help us get beyond that. And and there's growth in that and there's ⁓ opportunity to become better and
William Bruce Cameron (38:25)
Ha ha ha.
Stephanie (38:46)
closer to him. So I think we have to stop being afraid of failure. Just realize it for what it is. It's not the end of the story. It's it's a b it's a new part. It's a new chapter.
William Bruce Cameron (38:49)
Yeah.
Well, you said earlier in the conversation, you know, you use the word learning. And it it it is truly that failure has a bad connotation. And yet anybody that you want to look at and call them successful and you ask them how did you come become successful, ⁓ they will tell you that it was their mistakes. It was their failures.
It's not the success, that's the byproduct. That's what we see at the end of the road. That's the outcome. But you only get there through the falling down. I've got a I've got a buddy now, he's eighty six and he's a billionaire now. And I want him he's a big owner of ⁓
Stephanie (39:33)
I'm glad you said that.
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (39:47)
a construction company in Taco Bells. And I will say to him, Robert, what I want you to do is I want you to get on stage and I want you to tell people about your failures. And he said, What? Why? And I said, Because every story, and he's a storyteller, Stephanie and every story that he tells, it's about a failure.
well, I shouldn't have done that. Boy, that was a big mistake. Or but every time he says, I just learned it's not the failure, it's just I don't want to do it again. Okay, I learned don't do that. And so he he says it the failure didn't hurt me, it helped me. It just it just was a thing along the journey, and and
Stephanie (40:31)
Ha ha
Mm.
William Bruce Cameron (40:40)
And for the very the reason I bring that up is the the comment that you just made, we have to stop being afraid of failure. It's it's we get closed. We we put ourselves in this box of ⁓ if I fail, I'm you know, people are gonna laugh at me, or I'm gonna be embarrassed, or you know, I'm gonna lose money, or all the voices in our heads, right? And here's this guy that from any
Stephanie (40:59)
All the things we tell ourselves. ⁓
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (41:12)
Any ⁓ measurement stick that I think you would wanna put, whether that's abundance or ⁓ in money or in family or in you know, status and in giving back to the community, is a success. And he will tell you, I it's because I failed. and but it didn't allow it to defeat me. It it wasn't failure wasn't defeat. Failure was just learning.
Stephanie (41:40)
Right, right. Awesome. Awesome. I am so glad we had this chance to talk today and thank you so much for agreeing to come on the podcast. Are there any final words or thoughts that you didn't express during the interview that you'd like to leave our guest with or any uplifting messages?
William Bruce Cameron (42:04)
Ooh, I don't know, I feel like I talked a lot.
Stephanie (42:07)
I you you said ⁓
a great deal, but I wanted to just give you the opportunity in case there was something else tinking around up there that you didn't get a chance to get out yet.
William Bruce Cameron (42:17)
Well, maybe this. W the message that I'm getting a lot lately is abide in me and I abide in you. That's this whole thing about, and when I say it, I mean this literally. When I say it, what I get is this vision of
Stephanie (42:27)
⁓
William Bruce Cameron (42:43)
The wave and the drop in front of the wave. You know, and and and and I'll try and explain it to you. It's and I know you're gonna know what I mean. It's this stop thinking that you are this drop that's preceding the wave. You're the wave, and the wave is the ocean. You're not out here d trying to do something as a drop. You abide in me.
And I am the wave and I am the ocean. And so are you. Exactly. And I become a part of you. So again, maybe it's going back to that idea of fear. You don't have to be afraid. Because I got this. We've got this. I'm going to speak through you. I'm going to act through you if you will just surrender and allow me.
Stephanie (43:17)
And you become a part of me, not an individual drop outside of me.
Yes.
Right, right.
William Bruce Cameron (43:43)
Because in my belief, Stephanie, one of the big gifts that he gave us was choice. If you don't let me in, okay. That's your choice. I'm not coming in.
Stephanie (43:51)
Mm-hmm.
That's choice. I'll
just stay right here till you're ready.
William Bruce Cameron (44:00)
I'll stay right here because that was the big deal in this game that we're doing. I'm gonna give you a choice. You can go this path, or you can go this path, or wherever you want to go. I'm gonna because I respect you and I love you for that. And I'm gonna let you do that. But if you'll just trust me enough to surrender and keep showing up and keep trusting me and keep surrendering.
then that's how we move mountains because that's what I do. And you're part of that. You're not separate from that. You don't have to do it by yourself. You can if you want. You go out and do your thing. You can you can do it all you can try it all on your own.
Stephanie (44:33)
Mm-hmm. Right, right.
That's
why you're asking me now, 'cause you tried it on your own. ⁓ and I love that you pointed Right, right.
William Bruce Cameron (44:52)
Get there before I did. You know, and that's
what I would say to your to your listeners. Surrender before the big wave. You know, before you have to go through the travesty and the and the sobbing and the message. I mean, I guess we all are, you know, it all we're all going to be fine. But you know, practice your faith, practice your trust in the good times.
Stephanie (45:00)
Mm.
Right, right.
William Bruce Cameron (45:19)
So that it's
there in the hard times. Just get there faster than I did. That's all I would say, you know.
Stephanie (45:23)
I love that ⁓
a little side note to that was the point that you have to keep doing it. It's not it's not something you do one time and ⁓ now I'm perfect and I I'm ready to be elevated. No, you have to keep doing it. Keep doing the things that keep you close. Yes, yes, yes.
William Bruce Cameron (45:41)
It is not a one and done. Yeah. And
it's ⁓ and it is practicing it in the good times. It is that gratitude, it is that surrender. And when when life is good, you know. Don't depend on them just when it gets
Stephanie (45:48)
Mm-hmm.
William Bruce Cameron (45:58)
icky. That's when you you're growing that muscle, that faith muscle in the in the good times so that it's there in the bad times so that you've got something to stand on. So you've got something to go to that you understand how it works. ⁓ you know.
Stephanie (46:03)
That's right.
Right.
See, I knew you had another nugget in there.
William Bruce Cameron (46:19)
Ha ⁓
Stephanie (46:22)
But well Bruce, it has been such a joy and again I thank you so much for being a guest on Glory and Grit and I'm sure our audience is going to love it as well. Welcome. Thank you.
William Bruce Cameron (46:24)
I love talking to you.
No, thank you very much. It was my pleasure. My honor.
Stephanie (46:41)
Wasn't that a powerful conversation? I keep coming back to the moment Bruce described where he was sitting ⁓ in that roadside park just sobbing and nothing externally was fixed yet, but yet he was finally able to breathe.
Because sometimes the first miracle isn't that everything around us changes. Sometimes the first miracle is that we can breathe again. Just breathe again. Sometimes
⁓ it's the hope returning to us before we even get any answers. And sometimes it's the courage to make the phone call, ask for help, forgive. We've talked about that one. Keep showing up, or just simply to say, Lord, I don't know how this is gonna work.
But I'm gonna trust you with it.
Bruce's favorite scripture and one that he felt that really matched his season was Isaiah 40 verse 31.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. That's a good one, right? Maybe surrender today looks like ⁓ loosening your grip and trusting.
God with what you can't fix. And maybe, as Bruce reminded us, it means learning to just wait. Not because God is absent, but because he's still working.
I'm Stephanie. Thank you for listening to Glory and Grit. If this episode encouraged you, share it with someone who may need the reminder that they don't have to carry everything alone. You can find the show notes.
a picture and details about our guest as well as links and the reflection guide for this episode at gloryandgritpodcast dot com.
Until next time, my friend, keep looking for God's glory in the middle of real life. Because glory doesn't come without grit. Until next week. Bye now..
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