"In school you get the lesson and then take the test....In life you take the test and then get the lesson." ~Unknown
What a paradox, to be given a test without being first given material to study and learn from? Such is life! How are we supposed to learn if we cannot prepare? But.....if you REALLY think about it...we are given preparation each time we are faced with the test. It prepares you for the next test. And, if you're like me, I always try to look at challenges and struggles as opportunities....not devastation. I know that there is something I'm supposed to learn from the experience. And it's when I just don't "get it" that I have to repeat....take the test again (you can't get to Point B if you don't make it pass Point A). If you ever wonder why you go through the same thing over and over again, consider that perhaps you haven't learned from the experience. The experience is the test. Your passing score is determined by what you take away from it. If you learned nothing from it, you take nothing away from it, and you suffer because of it. When you make it through with something gained, then you can say that you've grown.
When I was much younger and singing in the choir, I remember one of my favorite songs by Andrae Crouch - "Through it All". Though a simple song, it was a song that was too big for me at that time because as I know now, I didn't know diddly squat about what I was singing. I hadn't been through it all! I hadn't been through ANYTHING at that time. O, but if I were to sing it today, I could do so with conviction and authority, and I could sing it from the heart and soul because of my experience. I still haven't been through it all, since I'm still living. I have no idea what the future (or even the day) will bring.....BUT, I can TRULY say, or sing, these words from the song....."I thank God for the mountains, and I thank Him for the valleys, I thank Him for the storms He brought me through. For if I never had a problem, I wouldn't know that God could solve them. I'd never know what faith in God could do."
Be encouraged this day. Remember, this is only a test! You'll make it!
Carla Y. Nix
Founder
Live On Purpose Ministries
What a paradox, to be given a test without being first given material to study and learn from? Such is life! How are we supposed to learn if we cannot prepare? But.....if you REALLY think about it...we are given preparation each time we are faced with the test. It prepares you for the next test. And, if you're like me, I always try to look at challenges and struggles as opportunities....not devastation. I know that there is something I'm supposed to learn from the experience. And it's when I just don't "get it" that I have to repeat....take the test again (you can't get to Point B if you don't make it pass Point A). If you ever wonder why you go through the same thing over and over again, consider that perhaps you haven't learned from the experience. The experience is the test. Your passing score is determined by what you take away from it. If you learned nothing from it, you take nothing away from it, and you suffer because of it. When you make it through with something gained, then you can say that you've grown.
When I was much younger and singing in the choir, I remember one of my favorite songs by Andrae Crouch - "Through it All". Though a simple song, it was a song that was too big for me at that time because as I know now, I didn't know diddly squat about what I was singing. I hadn't been through it all! I hadn't been through ANYTHING at that time. O, but if I were to sing it today, I could do so with conviction and authority, and I could sing it from the heart and soul because of my experience. I still haven't been through it all, since I'm still living. I have no idea what the future (or even the day) will bring.....BUT, I can TRULY say, or sing, these words from the song....."I thank God for the mountains, and I thank Him for the valleys, I thank Him for the storms He brought me through. For if I never had a problem, I wouldn't know that God could solve them. I'd never know what faith in God could do."
Be encouraged this day. Remember, this is only a test! You'll make it!
Carla Y. Nix
Founder
Live On Purpose Ministries