The Grace of Falling

“I’m going to keep allowing you to be offended until you learn how not to be offended,” the Lord told me just minutes ago. Have you ever noticed the places where you trip up the most are the ones where the Lord will allow you to continue to fall? What kind of Father would watch His children stumble, trip, and land smack on their faces repeatedly rather than lead them around the rough patches of their journey? “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not (1 John 3:1 KJV).” The Lord loves us so much that He lets us go through the rough patches because these places are geographically ideal for Him to perfect His love in us.

Oh, how marvelous it would be if the Lord told the world to stop offending me, right? Then, I would not be offended and would not continue to mess up by hurting the people that are hurting me. If God would just get the world to leave me alone, then I could leave the world alone, right? Wrong. How will I ever learn to do it right if I do not have the opportunity to do it wrong? Over and over, as I stumble, I fall, I skin my knees and I stand up again, the Lord teaches me. He corrects me. He shows me how to do things differently. He shows me how to do things the right way. His way. Eventually, as I follow Him forward, I see I can get it right.

I have struggled for as long as I can remember with offense. I have been sensitive to others’ offenses, and I have offended people in return. If God kept me out of harm’s way so I would never be offended, I can promise you I would not learn how to not take offense. Slowly, very slowly, immersed in the Lord’s love, I am learning to recognize the rough patches as I walk through them. I am starting to see He loves me so much He is letting me walk right through so He can teach me how to do it right. Imagine when I get to the other side the victory I will have won in Christ. I am excited for this victory.

My knees are scraped, my flesh bruised, and my heart hurts as I move on, but this mortification of my flesh is nothing compared with how much closer I get to draw to the Lord as I walk with Him.

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