Who is the Epic Failure?

After recently coming through a season where Satan was particularly aiming to discourage me, it was not surprising that he attacked me even when I was sleeping. I had one specific dream that was especially memorable.

In this dream, I needed someone to watch Grace while I worked. Apparently, I dropped her off someplace and left her standing on the front steps of this place all alone. I then went off to work. Time passed, and I knew that she would be worrying about me, but I was so busy that I continued to work. Finally, late that night, I went to where I knew Grace would be. Clark was there with her now. They were both crying for me, upset that I had left them alone all day. Through my tears, I apologized to them and cried that I was an "epic failure" of a mom.

When I awoke from this dream, I was crying, and my heart was pounding. I woke up remembering the dream and began my day thinking that I was in fact an "epic failure" as a mom.

Does Satan ever try to make you feel like you are worse-than-failing at something? That you are an "epic failure" at (fill-in-your-blank here)? The truth is that we all do fail. Everyday in some area of our lives, we do not meet up with God's expectations and/or our own. Romans 3:23 reminds us that we all sin and fall short of God's glory. But, this does not make us "epic failures" at life. It means that we are in need of forgiveness, we are not perfect, and we need God's grace covering us and our shortcomings. Satan would like for us to forever believe that we are failures and unlovable. If we believe that God could never love us like we are, then we will not come to Him for the forgiveness and mercy that we need to enter into a relationship with Him. If we never have a real relationship with God, if we never acknowledge our sin and admit that our goodness is not enough to save us, then Satan "wins", and we remain lost. He knows that we are not good enough, and, if we keep believing his lies, we keep the focus on ourselves rather than on God. However, if we run to God with our failures, confess our sins to Him, He will forgive us and bring us into a relationship with Him. We can then know the real Truth. And, God will remind us of another truth...Satan is the true "epic failure".

Satan's story has already been written. We know who will be and who is already the "epic failure". Satan wants us to forget this, and sometimes we do. We must begin again each day, focusing on the Truth. Somedays we will begin the day reading the Bible; somedays we must first begin with prayer. We must begin all days by leaning on the One who tells you the truth and can cover you with His grace and love. The Bible tells us that we are fighting against principalities and darkness and spiritual wickedness. Just as a soldier puts on his combat gear before heading to battle, we must go to the Word of God each day to prepare. Just as we take measures to protect our children, God has taken the time to compose for us a guidebook that will equip us to battle Satan in our lives. Satan will attack us~this we can be sure of. We need to be prepared.

God. He is the Truth, and His Truth is epic.

#truth