Nobody is perfect and nobody plays a perfect game. We all make mistakes; the best are able to learn from, grow from, and move on from mistakes. They see mistakes and adversity as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Learning and growing are like building muscle. To build muscle, you have to put your body through stress, tear the muscles, and then rest so that your muscles can repair and build back stronger.
Tough times, adversity, and mistakes are like tearing and breaking down your muscles. It’s not easy to go through, it hurts, and it’s uncomfortable, but if you learn from it, you can come back stronger.
What helps me remember this is the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery and through the desert. They made many mistakes on their journey, but God was there to help and save them. He never left them, even when they made a golden calf to worship instead of Him.
This is how God described Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7:
“The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.
God knows that we aren’t perfect. He is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and full of love and faithfulness. But at the end of verse 7, God says:
“By no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
We can’t keep knowingly making the same mistakes without consequences because they won’t just affect us, but can impact generations after us. Every action we take and make has a consequence - positive or negative.
Don’t try to be perfect, just try to be the best you can be and enjoy life. Every day when you wake up, pray that God will protect you and guide you, and pray that you can be a blessing to others. Pray throughout the day. Pray for peace and guidance through the tough times, and say thank you for the good times. Finally, pray every night, thanking God for all the blessings He has given to you because each day is a gift.
THIS WEEK
1 - What is one thing you are thankful for?
2 - What is one thing you are struggling with?
3 - What was something you struggled with in the past that you could overcome and conquer?
4 - What can that experience, overcoming and moving on from something in your past, teach you about what you are going through now?
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