Testimony Tuesday...Struggle+Praise=JOY

"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing."

~James 1:2-4

When you're going through a difficulty, trouble, or struggle, what is your first response?  To praise God??!  Um...hmm...that's most likely my last response.  My first response typically is to complain about it and chew on the taste of that complaint until the flavor runs out.  

A couple of months ago, God was teaching me to praise Him as my first response to a struggle, and God, of course, was testing me to see if I was learning what He was teaching.  He tested me, though, in a way that wasn't directly about my own personal struggle.  He wanted me to pass on my knowledge of praising Him to one of my sweet seventh graders, who was the very definition of struggle ever since I met her last year.

This young lady has many challenges academically. She has to work ten times harder than other students her age.  Her brain doesn't make the normal synapse connections, and so learning, remembering, and applying concepts is especially difficult.  This year, however, she has put forth tremendous effort and with the help of a very supportive family, she has made great progress as a student.  Unsatisfactorily, she still doesn't always make the grade she would like to.

One afternoon, I was tutoring this young lady, and she just wasn't getting the concept.  She gave me a look of defeat that I had seen so many times before.  I gazed into her sad eyes and asked her if she wanted to pray.  She said, "Yes."  I told her that we have prayed together before to ask God for His help but we never prayed to praise Him for the struggle she was having. 

"Would you like to praise Him for your struggle?" I asked as I thought about the lessons God had been teaching me.

"Yes," she said, "I would like to praise Him."

"Oh!" I replied with surprise. "Okay, then.  Let's pray and praise God for struggles!" I smiled big at her, and she mirrored back a big smile.  Then we bowed our heads and praised God.

The rest of our tutoring session that afternoon went smoothly.  Joy took over both of our hearts.  We actually chuckled after the prayer because if you think about it, it is pretty funny to thank and praise God for struggle.  What a silly thing to do!

I loved having that moment with my student.  I loved that God entrusted me to share new knowledge with her that I had gained from Him.  I loved that I saw her learning something about faith at age 13 that I didn't learn until age (eek!) 36.  I loved seeing the joy in her face and the peace in her demeanor as we continued our session.  I loved even more what God did for her the very next day and then again two days later...

The very next day, I received an email from my student's history teacher saying she got the highest grade on the test out of the whole class.  The history teacher was beside himself and just couldn't resist sharing the astounding news!  Her grade? A 97.  Not that grades can and should really put value on us, but for this student, this was everything!  Prior to this grade, she had been receiving grades well under 97.  

Two days later, she received her science test back from her science teacher.  The grade?  A 100!!!!!!!!!!  So amazing was this, that the science teacher had her phone ready and recorded the event!  My seventh grade student burst into tears of utter joy, and even now, tears fill my eyes as I think about the feeling she must have had in receiving that grade.  What better way for God to validate her prayer of praise and all of her hard work!

Since that time, my student has been continuing to struggle and continuing to praise God and work hard.  She was one point (ONE POINT!!) away from Honor Roll last quarter.  So amazing!  The next quarter ends this Friday, and I am waiting with bated breath to see if she makes Honor Roll.  Whether she does or not, I know she will continue to praise God because she's the kind of girl who may struggle academically, but when it comes to faith, she struggles not.  Wow...I still have so much to learn from my students!