A Lesson in Trust

In the spring of this year I started college course in the area of Medical Coding at a technical college near my home. After two quarters, the college stopped offering this course and I was left with no choice but to take online classes through another college. I had taken an online class before so I had no problem with this. I signed up for two classes (a computer class and keyboarding class) and continued in my next step toward earning my Technical Certificate. I had no idea what was in store for me.

From the very first week I had problems. I was mistakenly enrolled into two of the exact same classes but with different teachers, and was left wondering which class I was supose to use. In both my computer and keyboarding class I was presented with the wrong syllabus (course guideline) which means I had the wrong information. That was only the first week.

From there I had continuous problems from not being able to take my exams because of a computer problem, to waiting 3 weeks longer than normal for a CD that was suppose to help me, to loosing 4 page documents which took me an hour to type. I never knew a single college quarter could be filled with so many problems. I began to feel very small when I had to e-mail my instructors with excuses nearly every week. My greatest fear was that my next quarter would be the same. I was scared to death! At one point I even tried to find another technical college around that offered Medical Coding, but mama wisely talked me out of that.

The last unfortunate event really discouraged me. Again, I began complaining to myself of everything that went wrong. In tears I cried, “Lord, why haven’t you helped me with this? Why has it been so hard for me?” Then a verse came to my mind. “Casting all your cares upon him; for he careth for you.” (I Peter 5.7) This whole time I hadn’t really put all my burdens in God’s hand. I found out that there is a difference between casually praying for God to help me with my college classes and earnestly trusting God to help me. God just wanted me to hand it all over to Him with the faith of a child. But instead I chose to handle it myself and stress over my lack of my ability to do so. This quarter would have been so much easier if I had sought God’s help from the beginning because my Lord would have helped me with the burdens.

This quarter has definitely been a learning experience . . . the hard way! Because I was so stubborn, it took nine weeks for me to figure out what God was trying to teach me. By then my quarter was almost over! After that night more problems arose, but I didn’t get discouraged because I knew that God was going to make things work out. Now I am in the last week of college and I think I am going to pass. (Yippee!) And now I am not afraid of upcoming quarters. I am ready to face them with all of Gods strength . . . not my own!

“My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” II Corinthians 12.9