Continued from The Lord is My Rock (Prayer on the Eve of OSCEs Part 1)

And I write to you 5 months later, overjoyed with praise for God, for by his strength I did end up passing my final third year exams!

Earlier in the year following the death in my family, even passing seemed an insurmountable challenge to me. So with overflowing gratitude and amazement I joyfully report to you that God helped me to reach results far better than I had ever expected  (3 B’s and an A)!

Stronger Than We Think

2012 had been the hardest year of my life, a year marked with suffering beyond what I though I would ever experience in my entire lifetime. But here is the fruit of suffering: I have experienced in a new way the life-changing reality that he will never leave me to fend for myself; that no difficulty is beyond the help of God, be it family, personal, or even in my studies.

In our weakness, we discover the strength of God. He is far stronger than I had believed, far stronger than all my weaknesses and shortcomings. Here is a life-changing truth: if God is ‘incomparably’ strong, then it does not matter how weak you are, nor does it matter how colossal the obstacles are in front of you. The Apostle Paul said, “when I am weak, I am strong”. God’s strength is stronger than my weakest weakness! (2 Corinthians 12:10, 1 Corinthians 1:25)

Memorials

And so I write this post-script as a memorial to myself – and to those of you who are in situations where it is impossible for you to move forward in you own strength against the obstacles before you. Take heart, he is stronger than your shortcomings and weakness! (Ephesians 1:19)

To me, a memorial is a memory of an event or time in your life where you encountered God (Joshua 4:4-7, Exodus 28:29, Judges 6:22-24). Memorials are important in my life! We are prone to forgetting what God has done in our lives, so whenever I face obstacles today, I strive to continually remember all he has done for me (especially in the intense hardship of 2012) and proclaim – “I have nothing to fear because thus far in my life, the Lord has helped me!” (1 Samuel 7:12) One of my life goals is to store up as many of these memorials to God in my heart as I can – treasuring and not forgetting any of what God has done in my life! (Luke 2:19, Matthew 6:19-21, Matthew 12:35, Proverbs 24:3-4)

Never forget the mighty works of God in your life – for every one of them is a memorial of God’s faithfulness! Write them down, journal them. Remembering these memorials removes fear and self reliance, and gives me courage to face tomorrow. We must continually remember these valuable stories from our lives, just as the Psalmist did:

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
I will consider all your works
and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

– Psalm 77:10-12

So I leave you with some words that my pastor’s wife told me as we said goodbye before she moved overseas. They are simple, but they immediately moved me to tears and have stayed in my heart ever since…