Bounce BackSampel

"Meet the Robinsons" is my favourite Disney film.

Fifty-one minutes and forty-nine seconds into the movie, the main character Lewis fails to make a peanut-butter-and-jelly dispenser work and the two ingredients go flying everywhere. As Lewis begins to turn his head in shame and starts to apologise to every person now covered in sticky sandwich spread, one by one the other characters begin to congratulate him on his failure. Lewis looks confused as they burst into song. Fireworks appear. Streamers and banners with "keep moving forward" fill the room, and others share about their epic fails. It ends with Auntie Billy saying “From failure, you learn. From success not so much.”

I wonder if you, like Lewis, tried and failed at something, and right now you are turning your head in shame and apologising to those around you?

Although we can’t all have a support system like the Robinson family who can cheer us on to keep moving forward, perhaps you need reminding to do so. Your failure may have been personal or professional. Public or private.

But grace covers it all.

That, by the way, doesn’t mean you are exempt from seeking forgiveness from others if it’s relevant to do so, but you also need to forgive yourself.

Let me share a failure with you.

I had an idea for a ministry. I brought together incredible people to help govern it, create content for it, and oversee the day-to-day with me. It ran brilliantly for two years, but then I got busy and neglected it. I had the vision but not the time, and I realized that my idea wasn’t right for long-term growth. I decided to dissolve the ministry and hope no one would notice, but people did, and I was so disappointed in myself.

For 12 months I lived in private shame. I questioned my ability to lead. My ability to write. I questioned if for years I had misunderstood what I believe God has placed in my heart to do, and I stalled my life. I let so many external opportunities pass me by because internally I no longer believed I was worthy or able.

I had no bounce in me. I was completely flat.

You may not be able to relate to my failure, but if you’re doing this devotional, you may be feeling flat, questioning what went wrong, and how you get yourself back on track.

My prayer for you as you go through this Bounce Back devotional is that you begin to reclaim what you lost in your failure, that you build the resilience you need to go again, and that you keep moving forward towards your purpose-filled future.

Today’s passages are on grace and forgiveness. Passages of scripture that I hope will remind you God is waiting with His outstretched arms ready to comfort you in His embrace.

His forgiveness is quick and unconditional, and His grace is ready and available to you.