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Mistakes Can Turn Into Success

Mistakes Can Turn Into Success: Look at these examples of bad turned good…

In a previous post, we talked about how our failures and mistakes can contribute to some of our insecurities. We tend to beat ourselves up for the mistakes we make. It never ceases to amaze me though how God can take our disobedience and mistakes and turn them into something beautiful. He can take something that I completely messed up and then turn it around to be a blessing to me and to others.

God can take our disobedience and mistakes and turn them into something beautiful.

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Did you know there are several products and inventions that came from mistakes? To name a few…the Slinky, Penicillin, plastic, chocolate chip cookies (thank goodness for this mistake!), potato chips, the pacemaker, silly putty, safety glass, microwave ovens, corn flakes, Post-it notes (another one of my favorites!), x-rays, superglue, popsicles, vulcanized rubber (i.e. tires), and matches. Here’s a fun read about the 20 Most Fascinating Accidental Inventions all originating from mistakes. I personally believe many of these mistakes turned success were probably God-inspired. There are stories throughout the Bible of mistakes turned success too.

God turned Jonah’s mistake into a success

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Overcome Your Failures: They Do NOT Define You!

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Overcome Your Failures: They Do NOT Define You!

Failures are a common cause of insecurity. Sometimes these insecurities stem from a fear of failure. Maybe it’s from previous failures, maybe even a series of them. Occasionally they may come from failures consisting of bad decisions, wrong living, intentional or even unintentional mistakes, etc. We occasionally have the misbelief that our failures define us. They don’t! Our failures can hinder us and hold us back if we let them, but they don’t have to. We can learn to overcome them and even use them as a springboard to launch us even further into success.

Failures can teach us.

King David’s sin and failures (adultery and murder) haunted him: “For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.” Psalm 51:3 (NLT) Our failures often haunt us. In fact, the devil loves to keep us in this exact position. Another word for it is self-condemnation. The devil wants us to believe that we ARE a failure because we have failed. He loves to keep us in torment over our mistakes. He wants us to believe that we will never be enough because of what we have done. The good news is that God says the complete opposite…

“… And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”” John 8:11 (ESV)

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17 (NIV)

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1 (NLT)

God won’t write us off

God won’t write us off. He didn’t write David off, even though he was an adulterer and murderer.

He didn’t write Paul off, even though he was a sworn enemy of Jesus and murderer of Christians.

God won’t write YOU off, regardless of your failures!

God is omniscient (all-knowing). He already knew Continue reading →

Are All Sins Equal?

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Are All Sins Equal?

A couple of years ago at a church youth service we tackled the question, “Are all sins equal?” This brought up some interesting discussion, and honestly the answers were all across the board. Somehow all of us innately know that there are some grievances that are worse than others. We would be hard-pressed to try to convince someone else that a “little white lie” is just as bad as sexual abuse or murder. Even in the justice system there are levels and degrees of offenses…misdemeanors, felonies, first-degree murder, second-degree murder, etc. Some sins are just more severe, right?

However, is that how God sees it? Does God put more weight on one sin than another? Are all sins equal in God’s eyes? Answering and debating this question can put a lot of Christians at odds with one another, not to mention the conflict this argument can cause with non-Christians. One could take their arguments into opposite ditches. Some would argue that all sins are equal as a way to overlook the severity of certain sins or even as a license to sin. Others would argue that all sins are not equal as an attempt to single out certain groups of people in order to condemn them. Both ditches are wrong.

My goal today is to hopefully provide a little clarification and to give some additional resources to get more wisdom in this area.

Not a quick and easy answer

Unfortunately, I don’t believe this question comes with a quick and easy answer. If it did, here’s how I would respond…

Yes, all sins are equal in that ALL sins separate us from God, regardless of degree of severity. No, all sins are not equal in consequence or in the harm and damage caused to self and/or others. Yes, all sins are equal in that Jesus’ blood and sacrifice is enough to cover them all, each and every one, regardless of degree of severity.

I love the way Michael Kruger differentiates between sins… Continue reading →

When You Fall or Fail Get Back Up!

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When You Fall or Fail Get Back Up!

Sometimes we are our own biggest critic and condemner when fall short, fail, and or make mistakes. We may even have a tendency to give up and stay down once we’ve fallen. However God wants us to get back up and keep going. He’s not mad or angry. He’s not discouraged or disappointed. In fact, God is our biggest cheerleader!

“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9a (ESV)

“Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me.” Psalm 56:9 (NIV)

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31 (NIV)

“The LORD is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” Psalm 118:6 (NLT)

“But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus.” 2 Corinthians 7:6 (NLT)

I’ve mentioned before that Joe McGee often says, “We’re not the perfect people, we’re the getting back up people!”

“The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.” Proverbs 24:16 (NLT)

God cheers us on even more if we fall or fail

God is our Father, and he a good father, a good parent…even better than we could ever be.

“So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.” Matthew 7:11 (NLT)

Subsequently which of us would kick or discourage a child when he’s down? That would be a pretty awful parent to do something like that, right? So why would we expect God to do something like that?

I recently heard someone say that if a child is running in a race but then falls in the middle of the race, the parent would never say, “You’re so stupid. How could you do that? What’s the point of even trying now? You might as well go ahead and give up.” That’s when a parent starts cheering even louder and encouraging them even more… “Get back up! You can do it! You’ve got this!”

That’s how God is. God cheers us on even more when we fall or fail.

It also reminds me of my son pitching at a baseball game. If he’s pitching well and throwing strikes but then starts throwing balls instead of strikes, that’s the time I start cheering him on a little more.

God won’t kick us when we’re down. If we mess up, sin, or fail in some way, he is cheering us on even more…”Don’t give up! You’ve got this! You can do it! You’re not alone—I’m right here with you!”

God won’t kick us when we’re down. If we mess up, sin, or fail in some way, he is cheering us on even more.

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A fall or fail is not the end or a death sentence

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She forgot her backpack…Allowing natural consequences

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She forgot her backpack...allowing natural consequences

She forgot her backpack…Allowing natural consequences

A couple of weeks ago I experienced a hard day as a momma. In fact my journal entry for that day reads, “Today is a little rough as a mom to see through natural consequences for my child.”

My daughter had been pretty irresponsible lately (not getting chores done, taking much longer than it should to get things done, forgetting things, and so on). On this particular day, she had forgotten her backpack with her homework at home because she wasn’t paying attention and focusing on the right things. She also forgot to drink her milk that morning even after being reminded.

At school, as she was getting out of the car, she noticed that she had forgotten her backpack. She didn’t ask me to go get it and bring it back to her because she knew she’d already used up her one “grace” already this school year. I give each of my kids one “grace” per school year where I’ll retrieve a forgotten item just one time.

Part of me REALLY wanted to go back home and get it for her though. She had such a discouraged look on her face that broke my heart. However, something inside me reminded me that she needs to have her natural consequences as a learning opportunity. I was struggling so much internally though I even called Eric to ask him if I should go back and get it for her. As soon as I heard myself asking him though, “don’t do it!” was running through my head. Eric had the same response, especially considering her recent irresponsible behavior.

It still just made me so sad because I don’t want my kids to have to suffer discouragement, pain or heartache. I think God must feel this way at times too.

**God is also a good, but just parent**

Thinking about it all reminded me of a previous post I wrote where I talked about being sad when I wanted to do nice or fun things for the kids but their bad behavior prevented me from doing so. At that time I also had the realization that God must experience similar emotions and how he is a good but just parent. He allows us to experience many of our natural consequences. Though as a parent, he probably doesn’t like it, and it makes him really sad to see us experience pain and hardship too.

Consequences teach necessary life skills

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Funny Friday: Beach Soccer Fail

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Beach Soccer Fail

Funny Friday: Beach Soccer Fail

Check out this beach soccer fail. This is an example of when trying to help goes wrong. Happy Friday! Hope your weekend goes better than this! 🙂

“Unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them.” Job 39:15 (NIV)

Flaws, Imperfections, Mistakes: Are they really all bad?

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Flaws, Imperfections, Mistakes: Are they really all bad?

Sometimes our flaws, imperfections and mistakes can be a trigger for insecurity. I kind of bundled these in with “appearances and imperfections” as one of the 9 Common Causes of Insecurity. Throughout the bible we see character after character that appeared flawed or unusable. For example, Moses felt that he had an imperfection that would hinder him from doing what God wanted.

“But Moses pleaded with the lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” Exodus 4:10 (NLT)

If I’ve learned one thing though, it’s that God uses the unlikely. This gives me hope…That even through all my flaws, imperfections and mistakes (both internal and external), God can and WILL still use me.

God uses the unlikely.

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“[No] for God selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame, and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame. And God also selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is lowborn and insignificant and branded and treated with contempt, even the things that are nothing, that He might depose and bring to nothing the things that are” 1 Corinthians 1:27-28 (AMP)

Jesus, himself, was unlikely…a baby, from Nazareth (considered a lowly town in Galilee), born in a manger (feeding trough) in a stable, and born of lowly parents. This is not at all how most would expect the King of Kings and Savior of the world to come—unlikely. Jesus’ blood line was also unlikely…including a liar/cheater (Jacob), an ugly/unwanted/unloved woman (Leah), a betrayer (Judah), a woman who acted like a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law (Tamar), a prostitute (Rahab), a murderer and adulterer (David), a polygamist and sex-addict (Solomon), and many kings who turned away from God. Basically, Jesus descended from some pretty flawed and shady characters! Continue reading →