Moving Beyond Failure – Part 2 (aka "Don't Forget Step 3")

In our culture, casual Christianity has robbed many of us of understanding the importance of confession and repentance. These terms feel like extremely churchy words that only super spiritual people do. Yet for many, the acts of agreeing with God about our sin (confession) and choosing to turn the other way and do something different (repentance) are the very keys that would free us from the guilt that we carry around from past failures.However…There are certainly many faithful followers of Christ who have both confessed their sin and repented, but still consistently beat themselves up. In my recent Moving Beyond session, I encouraged our women to follow David's model from 2 Samuel 12. Confronted by the prophet Nathan regarding his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah, David got honest. And as soon as he got honest with the Lord, we see that he got down on his face and fasted and prayed. The unintended consequence of his sin would be the death of the child he'd conceived with Bathsheba. He begs God to spare the child.What happens after those seven days when David went through the two steps of fasting and praying is the third step that many believers never take. Sometimes we get honest and get down… but we never get up.[bctt tweet="Sometimes we get honest and get down… but we never get up."]God didn’t spare David and give him what he asked for. But once David had received the Lord’s answer, he made a choice to get up. He made a choice to stand up. He made a choice to worship. He made a choice to wash himself. He made a choice to go back into his house where his child had died. He chose to trust the character of God and believe that, despite the fact that his consequences weren’t erased, God had forgiven him and he could move forward.Is there a failure in your life that you’ve never been able to recover from? Getting up is a choice we can make. It’s not an easy choice to make. It’s a courageous choice. It’s a choice that may require the hand of another to help you. Sometimes, in order to move beyond our failure, we must be vulnerable enough to share it with another and ask them to steady us as we try to stand and even to catch us if we wobble.I pray that you’ll desire freedom from the place you’re stuck so much that you’re willing to voice your struggle.If you’re not currently in that struggle, would you commit to being the type of friend who would help another sister in Christ as she tries to stand? Would you decide now to be a part of someone’s healing when the Lord puts that person on your path? Someone needs your help to get up.