Hi, I’m Brijil, following my dad’s advice, each day before revising for my AS exams I watched an episode of Sehion Abhishekagni which is a Bible teaching in Malayalam (the language of Kerala, India) given by Fr. Xavier Khan Vattayil, that is available online. Each program also included Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and praise and w o r s h i p .
I would place my hands on the books that I was going to revise from whilst watching the program and pray that God would help me to revise.
A NIGHTMARE EXAM
Everything seemed to be going fine until the middle of my exams, I was taking my maths C2 paper, and the questions were horrendous. I had no idea what I was doing. I can still remember clearly that there were about eight questions on the paper and I could only fully answer the first three questions. I knew that these were only worth between two and six marks each. As I started the fourth question, I began to get worried because I wasn’t sure what to do. So I moved on to the next question, and then to the next but the questions just seemed to get worse and worse. I managed to do parts of the next few questions but the bits that I did were only worth about four marks each compared to the possible twelve marks that I could get if I finished the question. The exam did not go well at all.
MY DAD’S ADVICE
As soon as I got home, my dad asked me how it had gone and I burst into tears, because I knew that I had failed that exam. I couldn’t even answer half of the paper. He started to tell me Bible verses of encouragement such as, “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6: 33) “I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be lifted up and thrown into the sea”, it will be done.” (Matthew 21:21-22) “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27) He then told me to go to the prayer room in our house get down on my knees and thank God for all that had gone wrong in the exam. So I went and did as he said, I knelt down and thanked God. I thanked God, for all the questions that I had not managed to complete. For all the questions that I couldn’t finish because I ran out of time. I thanked God for all the questions that I didn’t know how to approach or what techniques to use. In short I thanked God for everything that had gone wrong. I walked into the prayer room crying, but after thanking God I walked out of the room with so much happiness and peace that I had never felt before. My tears had been changed to a big smile, because I knew that Jesus had a plan for me!
ANOTHER CONFUSING EXAM
A few days later I remember doing my Biology exams. I was worried afterwards because all my friends seemed to have answered the questions differently to me and they had drawn different graphs. The second Biology paper was even worse. We were expecting only two questions to be about applying our knowledge but every question in the exam paper was an application question that included many calculations and I found it very confusing. I had never had such a hard exam paper, where I was so unsure of what the examiners actually wanted.
“I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27
I tried my best to answer all the questions, but I remember just trying to write down anything and everything that might have a link to the question. Afterwards, everyone was discussing the exam and I compared my answers with two of my friends. These were smart girls who always got top marks and I remember they had similar answers to each other but my answers were quite different to theirs. I felt the familiar sadness and worry, knowing I had gone and messed up another exam.
KEEPING FAITH
After that exam, at home, I just told Jesus, “You’re going to have to mark the paper, because if the examiners see my answers they won’t even pass me. Jesus you have to fill those examiners with the Holy Spirit.” I just kept praying in faith. Before the results were announced, I was very worried, as I knew that my exams had not gone well. However, by God’s grace and mercy, He awarded me a B in maths and A’s in my other three subjects. I knew God had done the impossible. Because I trusted in Him, He worked for me. When I put God first in my life, He provided the miracle that I needed. All Glory be to Jesus!
Written by Brijil shares