C is for chemistry, challenge and a change of mind

Have you ever gotten a 48 percent on a test before? We all know what it feels like to fail ourselves… like the world is crashing down around you and hope is endlessly far away.

Welcome to chemistry class. When I got that test back about mid-semester, my class average wasn't doing so well, and any confidence about my knowledge of chemistry was even lower. It was a rough time and the poorest I had ever done in a class. I felt like I had been working so hard to push buffers, solubility equilibria and free energy concepts into my head. The late nights and midnight hours spent studying seemed not to be paying off. Nothing was sinking in. Giving up really felt like the best option about mid-semester. I could take the class again, maybe with a different professor, and do better.

About a week after the test, I walked into my dorm room and noticed a little note card that my mom had sent me the first semester that I moved to Texas. A verse from Luke reads, "For nothing is impossible with God." I know, it's a little cheesy, but it really struck me that day. It's funny that I'd probably seen that card every day of my time at TCU and never given it much thought. I had spent so much time worrying and stressing about chemistry, it really had begun to affect my relationships and health. For the first time since Christmas break, I began to question where I put my priorities.

I had called my mom to discuss how I was feeling about chemistry and got the best advice. At the end of the day, my grade in chemistry is just a letter on a report that will sit in some file for a very long time. There are other chances in the future to improve it if I want, but I had put forth a significant effort in the class, all that my time could allow. A verse from 1 Corinthians 10:13 (The Message) says that, "No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it." Reading and really thinking about this verse didn't make chemistry any easier, but it gave me a new way of approaching the class.

When we can learn to accept that no challenge in our lives is insurmountable, we can step back and see a larger picture. The world doesn't stop at chemistry and won't stop the next time I fail. It turns out, whether because I stopped trying as hard or started sleeping more, my grade improved after midterms and I did decently — a C, thank goodness — in the class. I didn't fail but, even if I had, God would have been there. It's the simple lessons that we have to keep reminding ourselves of. The "cheesy" lessons are the ones that we keep relearning throughout our lives, and the ones that make the tough times more bearable.