What Mistakes Finally Taught Me About Grace
For a long time, grace was something I believed in
but basically ignored.
I understood it theologically.
I could explain it clearly.
I could even offer it generously to others.
What I hadn’t done yet
was depend on it.
Then came the mistakes I couldn’t spin.
The decisions I couldn’t justify.
The moments where experience didn’t protect me
and intention didn’t excuse me.
Here’s the truth.
I was good at explaining my mistakes.
I learned how easy it is to cover bad choices with a lot of good ones
and mistake that for atonement.
That’s when grace stopped being an idea
and became necessary.
The only path to righteousness is honesty
about where I actually am.
I learned that grace isn’t God lowering the standard.
It’s God meeting us when we stop pretending we met it
and lifting us back to His.
Mistakes have a way of stripping confidence down to honesty.
They remove the illusion of control.
They remind us that effort and wisdom still have limits.
And right there, grace does its best work.
Not because the mistake was a good thing
but because, in weakness, humility finally showed up.
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
James 4:6
I didn’t learn grace by avoiding failure.
I learned it by needing mercy
and finding God already there.
Grace doesn’t erase responsibility.
It restores relationship.
And that changes how I move forward.
If this resonated, consider sharing it.
Someone else may be carrying a mistake they think disqualifies them.
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