Faith In Testing Too

I have been procrastinating for, studying for, and preparing for the GRE everyday since May. I spent nearly half of my vacation time in South Carolina studying GRE vocab words on the beach or by the pool. I overdid it working 10 hour shifts and spending every day off practicing math problems. I stressed myself out, because I believed it was necessary to become both a human dictionary and develop an analytical mind within a matter of months. I neglected spending time with my precious Jesus because I thought I could do all of this on my own.

News flash? I can't. You can't. None of us can pursue anything effectively or efficiently without the grace of God.

The other night, I was sitting in BASIC, listening closely to "He Knows My Name" by Francesca Batistelli. For those of you who have never heard the song, it is basically about how God loves us individually but equally and that we are valued in His eyes. But the concept of God's love really began to sink in and encourage me that night. Yes, I know God loves me, but that phrase gets thrown around like a cliche, so I thought about it deeper. Do I understand the concept and the definition of what "unconditional" means? Do I really know that God loves me? If I did, I wouldn't be doubting His faithfulness, and I wouldn't be doubting how well He knows how to equipt His sons and daughters.

So there I was, sitting in Science Center 251, listening to "He Knows My Name," and being reminded of God's love. Even more than that, though, I was reminded that God has called me to be a Speech Pathologist, and that He is even more aware than I am of all of the crucial components that are necessary to be completed in order to pursue that career: including the significance of the GRE. So why would God - the one who personally planted this desire in my heart in the first place, allow me to fail and not be able to pursue something He has called me to do?!

The answer is simple: He won't. I am not entering this test tomorrow with blind faith, but with a preparedness that I have been diligent about accomplishing all summer.

The verses from Luke 9 that describe how Jesus fed five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish keep scanning across my mind, as I am comparing that to God blessing the amount that I have studied. Yes, I have studied a lot, but there is no way that I will possibly do well on this test tomorrow evening without the grace and the help of my almighty God. I am not as erudite as one may hope to be, but I do have an omniscient God who is willing and pleased to help me succeed.

Just as God blessed and multiplied the bread and the fish in order to feed five thousand people, I believe that He will bless and multiply what I have studied and help me do well on the GRE tomorrow.

Praaaaise the LAUD.

;)