Excel for His Excellency

Thinking of what to blog about, although I have other things I'd like to share, I felt the Lord has put it on my heart to share what I've endured during this tumultuous semester.

The apostle Paul, writes "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

This was one verse I held very close to my heart entering bible college long after leaving a possible profession as a Registered Nurse. Up until this semester, things have been flowing very well, through the grace and mercies of God I was able to come out with more A's and B's than I ever had as a pagan heathenish idolatrous slave to sin. Where getting an A in one semester was like once a blue moon, is now happening regularly without blue moons. I rarely cared about doing well prior to knowing Christ as my personal Lord and Savior because I did not know who I was, why I was here, and where I was going. The years I spent as a Nursing major at Long Island University were years in the wilderness not having a reason do to well but only so that my mother's money wasn't wasted away.

I felt more like a slave ordered to do well than free to do well for a legitimate reason.

Everything changed the day when I came to know and believe Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. Things are different now because I know who I am, why I am here, and where I am going. Moreover, I have a solid and eternal reason to do well in the educational aspect of my life: I serve a great and mighty God, one who not only has given me life eternal but gave me a reason to live, a reason to hope, a reason to go on, and a reason to do all things well for His glory. Why? Because He is worthy...He is more than worthy. He expects this of us.

Getting back to this past semester (which is over, praise the Lord!!!), my back was against the wall. I didn't have any space to breathe. For the first time in bible college, I was considering dropping two classes (Readings in NT Greek and Elementary Hebrew 1) because I was struggling miserably (WARNING: DO NOT TAKE TWO LANGUAGES IN THE SAME SEMESTER). I was failing miserably because as I have depended on past successes, I thought this would be a cinch, but due to inconsistent lack of studying and preparation, I was facing this ordeal. It was just that I was struggling for I did not take the time to study (I found myself not able to juggle all these classes as in the past). What you sow, you will reap. So I asked the Lord to forgive me, for not taking this semester seriously, for not being a good steward in my studies. I was desperately feeling like I would not pass these classes, hence, thinking about dropping these courses.

I even heeded to the lies of the enemy: "You remember what the radiation tech told your mom years ago during your treatment, 'Because he is receiving radiation on his brain, he will not be as bright as he was and he will not excel as well as he has in the past.This will be a life-long effect on your son, Mrs. Soria" You can't excel, you will not pass. Cop out now. Drop these classes."

My wife encouraged me not to believe the lies, that the Lord is bigger than this, and that I was not the same person I was during that unfortunate time in my life. She prayed, her parents prayed, I prayed. I pushed hard with faith and diligence, believing that the Lord would help me succeed for His glory. Do you believe He did?

BIB 313: Genesis- A
PMN 346: Personal Spiritual Formation- A-
INT 481: Integrative Capstone Seminar- B
GRK 231: Readings in NT Greek- B-
HEB 101: Elementary Hebrew 1- C

You bet He did!!! Yes, brothers and sisters, He does care about things like this. We might think that this part of our lives are insignificant to our Lord but it is not. I say this with assurance: When you depend solely on the Lord and you labor hard in whatever you for His glory and not our own, He will show Himself powerful, faithful and present. We serve a great and mighty God, brothers and sisters and we would do well to remember that we have a duty to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world not just with our words but with our actions and in what we do because when we witness to our classmates and excel in our studies, it speaks volumes. Ladies and gentlemen, remember the words of the apostle Paul..."So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." Amen. Excel for His Excellency.