“[T]hough he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.” — Psalm 37:24

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Ilia Malinin. He’s known to the world as the Quad God: the first male figure skater in history to master and land all six types of quadruple jumps, the first to ever land the elite quadruple axel jump in competition (4.5 revolutions in the air), and the first to ever land seven quad jumps in a single program. He holds many scoring world records and has elevated his sport to heights never seen. Many are already saying that, by the end of his career, he will go down as likely the greatest male figure skater of all time.

The 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics were supposed to be his crowning moment. Nobody had been able to beat him in more than two years. While he did walk away with a gold medal in the team competition, the individual event shockingly didn’t turn out that way. Literally moments away from hearing his national anthem, he had a disastrous skate in the men’s long program and finished in eighth place.

The world was surprised at how well Malinin handled the moments that followed, yet his relationship with failure was born long before the Olympics happened. He says there have been two guiding principles by which he has dealt with disappointment:

1. You don’t get better by never falling. In his disastrous free skate at the Olympics, Malinin had multiple falls — extremely uncharacteristic mistakes for a skater of his caliber. And yet, he was quick to point out that falls are part of the journey, especially in the sport of figure skating, and improvement doesn’t come by being scared of tumbling to the ice. Falling is part of the process, and you must accept that in order to improve.

Sometimes it’s easy to think that the Christian life is supposed to be this steady, upward climb. We’ve somehow put in this idea that we’re supposed to be perfect and never fall. But the Bible doesn’t promise us that. Rather, it promises that, even if we stumble, God will hold our hand and help us back up.

2. God’s sovereignty is what gives purpose to even our falls. In an interview shortly after his epic collapse, Malinin told NBC, “I always say that everything happens for a reason. God puts things there the way He wants it, and I’m always taking that for granted and knowing that there’s always something that has to be done.” This philosophy was on display in the exhibition gala that followed the end of figure skating competition as Malinin chose to skate to Christian singer NF’s song “Fear,” and the world was hushed in a special moment on the ice.

There’s a peace that comes from knowing that even our most disastrous mistakes and failures can and will be used by God for good. We can be confident in knowing that He’s in control of everything that happens. He knows ahead of time how things will turn out, and nothing will take place outside of His plan.

Our falls might not take place with a global audience watching as happened for Ilia Malinin. Most likely, they will happen when few are watching except for God. But no matter how or when they happen, the fact that God will catch you no matter what, and still use your stumbles for His glory and your good, can free you up to not be scared of failure, but to welcome it when it shows up.

— Katherine Singer

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