Exams? God Provides for the Faithful

I’m writing this testimony of a true miracle that occurred for me through the Grace of God. I’m sure it’ll provide comfort and hope for those who are distressed by their upcoming exam results just like I was back then. God Bless.

To start, I was always a bright kid when I was young. I used to get top marks in the class and I was essentially the “class geek.” Moreover, I was raised by a devout Christian family therefore I was raised in an environment where God was always first. I attended church, read the bible everyday and prayed with my family on Wednesday evenings.

Anyway, through God’s grace I passed my entrance exams when I was transitioning into secondary school and I managed to attend my first choice secondary school.

However then it all went downhill. My parents got a full time job and in many cases I was left at home by myself. As I grew into and through puberty obviously I got more “tough” and started to lay off reading the bible and I remember not praying at all since then. I attended church but it was more of a routine than anything. I didn’t feel God working through my life and I began to indulge in sins such as sexual immorality and I began to get into sports. I began to treat sports as an idol and it became a priority over God.

As I lost faith, my grades began to drop as well. From the brightest in the class, in secondary school, I started to fall to the bottom of the rankings and soon I was known as the classroom clown and I barely had any working spirit in me. The majority of my homework was last minute rushed work done at 1 AM. By indulging in sexual immorality I soon developed an addiction and my addiction to sports continued to overplay my faith in Christ.

I also started to go into online gaming and at this point reading the Bible was the last thing on my mind. It developed so bad that I ended up hating reading the Bible. Whenever my parents suggested reading the Bible I would get all frustrated and annoyed.

For the majority of my secondary school years leading up to year 12 I lived like that. Although I achieved some what reasonable GCSE grades (4A* 4A 2B) most of the prep had been last minute and I still living the sinful lifestyle. I stayed away from the Bible and although I did believe God existed, I would engage in sexual sin and stay afar from the Bible.

Soon the AS exams approached me. Being the sinful naïve student I was by that time. I greatly underestimated the exams and prepared it very much like I had prepared for my GCSEs – last minute.

OBVIOUSLY it didn’t work out.

I sat exams for 4 subjects: Math, Biology, Chemistry and History.

My most confident exams were my math exams with the very first module (C1) being the easiest.
It was also my very first exam so I approached it pretty chill and relaxed assuming I would whizz through it. I did all the past papers and got around 90-95% average.

How did the exams go?

ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE.

C1 the easiest exam? I missed out half the questions and I even had a mild panic attack during the exam. My palms began to sweat as I couldn’t bring myself to write down an answer as I my hands were shaking. All the questions seemed too hard. I soon came out of that exam heartbroken. The easiest exam had been an absolute fail. The exam experience in general seemed to be worse. Biology and Chemistry were doable but my hopes for an A and possibly predicted A* seemed to be smashed.

EVEN my history exam which I had been pretty good at was a train wreck. Many of the facts I wrote down during the history essay were WRONG and incorrect. Yet my other friends came out smiling and rejoicing on how easy it had been. This had also been my very last exam so I left the exams finally with a disheartened mindset and it all felt like God had punished me for my sexual sin. (so it would seem)
I came home and I just sat at my desk and sulked for the rest of the day.

It was then that I was able to muster up the strength and courage to bow before the Lord once again. I began to pray to Him and I began to realise how much of a sinful lifestyle I had lived. Sexual sin, idolatry and lack of faith in God. Knowing the importance of these AS exams I had no choice but to beg the Lord to forgive my sins and to ask for just one more opportunity to return to my old self a keen faithful hardworking student.

I had planned on going on visits with friends and banging out online games and sports. But with my poor exams none of that came into my mind. I decided to stay away from my joy for sports and gaming.

The two months up til results day I fasted from sports and gaming and I COMPLETELY abstained from sexual sin. I did not even consider engaging in sexual immorality ever again. I began to read the Bible morning and evening again and the words in the Bible seemed to heal my inner wounds. I started to participate more in Church and I tried my best to live a “Christ-like” lifestyle. I also prayed every evening.

What did I pray for?

1. That God would provide me with my exam results so that I would be given the opportunity to excel the next year during A2 exams and prove I was not a sinful lazy guy that I had been for the past few years. I begged God for 4 A’s with a predicted A* in chemistry as this would allow me to apply for my desired universities. I promised Him that I would never ever be put in situation where I would have to call upon his name in this manner. I also promised Him to live by his Word and stay away from sin.

2. That God would allow me to glorify his Name. For I had many Muslim friends who were also praying to their false god. I asked that I would be a beacon of God’s grace, mercy, power and love. I ALSO promised him that if he fulfilled my prayer I would donate 2 weeks EVERY YEAR when I got my full time job to do missionary work in 3rd world countries and to start a ministry outreach for Muslims (I already had a inner desire to bring Muslims to the truth).

AND SO
I lived like so for the 2 months – praying, reading the Word and abstaining from sexual sin. I also fasted from sports and gaming for the 2 months to focus my mind on God alone. The fight away from sexual sin seemed to be tough. I had lived with it for around 4 years so it felt like trying to quit an addictive drug. I would spend hours just forcing myself to stay away from it. But eventually I asked for God’s help and he delivered me from such sin.

As the time got closer to the results. Doubts began to cloud my mind. I began to wonder “Is God even up there?” I had completely failed my exam. The idea of getting an A seemed to be completely off the charts. I wondered if God would even be able to change my grades. But as I delved further into the Bible I saw how Jesus provided miracles for those with faith such as the centurion and the blind men.

“COINCIDENTALLY”
The LAST CHAPTER of the Bible I read BEFORE the exam RESULTS DAY was Mark 9. There I was hit by one verse:

Mark 9:23

All things are possible to him who believes

I believe till this day that that was a true sign from God to me.

I also had a flashback to when I had sat two of my most important exams for my secondary school entrance examinations. I remembered finding those two particularly difficult. One of them was for the school I wanted to attend. But the other one had been for an Independent School. I remembered coming out of that exam feeling bad too. But through God’s grace I passed with flying colours and I had even received an invitation for an interview!! Considering this had been an exam I had done just as a joke to see how well I would do, I began to realise that God alone had provided for me back then when I had remained faithful to him. This provided me with more faith and comfort in God.

On results day I went to the exam result collection hall and while I cannot say that I wasn’t nervous I had the confidence in God within me. And I recited that verse while others worried around with their friends screaming and shouting.

What results had I prayed for?

A A A A (A*) = This would honestly only be possible through a miracle. None of my exams were good and I completely flopped on the majority of them. At best without God’s grace I would’ve probably achieved something like B B C D. This would be an IMPOSSIBLE outcome without a miracle from God.

What did I get?

A A A A (A*)

I will not describe how I felt after looking at these grades as this would get too long (its long already). All I can say is that from then on the confirmation of God’s grace came upon me. I was able to glorify God’s name and I have lived with God’s word within me at all times. Till this day God has been good to me and I cannot thank him enough for being there for me.

But I realised one more important thing on hindsight. God had not only rescued my grades but he had rescued ME. I had lived a sinful lifestyle heading for hell yet through this experience I was able to return to God and be given affirmation of his Grace and Mercy. For those of you who are still engaging in worldly sins, I pray that you will break free from such evil and that you would experience God’s mercy and power just like I did.

HALLELUJAH

I am sorry that this testimony was long but I feel I can only express my testimony by doing so.

I hope this provides hope to those who are still expecting results.

Just stick to GOD’S WORD and HAVE FAITH

God bless you all.

John 15:7

If you abide in Me and My words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you

P.S.

I also found a really really good website that provides you with truly amazing Bible verses for students who have been in my situation when facing a horrendous exam experience. I’ve linked to it here for you to visit. It genuinely comforted me during the 2 months leading up to results day and am sure you will be able to find comfort in God’s Word the same way as I did.