“But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” Luke 22:32

Belly Flops

Have you ever done a belly flop? Hit the surface of the water in a pool or lake incorrectly and felt the sting, both physically and emotionally (if there were others around to watch your embarrassing moment)? How about a life belly flop—you failed miserably, with a crowd to look on and wonder what in the world were you thinking? I have; it isn’t pretty and it hurts—a lot.

Peter was a master of life belly flops. He stuck his foot in his mouth more often than not. His biggest failure was denying Jesus. And yet from that failure and from, as we see in today’s Scripture above, Jesus praying for his faith not to fail, Peter made a turnaround. Not only did he strengthen his brethren, he spoke on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 were added to the church (Acts 2:41), which is pretty amazing considering there were only about 120 members prior to that.

I had a life belly flop recently involving flowers of all things, and as I was asking the Lord about it—He told me He would make beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3), if I would but give this failure to Him. He reminded me that failures aren’t fatal, and He also reminded me that He is love. And, as 1 Corinthians 13:8a tells us, love never fails.

I then thought of Belly Flops—the Jelly Belly jelly beans which are a little funky-looking, but taste just as yummy! It made me smile and realize that although I don’t know what the success in my present life belly flop is ultimately going to look like, it won’t be any less of a success. The Lord has already been revealing a bit of it to me and it will, as it always should, point right back to Him, the One who never fails.

“Lord, thank You for loving us in the midst of our belly flops, reminding us that our failures are not fatal, and in fact they are often the foundations for our biggest successes. May we give You all the glory, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”