I've bought into the lie that if I tried my hardest to live a perfect life, I would make less mistakes and in turn, have a better life.
Boy I was wrong.
In attempting to live to a unattainably perfect life, I completely fenced myself in. I had so many boundaries in place that I often felt like I was suffocating. Because I was.
And I didn't just hold myself to these high standards, I held my husband to them as well.
I was afraid of messing up but my husband was not. He viewed mistakes the way they should be viewed - as lessons to learn from.
Attempting to live without mistakes was probably my biggest mistake.
God has been showing me lately the thing I've been missing most in my life, and it wasn't perfection.
It was grace.
I recently went through a bible study on the book of Galatians where the Apostle Paul writes a letter to the church of Galiacia reminding them that works and law will not get you into heaven.
It is only through the grace of God.
The leaders of that church feared if they offered people grace instead of laws, people would begin to use grace as an excuse.
But if we know the true grace of God, if we let it seep into our hearts, it changes us.
There is no way to make it through this life without messing up. I made mistakes trying NOT to make mistakes. Think about that for a minute!
What my true and main focus should have been all along was living a life for Christ.
Mistakes and all.
Something my pastor regularly preaches is - even a wrong decision made with the right intentions can be used by God. Meaning, our hearts just need to be in the right place and God can work with anything that comes from that. He can work with anything anyway, but it is our hearts He is after.
Mistakes will not hinder the work of the Lord. Mistakes will not keep me from his promises. The only thing that would ultimately mess up our life, is not living a life after Him.
Grace upon grace, upon grace, upon grace friends.
XOXO - Lesly Birkland