Story in Progress — A personal testimony

Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.

Isaiah 26:4

At the end of 2019, I decided to take a test to enter an associate degree program in nutrition. I applied, studied for the exam, walked into the room, and prayed for God to help me, but when I left, I was devastated. I was completely convinced that I hadn’t made it in, that I hadn’t gotten high enough marks.

The days went by, and I remember talking to my mother several times about trusting and believing in God, yet I couldn’t imagine a world in which I had passed the test.

One early morning, my parents woke me. I got up from the bed wrapped in the covers and went into the living room where they were standing with a smile on their face. That’s when I heard the words I never thought I’d hear, the words I greatly doubted: “You got in!” I was astonished! I was still waking up and having a hard time processing the information.

I joined the program, started classes, but lo and behold, another hurdle arose: I would have classes on Friday. Since mine was a night course, I would not be able to attend and would miss classes every week. I fell into despair! How would I graduate without completing one of the subjects required?

I got on my knees and asked God to help me. I submitted the church letter which exempted me from having to attend class on Fridays, and I talked to my professor, but he said he couldn’t help me and that I would have to keep up with the material and do well on the tests in order to get my degree. For two months, I missed all my Friday classes. Then, the pandemic came, and all the classes were prerecorded and available online—including my Friday class. Now, I was able to watch every class for every subject and had no qualms about passing my Friday subject and completing its assignments.

I share my experience with you for two reasons. First, to remind you that God knows your struggle and is beside you every moment, ready to help you. You just have to lean on Him. I know it’s hard sometimes! The struggles are immense and you can despair. I know what that feels like because that’s what I’m feeling right now with my college entrance exams. Trusting God fully is proving to, once again, be a struggle for me. But I also know that He always helps us, no matter how difficult it may be to hear Him, we need to trust. We can’t do anything alone, and if we don’t trust God to work on our behalf, in what can we trust?

And that’s the second reason—I want to encourage you to trust even if you don’t have the strength, even if everything seems to fall apart and doesn’t make any sense. I chose to share my story in hopes that it will encourage you because just sharing it has encouraged me. Today, I was desperately looking for peace in the midst of my studies. And it came to me in the form of one Word—God. Trust Him, friend! He is enough, even when we fall short.