Slipping

Yesterday was one of those days. You know the kind. The one where you are enjoying the life that you have been living, you begin your morning grateful that you have been able to stay on track, and your heart smiles because you know that you have made great strides in climbing the mountain that looms before you in your life. Then you make a mistake. Your euphoria disappears and you are left wanting nothing more then to disappear with it.

The mistake days. You have slipped and now are left with a choice.

You can do what I have done so many times in my past. Continue the pattern of mistake making and create an avalanche out of that one little slip, finding yourself sliding all the way back to the bottom of the mountain, more damaged then when you began.

Or you can recognized that you have fallen, determine to get back up, retrace those few steps lost, and continue up the mountain.

Yesterday I was able to get back up on my feet, ask for forgiveness, and continue on. It is so hard to make that choice in the moment. It is so easy to just think "Well, I have already made a mistake, so another one wouldn't do to much damage.", then before you know what is happening the one mistake moment turns into mistake weeks, mistake months, and mistake years. Soon our new years resolutions are not even enough to get us climbing that mountain again.

I have been there. I have felt that impossibility. I know.

But I also know the other side. Because these last few weeks, I have fallen many times, but have been able to find the courage in Christ to get back on my feet again. It takes forgiving yourself, not feeling condemnation in the shame of your slip, and accepting the mercy and grace that Christ is reaching out to give you.

It is not easy. As I said earlier, in the moment, it feels impossible. Because it is, without grabbing hold of the strength we have in Christ. But every time you find yourself climbing that mountain again after a slip, it will give you God-confidence. Not confidence in yourself, but confidence that God will be there to help you get back up and keep you moving when you fall.

Don't let one slip become an avalanche.