Falling Upwards

Which way do you face when you fall? Maybe an unusual question, but your answer might just help you determine if you’re headed in the right direction. I used to spend most of my time when I fell facing downward. Discouraged, depressed, disgruntled, down, full of self-condemnation and harsh judgment of myself. I can still easily fall prey to this. In fact, I have been falling a lot recently into one particular sin I desperately desire to be free from. But I find I am learning to face upwards when I fall far more than downwards these days. Do you know what I mean?

photo in background from pixabay.com

Instead of keeping my face crying into the gravel, the blood from my scraped knees dripping steadily into the sharp stones beneath my fall, my hands clinging to the pieces of glass strewn between the stones, my heart convinced I will never, ever learn how to walk with the Lord with any kind of steadiness, grace, and gratitude, I am learning to tilt my heart and face quickly upwards, confessing my sin in genuine repentance, seeking not only God’s forgiveness, but His strength, and the hope that I can get up more quickly from the ground where I have fallen, learning step by slow step to look upward to the Lord, taking His hand in mine as He reaches His out to me, and realizing I don’t need to spend the rest of my life, let alone a single day, permanently glued to the ground with my head resting in the rubble of my sin.

Oh, how gracious is our God to offer us His love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness if only we would remember to fall upwards instead of living our lives downwards. To be perfectly frank, I am tired of falling. Very tired. I love the Lord too much to spend so much of my life falling downwards. So I aspire to look upwards when I fall, and to take His outstretched hand and by His grace alone learn to look to Him – upwards – as I continue this wild adventure of learning to walk with the Lord.

1Jn 1:6  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 
1Jn 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 
1Jn 1:8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 
1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
1Jn 1:10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 

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