Prayer and Faith
Have you ever been through tough times in your life where you didn’t know how you would survive? Have you ever been laid off, totaled your car, or lost your home? Life has a way of sneaking up on you. When everything seems to be going well, terrible and unexpected events take place. Bad things happen, its inevitable. The question is “What do you do when bad things happen?”. Do you wallow around in self pity? Do you work even harder to make things right? Do you ask for help? The answer to the question should be simple, but sometimes we get so caught up in our struggles that we forget. When bad things happen we pray and keep the faith.
There is power in prayer but you have to have faith and believe in what you are praying for. I had to learn this lesson many times in my life. When bad things happen, I have the tendency to harp on the situation. At times I lose faith. I am an Electrical Engineer and I faced many struggles when I was in college. I struggled in many classes, but my Achilles heel was Physics. I did well in high school Physics, but college Physics seemed to be completely different. No matter how Physics was broken down to me, I just didn’t get it. I studied with other students, I went to the professor for help, I even tried to google answers to my homework assignments. Nothing seemed to work and I ended up repeating Physics the following semester.
The next semester started and I went in with a positive mind set. I had it all planned out. I’m going to go to school early, study Physics, go to class, study Physics, go to lunch, study Physics, go home, and STUDY PHYSICS. Well, it sounded like a good idea at the time but midway through the semester I noticed that I was in the same predicament as before. What was I doing wrong? Was I playing too many video games between study sessions? I did play a lot of video games but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that I didn’t know how to study and I wasn’t praying for understanding.
I was desperate and I started trying to do everything on my own. I forgot that I serve a King who is all powerful. The keys to success were in my hand, but I didn’t unlock the door. God knew this and he was testing me. It seemed like the more I studied, the worst I did. Suddenly, it hit me. I prayed and I had faith in what I was praying for. I prayed for understanding so that I would be able to pass my tests and pass the class. Taking Physics three times in row was not an option. Needless to say, I passed Physics. I got a C-, but I passed.
I could have had an easier time if I would have just prayed about my struggles in the beginning. I needed to trust God, I needed to have faith, and I needed to pray. The Bible says “Trust the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understand. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). The Bible also says “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” (James 1:5-6).
Your struggles may be more pressing than a Physics class. I have had more pressing struggles than my Physics class. But the key is to treat all struggles the same. No struggle is too big or too small for God to handle. So what ever you are going through, big or small, don’t worry. Pray and keep the faith. God Bless!
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