Anne is a worrier - I suppose she gets it from her Mum - but at every stage of her degree course she has worried that she has failed one of her end of term exams.

Studying for a degree has been not just a challenge for Anne but a sense of proving her self-worth.  You see, Anne's A' Level results were not as good as she had hoped.  They were not enough to get her the promised place at Vet School so 5 years ago, when the results came out, Anne's world fell apart.

She took a year out, went to Africa, worked with Aids orphans, came back and took a place at Edinburgh University studying for a degree in Biological Science.  Sadly, it soon became painfully obvious that she had made a bad choice, so she transferred to Aberdeen and a degree course in Zoology.

For three years she worked hard.  In her personal life she coped with the split up and divorce of her parents.  She also developed IBS and an intolerance to lactose, which meant re-thinking her entire diet and lifestyle.  She hung on in there, praying hard to God to get her through. 

However, the finals were particularly challenging and she was convinced she had failed at least one of the exams.  "God is punishing me, he is not answering my prayers, he doesn't love me anymore".  I assured her that God does not work like that, he does not punish us and it would be ok.

She got a 2.1. and her immediate comment to me was "there is a God and he does love me".    Would she have felt the same if she had failed?

Do we only believe that God loves us when things go right.  How hard is it for us to know and believe that God loves us when we are struggling with a crisis, when we are in the slough of despond or at the bottom of the pit. 

Life is full of good times and bad - that is part of life's journey.  We need to remember that God walks the whole journey with us and we need to remember to thank him for his love and rejoice in his company all the time, not just when things are good.

Rosemary

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