Day Eight

YOU AREN’T A MISTAKE

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

—PSALM 139:14 ESV

I like it when TV ads remind us to believe in ourselves and be confident we can do anything we want to do. You’ve seen the ones I’m talking about—an NBC star sits awkwardly on the arm of a couch and says into the camera, “You know those dreams you have? You can do them. Believe in yourself.” And then the “ding ding ding ding” jingle plays as a star crosses the screen. The more you know, people. The more you know.

Here’s something I know: I shouldn’t believe in me, at least not in the way those commercials say I should. I’ve been me long enough to know that I am not someone to be believed in. I mess up. I hurt people’s feelings. I care too much about some things and not enough about others.

I get lost. I am not perfect. And I don’t want to pour my hope or trust into someone as faulty as me. So while I’m grateful for what the TV ads are saying, I don’t think it is totally true.

I believe in the me God made and in the me God can make. I believe He made me on purpose and didn’t make any mistakes when it came to my creation. That makes me feel brave.

And that is the place where I find my courage—knowing that while I am making mistakes, I am not a mistake. That is where you can find your courage too.

While I am making mistakes, I am not a mistake.

Maybe your parents never got married, maybe you were born without the ability to see or hear, or maybe you’re missing a limb. Whatever it is, you aren’t a mistake. God doesn’t make mistakes.

I know my tendencies and fears, and I also know my gifts and hopes. It’s where those meet that I often find God cheering for me to make the brave choice.

We can be confident in how God made us because His Word says we are fearfully and wonderfully made. But we can’t do this life—or be brave—on our own.

BE BRAVE: Remind someone you love—a friend, partner, child, spouse—that God doesn’t make mistakes.