I am a world class clutz. I've never been coordinated, athletic, or graceful by any means, but one thing I've always done too well is fall down. Yep, it's true. I've fallen down more times and in more embarrassing awkward places than I'd care to admit.
And yet, each time, no matter how bloody, how humiliating or how injury laden the fall, there was never a time when I didn't eventually get up. (Obviously, I'm not still lying on the ground).
Sure there were times when I lingered too long in the dirt and many more times there were tears. But that was never the end of the story. Eventually, I always got up, shook myself off and walked again.
Looking back on my life, I see this pattern is true of more than just physical falls. Along life's journey we all take stumbles, falls, and detours in the wrong direction. (Namely down). Yet, those tumbles cannot be the end of the story. Despite the tears, the heartache, the disappointment and pain we all need to choose to get back up and try again.
Today, I don't know what you're facing. Maybe you've just climbed your greatest mountain or maybe you've just fallen into your deepest failure. Perhaps you feel like you've fallen and can't get up.
Trust me when I say, you can.
This is not your end. It might be a bad chapter, but you're still writing your story. With the help of the Holy Spirit you can get up again. You can walk on and you can experience victory.
As I'm writing this I'm thing of a recent failure---a project I thought was God's will that bombed big league. Looking back the most tempting things to do was say "I'll never try that again".
And yet that's exactly what the Holy Spirit wouldn't allow me to do. Within the span of a year, He pushed me into situations where I had to get back up, try again, and using the lessons I learned through the failed project, accomplish two new projects that were His will.
So I understand falling; but I also understand getting up again.
Today, I encourage you, if you've taken a stumble don't let it stop you.
Get back up and keep moving forward. Don't wallow in the mud of a fall; instead, get up and see what's waiting around the next bend. It may be more than you can imagine.
