Thanksgiving Challenge: Thanking God For My Mistakes
Failures.
Bad decisions.
Wrong choices.
Missteps.
Accidents.
Imperfect people act imperfectly—which means we all mess up. Sometimes the consequences are small, like burning dinner. Sometimes the repercussions are serious, like a bad car accident.
Nobody wants to do the wrong thing. It just happens.
We want to act correctly. But temptations pull powerfully.
We turn around and see the mess we’ve made, the regret weighs heavy and self-recrimination delivers pain. Sprinkle a little guilt on top of that and the load becomes too heavy to bear.
Thanksgiving Challenge: Mistakes
The challenge this month is to thank God for EVERYTHING. Week one, we thanked the Lord for our sorrows. Week two found us thanking the Lord for other’s sins against us.
And now? You guessed it—we’re thanking Him for our mistakes!
I will come clean right now and tell you this is SUPER hard for me. I’m very hard on myself and tend to beat myself up for poor decisions. I have Olympic level ability to feel guilty about past mistakes. So the idea to thank Jesus for every mistake I can remember? I must be crazy!
That’s what makes it a challenge!
What Happens When I Thank Jesus
Do I actually believe I can accomplish my life perfectly? My answer is no, but my reaction to mistakes would say, maybe I do. I mean, it’s really my own pride that berates me. It’s vanity to believe I should be able to live mistake-free.
As I thank Jesus for my mistakes, I loosen my grasp on my regret and allow His Spirit to blow away my guilt.
With each expression of thanksgiving to Him, I agree that I’m human, faulty, and in desperate need of a Savior.
Thanking Jesus means I believe I’m incapable of messing up His ultimate plan.
Choosing Thankfulness Over Guilt
When we thanked the Lord for our sorrows, we chose praise over burdens.
When we thanked Him for sins others committed against us, we chose gratitude over bitterness.
Now, if we thank the Lord of our mistakes, we choose joy over guilt.
The Lord never instructs us to be mistake-free.
But He commands us to thank Him. Over and over again.
So join me! Thank the Lord for the goofy mistakes and thank Him for the colossal failures. Thank Him for embarrassments and thank Him for flub ups.
He’s bigger than our worst moment. So let’s trust Him with our junk and thank Him for each and every one because He doesn’t leave us with them. Our Redeemer holds us and our failures in His nail-scarred hands.
Hallelujah!
Write It Down
Like last two weeks, I suggest you either draw a cross on a sheet, or print out the one I provide (sign up below). Write on there every mistake you remember. And THANK JESUS for it. And then the next time your mistakes mock you and accuse you, you can point to that picture and smile. When you thank the Lord for something, you transform the mess-up to a praise!
Sign Up Below
When you sign up below you’ll receive an email to your inbox. Please press the confirm button and then you will receive an email with the page and password to the printable. There are other prayer helps there so check them out and feel free to use them all!