Failed. Again.

My oldest daughter appeared to be purposefully aggravating her sister so I spoke to her about it. My daughter answered me back. I responded back to her and before very long, we were arguing with each other, until, that is, I lost it and angrily ended our conversation.

Who was in the wrong? We both were.

I failed.

Recently, I wrote about taking time to rest, and I included examples of ways I struggled with even taking time to eat properly and at proper times. Yet, just a few days ago I was, once again, eating crackers in the car for lunch as I took my daughter to school and then rushed off to my next activity of the day.

I wrote about not doing this very thing and still, I failed.

Talk with any God-fearing parent, or person for that matter, and they will most likely confess to losing their cool sometimes. Slipping up, messing up, and yes, let’s face it, failing. If no one else admits to it, I will. I fail sometimes. I fall back into that “old nature,” whether it be while parenting, or in my own personal life, I slip up, mess up; I sin.

Failure can be a powerful force. When we’ve failed once again, it’s easy to think, “It’s over, I can’t do this.”

Peter failed.

One night he told Jesus that he would be willing to go with Him to prison and would even die with Him. Yet, just a little while later that very same day, Peter denied that he was even an acquaintance of Jesus. He boldly proclaimed that he didn’t know Him.

He failed and Jesus was there to witness it. Thankfully, that’s not the end of the story.

God sees when we’ve failed, but He is certainly not behind those voices we hear in our head that say, “Give up, you can’t do it, don’t even bother trying anymore.” In fact, He is saying the exact opposite. If we are children of God, He has given us His very own Spirit to lift us up at these times of failure. He sets us on our feet and says, “I will walk through this along side of you.”

Though we fail, forget, mess up, or lose it, that is not the end of the story. The end of the story is already written, and here’s a spoiler–we do not fail because He has already won.

Don’t be afraid or too discouraged to try again after failure–will we mess up in small and big ways? Will we sin? Yes.

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:8-9 (NIV)

God calls us to repent of sin and keep our eyes on Him, even if it is from a messy heap on the floor. Look to Him.

We may fail, but we are not failures.

“…for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again” – Proverbs 24:16 (NIV)

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