Hey friends!  Yesterday, I showed up at church ready to cook for the children. I had everything planned, arrived on time, and was ready to get started. There was just one problem: it was the wrong Sunday.  I had traded with someone else and honestly, I just forgot.  I even put my own name in the bulletin for cooking!

When I saw the Fridy’s get out of their car with food, I knew there was a mix up.  And, of course, it was.  For a moment, I felt embarrassed. I replayed it in my mind and wondered how I had gotten the date mixed up. And lately I have felt like I  can’t do anything right and this is just another example. I was ready to just throw in the towel on everything (really dramatic, I know). But after thinking about it, I realized something important. Mistakes happen to every single one of us. No matter how organized, responsible, or prepared we try to be, there will be times when we get something wrong.

Too often, we allow one mistake to overshadow all the things we’ve done right. We dwell on the misstep, replay the moment, and criticize ourselves far more harshly than we would ever criticize someone else. Yet mistakes are not evidence of failure. They are evidence that we’re living, serving, trying, learning, and growing.

The people we admire most aren’t the ones who never make mistakes. They are the ones who don’t let mistakes stop them. They learn the lesson, adjust their course, and keep moving forward. A wrong turn can teach us something. A misunderstanding can humble us. A mistake can even remind us to laugh at ourselves once in a while.

Scripture reminds us that falling short is part of the human experience. Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” None of us gets everything right all the time. Yet God’s grace meets us in our imperfections, not after we’ve somehow managed to overcome them on our own.

And when we do stumble, we are reminded of the promise found in Proverbs 24:16: “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again.” The mark of faith is not that we never fall. It is that, with God’s help, we keep getting back up.

I think God knows we are imperfect people. He never expected perfection from us. What He asks is that we continue to trust Him, extend grace to others, and accept that same grace for ourselves. When we stumble, we can choose to get back up instead of staying stuck in regret.

So if you’ve made a mistake recently, take heart. One wrong decision, one missed detail, one forgotten date, or one embarrassing moment does not define who you are. Learn from it if there’s a lesson to be learned. Laugh about it if you can. Then keep going.

You are not defined by your mistakes. You are defined by what you do after them.  At least I was prepared, right??

Happy Monday! Give yourself grace, keep moving forward, and remember that sometimes even showing up on the wrong day can teach us the right lesson.


Love you all,

Jennifer