…for a windy day that makes the red-burned leaves cascade down
…for midterms that remind me to rely solely on Him
…for questions with no answers that require faith and trust
…for times of sadness when there are brothers and sisters in Christ to hold on to
…for being the hope and light and all that is good in every thing and every being
I praise God.
Early in May I had a full week of finals – five exams, five days, six subjects. I was determined to do well on my exams so that I can glorify God and so that I don’t hurt anyone by giving them the wrong diagnosis or medication (I’m in medical school). Up until then, I had being doing very well on my exams and I had been attending every Sabbath service.
Faced with an overwhelming amount of material to memorize and very little time in between each exam to cram, I decided early in April not to attend Sabbath service anymore and to just attend Friday night Bible study instead because, after all, Friday night is Sabbath, too. And, I still read the Bible and pray everyday, so I hoped that God would be forgiving.
For four consecutive Sabbaths, I stayed at home to study. Then the dreadful week came.
First test. I felt so defeated. I felt like Eeyore… my tail had fallen off. But there was another test the next day so I put aside the frustration and trudged on.
Second test. I felt so defeated. Frustration set in because I failed to memorize. Panic set in because I failed to tell the difference between an infection in the lungs from an infection in the bladder. Doubt set in because I felt like I would make a terrible doctor. Once again my tail fell off.
Third test. Defeated. I had focused my studies on the wrong areas.
Are you catching on? I did. As I prayed, I asked God why I was doing so poorly. I was trying so hard to glorify His Name and yet my preparation and performance turned out to be so weak. Then a thought bolted like lightning into my head. God answered me.
If I do not honor His Sabbath, then I am not worthy of glorifying His Name.
I felt defeated, but at the same time I was really excited because this lesson came from God. I was sad for my foolishness, but thrilled at the opportunity to wise up. I repented.
Fourth test. Less defeated. I repented more.
Fifth test. I won. I ended up scoring highest on this test, but that’s not why I really won. By this time, I understood my mistake and was trying to change my attitude and actions to be more pleasing to God. The progress I make in my faith is my real victory.
Isaiah 58:13-14:
13 “ If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
From doing your pleasure on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a delight,
The holy day of the LORD honorable,
And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,
Nor finding your own pleasure,
Nor speaking your own words,
14 Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD;
And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Once, I happened to wake up to one of those really bad days, where bad things all seem to team up and kick you in the face. I had woken up late, missed the bus, frozen my ears off walking to school, and it went on.
When at last I had the time to sit down and take a break, I pulled out a notebook and began to list what had gone wrong so far. I began to write … and stopped. The list was so short, and I had already run out of things to write!
Seeing this, I changed my mind and began to write down the good things that had happened. I had woken up in time to walk to class. At least I had seen the bus go by rather than wait not knowing. It had not started snowing while I was walking. And it went on. A plus for every minus, a good for every bad, and even more good that far outweighed the bad.
The scales can tip so easily from a bad day to a good day. You need only turn around and look at the good things that the Lord has showered you abundantly with. When you take a close look, you begin to realise that while you may be up to your knees in muck, you’re up to your neck in blessings!
After I completed my Master thesis defense on last Friday, I was very elated until I almost forgot the most important and precious thing in my life–the almighty God. Reflecting upon this, up until the defense, I cried out to God when I needed His guidance and to lift my burdens. Yet when I finally achieved it, I neglected Him while thinking that I alone willed my success. How wrong was I to think that.
Well, thank God I realized this mistake, and immediately, I prayed to thank Him for helping me pull through my thesis defense and with a good grade too. 🙂
Many times I heard or read about how people neglect God after they became successful. This time, I was one of them. 😛
In one of my classes this semester I was bewildered by the idea of having to write a “team” paper. Unfamiliar to the work of editing, but knowing myself to be quite the meticulous writer, I took up the lead role in my group. Little did I know just how much a group of peoples’ writings could differ from one another!
Some wrote in present tense, some in past, and to my surprise one person even wrote in future tense. References and citations were inconsistent and some even had missing information. I was also aware that some members of the group clearly did more research than others. The different writing styles simply did not blend or flow. Truly, I had never understood this saying clearer: “it is easier to destroy than to create.” After many unspeakable, unfortunate hours, I finished editing the paper and thought it flowed fairly well. However, to my disbelief, as I proof-read the paper for the absolute last time on my bus ride to school before handing it in, I still found a couple of errors.
Anyway, this interesting experience had me pondering upon the phenomenon of how the Holy Bible came together. Written by over 40 authors separated by time and space–over the period of thousands of years–and translated into thousands of languages, its message remains unchanged to this day. Clearly, no book written this way could possibly make sense! The Scripture was only possible because God spoke through His writers. The fact that there are no contradictions in message of the Bible is one strong evidence that it is a timeless wonder containing the precious God-breathed words of life “…profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-7).