God Is Always Good

I am always amazed at people who can learn a language. Our Sunday school teacher, learned Russian and Greek. He was called as a missionary to go to Russia, and teach Russian students Greek. So he was speaking in Russian, teaching the Russian students, Greek. Seriously, how do you do that?

In college, I saved my Spanish classes for the very last minute. Meaning, I had to take three semesters of Spanish, and didn’t start taking those classes until my spring semester of my junior year. Yeah, I know, brilliant planning on my part. I didn’t leave any room for failure. If I wasn’t doing well in the class, I couldn’t drop the class and take it another time. And I certainly didn’t want to stay past my four years in college. I just couldn’t afford it. Well I took my first semester in Spanish and did okay. Okay, meaning, I didn’t flunk the class.

I enrolled in my second semester Spanish class in the fall semester of my junior year. Apparently I wasn’t alone in my difficulty in learning a new language. Shortly after our class started, our Spanish teacher confronted the whole class. She said we were all flunking the class. (At least I wasn’t alone in this). She said there was one week left to legally drop a class without it affecting our grade point average. She had a plan for us. She was going to give us a test. If we passed the test, we’d probably pass the class. If we didn’t pass the test, then we should seriously consider dropping the class and taking it another time. She would administer the test to us and then meet with each of us individually, to make a decision about the class. Ack. This wasn’t part of my plan. I couldn’t afford to take the class at a later time. I needed to graduate that spring. Okay, I needed to buckle down and try really hard with this test she was going to give us.

Well I did buckle down and studied really hard for that Spanish test. That’s all I did for two days. I really couldn’t afford to drop the class. I studied and prayed. And then I prayed and studied. And then I studied and prayed again. The test came around. We all took the test. Then each of us had a meeting time, to meet with our professor and go over the results of the test. My meeting with the professor was 11:00am. I wasn’t quite confident in my Spanish test taking abilities, so I decided to head over to the Administration building to get an Add/Drop form. I figured I could have it handy and save myself a trip by producing it for my teacher, in case I did badly on the test. As I was walking to the Administration building and praying, a thought entered my mind. “Faith is believing in things unseen.” I literally stopped in my tracks. “Faith is believing in things unseen.” I didn’t have any faith at that moment. I was going to get the Add/Drop form because I didn’t think I did well on the test. I didn’t think all my prayers and studying really did it. I wasn’t believing that I could have passed the test. There was serious doubt in my mind. But “Faith is believing in things unseen.” I needed to believe. Right at that moment, I made an abrupt turn and walked towards my Spanish professor’s office. I wasn’t going to to get an Add/Drop form. I didn’t need it. I had prayed about it. I had studied for the test. “Faith is believing in things unseen.”

I showed up to my appointment on time. My professor greeted me and had me sit down. She asked me how I thought I did on the test. I said I think I did okay. I was believing in things unseen. I didn’t have an Add/Drop form on me as a testament to my lack of faith. She smiled at me. Well Wendy… I waited. “You got the highest grade in the class! You got a 96% on the test!” I wanted to cry at that moment. I wanted to scream and raise my hands up in the V formation of victory. “You got the highest grade in the class!” kept singing in my head. I couldn’t stop smiling. I got the highest grade in the class! Wow! I thanked the Lord in my head. The professor said I could stay in the class and I would most likely pass it. Alrighty then. I thanked the Lord again in my head. I kept thanking the Lord in my head. I still wanted to cry, but I didn’t.

God is good ALL THE TIME. Not some of the time. Not every once in awhile. God is good ALL THE TIME. That moment when He reminded me that “Faith is believing in things unseen,” He was asking me, “Do you believe? If you believe, show Me.” I simply obeyed, and made an abrupt change and turned around and headed in the other direction without the Add/Drop form. I was making a declaration that yes I believed after all my prayers and studying that I could pass that Spanish class. I’ll have you know, I did pass that class, took the third class, passed that class too and graduated in four years. God is good…All THE TIME.