Mistakes—we all make them. Some say it’s what makes us human, a reminder that imperfection is normal. But personally, I sometimes find myself afraid of making them. This fear became especially clear to me recently during my Canadian driver’s license road test.
It’s funny, really. I’ve been driving for nearly five years, so I shouldn’t have been nervous. But all my experience came from another country with a different driving culture. So when it came time to take the road test, I was focused on one thing: Don’t mess up.
I was so determined not to make mistakes that I ended up making them anyway. Just five minutes into the test, the examiner asked me to pull over and park. That’s when he pointed out several driving habits I’d carried over that had already cost me demerit points. He warned me that if I didn’t correct them, I could fail.
I was frustrated. The very thing I was trying to avoid—mistakes—had happened because I was so afraid of them. That fear of failure had taken control.
Sometimes our past feels like that too. Like it’s clinging to us, reminding us of who we were and making us feel inadequate for who we’re becoming. It convinces us that we’re not capable of doing better or stepping into something new.
I often feel this way about the Christian life. We know God calls us to serve, to love, to live boldly—but we’re scared we’ll get it wrong. We worry we’re not skilled enough, spiritual enough, or ready enough. And that fear can paralyze us.
But when we look at the early church in the book of Acts, we don’t see perfect people. We see ordinary men and women—fishermen, tax collectors, everyday folks—called to do God’s extraordinary work. They didn’t have it all figured out. They made mistakes too. But what made the difference was that they were willing to keep going, trusting that God would work through them in spite of their flaws.
The same is true for us. God isn’t waiting for perfection—He’s looking for willingness. So let’s not let the fear of messing up hold us back. Even if we stumble, God is still with us, shaping us, and calling us forward.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”—2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)