For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16 (NIV)

This is more of an impromptu post. I feel like my mind has been coming and going the past couple of days, and I just feel off and in need of mental rest. So I realized that I needed to talk about this. As a disclaimer, I understand that we all have serious, sinful ways and traits that we should actively be working to overcome; this post does not necessarily apply to those (we will leave that type of grace to God). Today I’m talking about the days that we just want to be over - the ones where nothing seems to go right. When I have those days, I find myself getting frustrated with not only with myself, but others, and it only makes things worse. I’ve begun to call these “grace days,” because they are times when we need to give ourselves grace.

Before I learned to give myself grace, I allowed my off days to accumulate and flow into every part of my life. One bad day would end up a bad week, and sometimes a bad week could ruin my entire month. I had to cut that off, because it started increasing my depression and making the people around me miserable. I had to learn that one bad day was normal, and it was not supposed to be dwelt upon. I also had to see that I was giving more power to my negatives or weaknesses than I was my positives and strengths.

When Paul said “‘In your anger do not sin’: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold,” (Ephesians 4:26-27 NIV) he was addressing how we should interact with others, but I think it can equally be applied to us on our bad days. You cannot allow one off day set the groundwork for unhappiness, hopelessness, or even depression. The enemy intends to take you down one day at a time, planting doubt and misery as he goes along. You must understand that in the same way God gives you grace, you should give yourself grace. Giving ourselves real, shameless grace, allows us to take notes of our faults without dwelling on them, and to move forward with the confidence that we will not allow whatever has happened to follow us into tomorrow.

We are all (hopefully) looking forward to a great year. I am so incredibly excited for what God is doing in my life as well as yours, but, we can expect to have some bad days. However, those days don’t mean you have failed nor do they indicate that you aren’t capable of achieving whatever goals you have. It just means you’re human. So give yourself grace.

Food for Thought: 2 Peter 3:18 (NIV) says, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” We should ever be evolving as we learn about salvation, the Word, and God’s grace. But we can also learn from giving ourselves grace – our flaws, triggers, coping skills, and our tendencies to be hard on ourselves. We can only do better when we understand how we operate; knowledge of ourselves is powerful. Likewise, let the knowledge of the Lord guide you: if He is willing to extend grace to us, we should also extend grace to ourselves.