As we got into the car after a Sunday service at my in-law’s church, a friend of theirs who had wanted to meet us and our new son had walked over. “You’ve been blessed with a test,” the gentleman boldly stated poking his head into the car. At the time, I wasn’t exactly sure what he meant, but I was intrigued……and somewhat frightened at the same time.
Have you ever heard the phrase: “you’ve been blessed with a test?” It’s kind of an oxymoron really, because when I hear the word test, my anxiety kicks up a notch or two. Tests always stressed me out in school, because I wanted to do well, and I certainly wanted to pass them. However, if I had studied, felt prepared, and knew ahead of time that they were coming, I wasn’t as worried.
In my previous years of teaching, I don’t recall any students of mine saying, “yay! we get to take a test today!” Especially when it’s a pop quiz. Why? Because a pop quiz is totally unexpected. You weren’t given a study guide, so you basically have to wing it, and use your best judgement and prior knowledge. Kinda makes you want to say, “wait, I wasn’t ready, so I don’t know what to do.”
Have you ever felt like you have been blessed with that test? The one that you were totally unprepared for? Me too.
When my son was born fifteen years ago, he surprised all of us along with the doctors which resulted in them approaching us with thick medical textbooks. Finally, three days later we were given a diagnosis of a rare craniofacial condition called Apert Syndrome.
Talk about a pop quiz.
Life imposes things upon us that we cannot control, and even though we don’t understand them and they feels scary and unfair, the cliche reigns true: they are blessings from Above. Each lesson is different for everyone, and you may not even know what it actually is you are supposed to learn until years later. God knows what we need in our lives, when we we need it, and the purpose driven. It’s how we choose to perceive it. Trusting God’s perfect timing is our saving grace.
When the answers come, it’s that feeling we have in our hearts, and deep in our gut. God puts them there. They can come to you as a shout, or sometimes just a whisper. It’s listening to them, even if we don’t understand them, and trusting that can keep us awake at night. As human beings, we naturally want to rely on our own stress to guide us. Quite frankly, there have been times that I didn’t want to hear the answers because they were too hard. When they don’t come right away, we must wait….listen….trust. When I turn to God, He can calm my heart and give me the answers…..when it’s time.
God’s grace is upon us. It’s there, and He is always by our side. So when you’re in the midst of it, pray for God to just help you get through it. When the tough moment, day, month or year has passed, thank God for getting you through it.
Embrace the journey…..God chisels and works on your life until you are how he intended for you to be. As difficult as it may be, all of these tests, whether good or bad, work in our favor because we are becoming who God wants us to be through them.
With God, all things work together for our good.
To all the moms out there who have been blessed with a test…keep fighting the good fight! God has your back!
Happy Mother’s Day!
Lisa
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” ~ Romans 8:28
