T’was a cool night sometime towards the end of the year 2013 when I received the WhatsApp message that I was going to spend an extra year in school because I had failed a course!

Now many people may beg to differ but I still think that is the worst way to give bad news to almost anyone. As I read the message on my phone, I could feel the blood rush to my head. I sincerely didn’t want to believe it but it had to be true because my dear friend who sent me the message knew very well how important my final results were to me and definitely wouldn’t make light of the issue. For the first time since I could remember, I had the sudden need for some really cold, fresh air. I thought I would cry, I wanted to cry but somehow the tears would just not come and sincerely I was at a loss of what to do. It was sometime before midnight, I had no one to talk to and I didn’t want to yet, at least not just yet. Somehow, I started praying, my heart desperately begging God to help me out, help me make sense of this, just to help me! I know the wealth of vocabulary the English language encompasses, are not in anyway capable to capture the intensity of those moments but I can tell you this, I was in a bad place!

Now having to go back to a school you had already waved goodbye to, may not seem like a big deal to many and I do not blame them. You see, the thing was that I had always been a star student throughout my primary and secondary education. Everyone who knew me then were expecting a standard first class result and nothing less from my tertiary education. Even though I knew that was a herculean task considering the caliber of results I had in my early years, as I prepared for my final exams I set my mind on one goal; to make sure I graduated and never came back. So, I read hard and even prayed harder still the tides seemed to be against me because I would later find out I had to rewrite two courses which for some reason were evenly distributed between the two semesters.

I was so sad I never really could tell some people about my failure in fact for a long time I had faith that it will be changed and also prayed earnestly still I always tried to ask God to override my will for His (very dangerous prayer point!) and well I’m sure He did.

So yes, I didn’t graduate with my mates. Yes, I had to spend an extra year in school so I could rewrite them two papers. Yes, I was so sad and disappointed but this I can tell you God does work in mysterious ways. At first, I couldn’t face my mum to tell her and when I finally did, she expressed her disappointment but she assured me of her complete support. Now that was my first miracle (love you mum!) and then God dealt with me up until I got peace. Here’s what He said to me:

“That you are a Christian does not mean you will never get into the fire. It only means even in the fire, God will be there with you (Emmanuel) and the fire would not hurt you.”

WOW!
I can’t fully explain what a revelation that was for me and needless to say I wrote a lot of stuff from that and you know what, as I rolled through the tides that one-year experience had to offer I could see what HE meant.

Writing this now, I am a graduate and I would not have wished to graduate any sooner because I have been made better and I know better.

Another lesson God taught me with this was the fact that Gold never really shines up until it has passed through fire.

This may not be the last challenge I may face and coincidentally, you my dear reader may be in quite a fix right now but lets hold on to this truth; God wants the best for us but even through the fire He’ll walk with us and on the other side, all we’ll be able to do is celebrate and rejoice!

Grace
Ezeonyeka Godswill