Ever failed?

I have…a lot!  Sometimes it’s something as simple as burning a batch of cookies or putting too much salt in the pasta.  Other times, I have failed an assignment at school or a not getting the exact job I wanted.  Still other times, my failures have resulted in lost relationships, compromised values, and seasons of life apart from God.  Often I have come to the end of my rope wondering what went wrong…how did I end up here again?  For a burnt batch of cookies…it’s a simple as knowing that the oven was turned on to high or they were left for too long.

But the bigger things are a little trickier to figure out.  Most often I have found that my failures start with the tiniest of tiny steps away from God’s will…and then ever so gradually continue down that path so slowly that I don’t even see it coming until I am so far away from the starting point that it is hard to even remember what happened.

Here’s the encouraging part though…every time I have failed and repented, my walk with the Lord has grown deeper.  Failure has often been God’s way of allowing me to come to the end of myself, realizing that I absolutely must remain humble and allow on him to be in absolute control.  A LOT easier said than done!!!  I once heard a message on Luke 22:31, which is the passage right before Jesus’ trial. I remember the speaker talking about how Jesus didn’t pray that Peter wouldn’t fall into temptation at all, but that when Satan tempted him, his faith would not fail. That when he did fall, his faith in God’s perfect love would not fail him - so that even when Peter reached the bottom of the pit of failure, he would confess, “God still loves me”.

The important thing really isn’t how far you’ve fallen but how much you have learned through it.  Do you remember even at the darkest moment that God still LOVES you?  What are some lessons you have learned in a deeper way through some of your failures?

Andrea