Disappointments Can Be Blessings In Disguise

     This past trimester at school I have been struggling in Chemistry.  I really wanted an A in that class because I love Chemistry, and it is important to me.  Anyways this past week we had a quiz in chemistry.  In preparation for the quiz I studied and prayed, a lot.  And when I finally took the quiz I failed it, terribly.  I remember going home for lunch crying, asking our Heavenly Father why He let this happen to me. I had been trying so hard to do what He wanted me to.  I had prayed for His strength as I studied and took the quiz.  But as I prayed I got this feeling that it wasn't over yet, there was still time.  So I decided to continue with my faith still in Christ.  I didn't stop studying or praying.  I kept going. Later that same week we had a test on the same subject, and I got a perfect score.  (And just so you all know that doesn't happen in that class.  My teacher purposely makes the tests really hard, so that when we take the AP test we will be more comfortable.)  I was so happy after.  And as I gave gratitude to my Heavenly Father I realized something.  Failing that quiz is what helped me.  Chemistry has a weird nature, because it involves a lot of math.  The quiz required plugging in a bunch of numbers to get an answer.  Because I failed it I looked into where those equations came from in order to remember it better.  It turned out that is what the majority of the test was on, the concepts not the math.  Because I failed the quiz I was able to learn the material better, and after that test my grade was up to an A.
     That miracle was simple and seemingly unimportant (after all what is an A in chemistry in the long run),  but it taught me a powerful lesson.  Our Heavenly Father knows what He is doing, and He will help us.  No matter what the trial is we can trust that it is for our benefit.  C.S. Lewis explains this concept by relating a childhood experience.   He recalls his repeated toothaches and his desire for relief, but likewise the nagging fear that if he disclosed his pain, his mother would take him to the dentist.  He said "I knew those dentists; I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache...If you gave them an inch, they took an ell."  Then He makes this comparison:

 "Our Lord is like the dentists...Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of... Well, He will cure it all right: but He will not stop there.  That may be all you asked; but if you once call Him in. He will give you the full treatment....'Make no mistake', He says, ' if you let Me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for.  Nothing less, or other, than that.  You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through.  Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect, until my Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said he was well pleased with Me.'

 

     We are in the pursuit of Godhood! The refining process won't be easy but it will be worth it. As Al Fox says in her video Continue " You will not have to go through anything that would not be the best for you.  You will not be withheld from any of the very best ever created.  Continue in Him.  Those times when you are discouraged , when you feel your prayers are not heard.  Those are the times when your Father in Heaven is closest to you.  You are in good hands"

 

    Our loving Father in Heaven is really looking out for us.  He knows what we need to become like Him.  He lets bad things happen to us, not to punish us or that He doesn't love us, rather it is because He loves us.  He loves us enough to let us go through hard times, as bad as it hurts Him to do it, to hurt the children He loves so dearly.  He does it because He knows it is the only way we will be fully happy.  Faith in Jesus Christ is still the answer.

Sorry that this is all really jumbled.  It was written as more of a journal entry, this subject has really been on my mind since I read Josh's talk. 
-If it ain't cheeseman, it ain't cuddly