I am a clumsy person. I am constantly bumping into things, stubbing my toes, stumbling over things, dropping things, breaking things…not to mention I fall more than the average person, and have been in the emergency room numerous times.
So of course, a few days ago, I got myself into quite a pickle. I am currently on vacation, and I went to visit a friend from the congregation up here. She was having a small pool party for some girls in the congregation who wanted to come. Later, some of the girls decided that they wanted to play volleyball for a while. I wanted to stay in the pool, but, if I didn’t go, I would be left by myself. The steps (already being quite narrow, and steep) to get to the pool were pretty wet. I stepped down, and when I did, my feet came out from under me. My left leg and part of my arm slammed into the wooden steps.
I fell to the ground, and my entire left leg just exploded with pain. I just remember being scared that I had broken something. My aunt and the lady running the pool party came over to check on me, and helped me to my feet. Thankfully, I was able to walk. I didn’t have a break or sprain, but, later that day, a very large spot started to turn purple on my leg. My arm too, had a bruise. I was so sore the first few days, and it hurt to move.
I still am sore, actually. It’s not nearly as painful as it was, however. The bruise on my leg looks awful, and the absolute worst one I’ve ever had. (And, thankfully, I did not need a trip to the emergency room!)
You know, being a Christian is a lot like that. Each one of us is very clumsy in our spiritual life, are we not? When we mess up, we get injuries which turn into scars that we carry with us for a very long time. The pain can be long-lasting and can take a long time to heal.
I would like to point something out that I didn’t realize until much, MUCH later that I hope can help you. You see, I used to think for some reason that if I believed hard enough, and trusted God enough, that he would take the issues I was dealing with away. What a silly notion that was! The truth is, God’s not going to take our problems away. We’re always going to be clumsy people stumbling around getting ourselves into trouble in one way or another. I realized that these issues that I dealt with were there to help me become stronger. (Romans 5:3)
Thankfully, as Christians, we have God on our side to help us become stronger and overcome trials that come upon us (Philippians 4:13, Colossians 1:12). With Him on our side, our spiritual injuries become less as we grow and persevere. We will never be perfect, but we try anyway (Matthew 5:48). When you do stumble, ask for forgiveness, and pray for strength. Don’t doubt as to whether or not God can hear you! That doubt is Satan trying to get to you and bring you down. Just remember that the times that you feel most weak and vulnerable is when he will attack (1 Peter 5:8). When you’ve messed up, don’t make your “wounds” worse by focusing on those regrets. Do your best to shake it off and go back to what you know you need to be doing.
It is true that pain gives birth to beauty. It’s really the tough stuff in life and how we handle them that shapes us as people most of the time. Allow your mistakes to transform you rather than bring you down and remember that we’ll all be clumsy for the rest of our lives…and that’s okay! Don’t forget, that is exactly what the blood of Christ is for; as long we keep Him in our hearts and hold Him near (Romans 5:9). Allow God to work in your life and make you stronger. It’ll get better, I promise!
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