Stepping out into a New Sunrise

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” ‭Lamentations‬ ‭3:22-23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Failures, we have all had them. Some people are more vocal about their failures than others; regardless of whether we share them, we all have failed. The things about failures is that sometimes they become an excuse for stepping out. We blow the failure up so big in our mind, that we think “There is no way I can get past this.” yet, most of us do. We wake up one day and realize that the sun has set on our failure, and that new possibilities await for us to step into with the new sunrise.

I look back at some of the “failures” I have had in my life, and believe that God uses them, if we let Him. His love never ceases, and His mercy is new every sunrise.

I was sixteen years old when I became a parent. I know many people saw my potential, and saw pregnancy as a failure on my part. If I am honest, she was planned. No, not like most people plan to have a child, but we discussed wanting children together, well before I got pregnant. So I was not surprised when I realized I was pregnant.

Another truth about that time in my life, is I was on a bad path. I was drinking, doing drugs, smoking, partying, skipping school, etc. just to name a few of the things I was doing. I can remember three days before getting my pregnancy test drinking a bottle of Strawberry Hill and Purple Passion, smoking pot, and telling someone I was pregnant. I don’t really know how I knew, I was only 7 weeks along but I knew.

That pregnancy test changed my path, I stopped everything except maybe smoking. I ended up graduating a year early, at the top 5% of my class. Within a year of my daughter being born I was back in church, serving, working full time. That was God’s mercy new on my sunrise as a mother.

I was nineteen when my marriage failed. I was a single mom with a toddler and a newborn. I moved back in with my parents. I needed to get on welfare. I was broken and did not know how I was going to move forward. I never imagined my life without my husband. My parents were still married, divorce was failure and I was the one filing for it.

Little did I know the journey that I would step in to as I started seeking God for myself to bring healing to my brokenness. I wasn’t seeking man to tell me how to move on, I began getting in to the Word for myself. I was eight years old when I gave my heart to the Lord, but I never learned about a personal relationship with Him. I planted His Word in my life growing up, but I did not know how to apply it until I started to seek Him for myself. God drew me into Him and healed the brokenness. I admit it was a very long night.

But God’s mercy was new as I stepped into the new sunrise. He not only transformed my life during that time, He restored my marriage. God was able to show me some things in me that I needed to let Him work on. He is still working on me. It took several years, and a lot of work, but this year we will celebrate 22 years of marriage.

I can not think of an area in my life where I know that I failed that God has not met me with His mercy and transformed it into something useful. Addiction. Homelessness. Parenting. Relationships. Jobs. Personal shortcomings. He has used my failures to help me grow. In His mercy, He has allowed me to use those experiences to meet others right where they are and point them to where His mercy and grace can meet them to transform their lives.

What failures have you experienced that you needs to let God’s mercy reach as you step into the new sunrise?

This post is part of a 28 days series on Stepping Out inspired by the #Write28Days Blogging Challenge by Anita Ojeda. Prompt today was from Kate M at Five Minute Fridays.