“God can take what Satan meant for shame and use it for His glory.” Lysa TerKeurst

I blog a lot about my children here. Not only are they three of the most important people to me, but each of them has taught me many lessons on life, motherhood, love, and God. There comes a time in each of my children’s life when they will need to learn something from me, from my experiences.

Of course, they each have learned many things from me. They have learned to cook, to talk, to play games, to read the Bible, to put on socks, to (sometimes) pick up after themselves, and to occasionally attempt the mixing of milk and chocolate on their own. If I were to list all of the “great” things my children have learned from me, then I would say they have probably also learned that I am a mom who doesn’t make many mistakes. If I have taught them all I know, then Mommy knows everything, right?

For we all have sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standards. Romans 3:23

We want our children to think we know everything, but we also have to keep in mind their is also a list of “not-so-great” things our children can learn from us, too.

Like sin.

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness. 1 John 1:8-9

If we want our children to learn from their bad choices, from their mistakes, from their failures-we must step out from behind our curtain of shame and confess our sins.

“Honey, do you want to know what happens when you are in college and get an “F?” Let me tell you about the time I failed a class. I had to retake it. I also had to repay for it-again!”

“Sweetie, I have been dishonest with money, too. I’ll also tell you about the consequences of the choices I made with money.”

“Dear, you are forgiven, because I have told a lie, too. But at some point, someone finds out about that lie and gets hurt. I know because my lies have hurt people.”

We all fall short. And we all feel so much shame for our shortcomings. But God can use these “not-so-great” things for good. To teach our children about grace. To teach them about forgiveness. To teach them that unfortunately Mommy doesn’t know everything.

But she does know what it is like to fail, to be dishonest, to lie, and hurt other people.

Because we all fall short.

Yet, God with undeserved kindness, declare that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. Romans 3:24