As exams are fast approaching and revision finally catches up with us be prepared to see a lot of Jeremiah 29:11 and Philippians 4:13 flying about, with an occasional Proverbs 3:5-6 thrown in there too; yet it’s usually around this time of year we choose to close our Bibles and open the books.
It was the start of mock exams this year God gave me a wakeup call that was long overdue. It wasn’t until then I realised how much trust I placed in grades and my own abilities, rather than just trusting God himself. I thought that a bunch of letters on a page could get me where God needed me to be, but realised only He can do that. It was here God reminded me that it doesn’t matter where I fail, because Jesus passed; I don’t need to DO anything to prove myself to Him, because Jesus DID. The greatest examiner and judge there is who sees all of my faults and failures, doesn’t need to grade my paper, because Jesus took it for me, and got full marks.
After receiving grades that were far from what I hoped for, I realised they were exactly what I needed. God had to take them away for me to put my faith to the test instead. In Philippians 3:7-8 it says ‘I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’. Yes, exams and school are important, but they’re not important enough that we have to sacrifice time that should be spent with God.
At the women’s meeting a week or so after mocks, Lesley Mitchell shared a truth of how the world will try to tell us that numbers and letters are what defines us but when we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and that He already knows the end from the beginning, instead of choosing to entertain thoughts of worry and stress we can hand our worries over to God; so when we read Jeremiah 29:11 and Philippians 4:13 we can stand strong in knowing God’s got it sorted.
This school year isn’t over for us yet and God isn’t finished using us either. In this last term, can we not grow weary and let opportunities pass us by; can we be examples in our everyday lives of God’s grace; can we give God the glory when exams go better than expected and when they don’t, can we be a people who can still stand knowing God’s got a greater plan. You never hear of someone saying they wish they spoke less about Jesus in school, yet we hear a lot who wish they had have more. Going into my last year of school, I know I don’t want to stand in 10 years time and say I wish I had’ve prayed for that girl or invited that guy to church; I want to be able to stand and speak of the miracles I saw God do - that because I chose to seek His kingdom first, above all things, I saw God move in the lives of people around me.
So as exams are fast approaching and revision finally catches up with us be prepared to choose to close your books and open your Bible to see God teach you some of the most important lessons that’ll ever be learnt.
- Lucy Hobday.
It was the start of mock exams this year God gave me a wakeup call that was long overdue. It wasn’t until then I realised how much trust I placed in grades and my own abilities, rather than just trusting God himself. I thought that a bunch of letters on a page could get me where God needed me to be, but realised only He can do that. It was here God reminded me that it doesn’t matter where I fail, because Jesus passed; I don’t need to DO anything to prove myself to Him, because Jesus DID. The greatest examiner and judge there is who sees all of my faults and failures, doesn’t need to grade my paper, because Jesus took it for me, and got full marks.
After receiving grades that were far from what I hoped for, I realised they were exactly what I needed. God had to take them away for me to put my faith to the test instead. In Philippians 3:7-8 it says ‘I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’. Yes, exams and school are important, but they’re not important enough that we have to sacrifice time that should be spent with God.
At the women’s meeting a week or so after mocks, Lesley Mitchell shared a truth of how the world will try to tell us that numbers and letters are what defines us but when we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and that He already knows the end from the beginning, instead of choosing to entertain thoughts of worry and stress we can hand our worries over to God; so when we read Jeremiah 29:11 and Philippians 4:13 we can stand strong in knowing God’s got it sorted.
This school year isn’t over for us yet and God isn’t finished using us either. In this last term, can we not grow weary and let opportunities pass us by; can we be examples in our everyday lives of God’s grace; can we give God the glory when exams go better than expected and when they don’t, can we be a people who can still stand knowing God’s got a greater plan. You never hear of someone saying they wish they spoke less about Jesus in school, yet we hear a lot who wish they had have more. Going into my last year of school, I know I don’t want to stand in 10 years time and say I wish I had’ve prayed for that girl or invited that guy to church; I want to be able to stand and speak of the miracles I saw God do - that because I chose to seek His kingdom first, above all things, I saw God move in the lives of people around me.
So as exams are fast approaching and revision finally catches up with us be prepared to choose to close your books and open your Bible to see God teach you some of the most important lessons that’ll ever be learnt.
- Lucy Hobday.