Learning to Have Faith in God
Thank God for seeing me through to graduation! I’m Alina and I just graduated from NUS in July this year.
Graduating from University
University was a period of time where I really enjoyed that I had learning and growing. If you were to ask me what my biggest takeaway from the four years I had there was, my answer would not be the geography theories I’ve learnt, the field trips that I had gone for, or the friends that I had made along the way. Instead, as I looked back on my time as a student, what stood out to me were the lessons on the reality and application of faith that enabled me to grow from a person who used to get easily overwhelmed to one that learnt to exercise faith in God.
Easily Overwhelmed
Being a student was never smooth-sailing for me. When I first started university, I constantly struggled to understand my classes and cope with the assignments that were there. It always seemed easy for my friends who would score good grades for their pieces of work. I remember the times in school when I really struggled to understand what I was learning, my mind was constantly filled with thoughts like: “This is really so hard, why is it that I can never understand?” or “I don’t think I am good enough to be able to do it”. As a result, feelings of stress and inadequacy constantly filled my heart and mind and I was constantly overwhelmed by all the things around me. I was overwhelmed by the numerous amount of work that needed to be done, the tight deadlines, and the difficulty of understanding my modules.
Faith to Overcome
Hear my cry, O God;
Attend to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed,
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I”
Psalm 61:1-2
These experiences that I had gone through taught me deeper lessons on what it meant to have faith in Him. Psalm 61 was a passage that really reflected how I felt during stressful moments in school, but it also taught me to not be easily overwhelmed by the circumstances of life, but to look at things from a different perspective – with eyes of faith.
Faith really made a difference. As I approached the last few semesters of school, I sought to turn my eyes toward God and away from myself. I saw how God and His Word enabled me to become a stronger person and not be so easily overwhelmed. Each time I was faced with something I struggled to understand, it was a time of turning to the Lord for His help and seeking to trust that He will enable.
Growing in Faith
As I graduate and step into a new phase in life, I thank God. Firstly, I know that it was only by His grace and enabling that I could be where I am today, graduating from University. Secondly, though there were many experiences and struggles, it was through them that I learnt what it means to exercise faith, to trust in Him and to not be overwhelmed. Moving onward, I carry with me these precious lessons and look forward to continue growing, learning, and applying faith every step of the way! School may be challenging and overwhelming at times, but may you always remember that we have a great and good God that we can learn to have faith in (: