My Story

"This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long."

I heard Third Day's rendition of the hymn "Blessed Assurance" on the radio today. As I emphatically sang it's word with the radio blaring, I began to question, "Is that really my story?"

I had a traumatic experience (for me, anyway) this past week. I turned in a rough draft of a paper for one of my classes, and I my professor gave it back saying that I had based my argument on some questionable assumptions which led me to some questionable conclusions. He told me my paper was not able to be fixed and that I would have to rewrite a new paper. Mind you, this was the last week of classes. Just as I was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel--Poof! It was gone. And, needless to say, I was crushed emotionally. I felt like such a failure. A totally unacceptable paper? How had I done that? I must be the worst person in the class. (Remember, I'm competitive). I wallowed in these feelings for the whole day after he'd broken the news.

I called my mom right after my meeting with him, and she prayed that God would send special encouragement from people at school even if they didn't know the situation. And, you know what, God heard her prayers and answered them in a mighty way.

I walked into my next class right after getting off the phone, and my professor asked how I was doing. You know what happens after a question like that...I had a nervous breakdown right there in front of him and three other classmates. I bawled through my story about how I would have to start over on my paper and how I was so tired I didn't think I could do it. But, you know what? My professor walked up behind where I was sitting and he put his hand on my shoulder for about 10 seconds. It was the most glorious comfort in all the world at the moment. He didn't even say a word. But, he offered what my mom couldn't at that point. A comforting touch. After class, a fellow student told me she and her husband had been praying for me that week, and she gave me a hug.  Later on that evening, another student sent me a short email encouraging me that he was glad to be working in Bible translation together and that he was confident God was going to use me to spread his fame. The next day another student told me he noticed that I wasn't myself the day before and that he had prayed for me.

God is so good. Even when we are not faithful, He is faithful. I did not take his command in 1 Thessalonians 5 seriously. It says, "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I was not obedient in this. I sobbed and let self pity creep into my heart. And, yet, God heard the prayers of my mom, and he answered them faithfully. And, after receiving his comfort, I praised him again.

My prayer is that I would grow in my faith in his sovereignty and that I would learn to be obedient to his call to "give thanks in ALL circumstances". My prayer is that I would be found praising my Savior all the day long. My prayer is that no matter what, in success or in failure, in the harvest feast or the fallow ground, my prayer is that this would be my story.