Much Ado About Stigma
By Tracy Phua, 23, Singapore
I stared in disbelief at my re-test script. I had failed both my Chemistry and Physics examinations. Again.
Science was never my forte. At 15, I struggled through an entire year of Pure Sciences before 5
schoolmates and I were put in the Combined Science class (a simpler science subject offered under the Singapore educational system). The six of us had one thing in common—we flunked both the overall Pure Sciences final examinations and the re-tests.
The stigma of being 1 of the 6 students in the entire cohort to be studying Combined Science was
unbearable! I even contemplated cutting classes just so that no one would see me in the “loser” class.
After enduring a year of Combined Science lessons, and having sat for the national exams, God
revealed to me why I was so unfortunate in Science—I’m better in the Arts! I had scored straight As in my Humanities subjects and by the grace of God, I scored an A in Combined Science. If I had kept up in the Pure Sciences, I would not even pass, much less acing it. The good results paved the way for me to enter into junior college.
Looking back, when I held the test scripts in my hands, my disappointment at having tried hard but yet failed in the Sciences had clouded my faith and hope in God. I was blind to God’s hand working in my future. All I could see was the failure in my present.
But in Psalm 139:16, we read: “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in
your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (NLT). The days of my life are all prepared before I had even lived one day! My future is in God’s hand.
He made me. He knows me perfectly. And He knows where to place me so that I would shine the
brightest. Therefore, let us cling on to God when our future seems bleak, or even when things are
falling apart.
As C. S. Lewis once said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” Let’s learn to see everything through the perspective of Scripture.
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CHRISTIANITY IN THE 21ST IS FACED WITH LOT OF CHALLENGES. CIVILIZATION HAS USHERED IN VICES IN A HUGE FORM. WE CATCH GLIMPSE OF EVIL EVERYWHERE, ON THE T.V, RADIO AND OUR SCHOOLS. HEAVEN-MINDED CHRISTIANS HAVE TO HOLD TIGHTLY TO THEIR FAITH THROUGH THE GRACE OF GOD IN ORDER TO CARRY THROUGH THIS FILTHY WORLD. MAY GOD HELP US WITH HIS GRACE.
I’ve been through the exact same phase as well! It showed me how God loved and guided me to what He knows is best for me instead of what I deem best for myself. I struggled loads too, but God never fails. Keep shining for Him in your own way! All the best!
Iam right now in a situation where I do feel like a loser as nothing seems to be working out for me. This article encourages me to hold on to the faith that God would have a purpose for allowing this situation in my life, He is still in control. Thank you.
Last Sunday, I accompanied my friend to his church for Sunday service. During Praise and worship, everybody in the hall was singing with all their hearts. But there was except one particular person who wasn’t singing. He was the only person in the whole hall not singing. He was a mute. But though he was mute, he and his dad who was standing next to him were still singing praises for God with all their heart and soul. Because he couldn’t talk, he was praising God using sign language. It really warmed my heart. He was mute, yet he was still praising God with so much love and praise. And so was his dad. I was so touched I cried. It really shows how loving and powerful God is (:
God is love. God is power. God is hope
God’s will is perfect and pleasing (:
To God Be the Glory
This is so true. I can definitely relate to that. Humanities were never my strengths and I always dreaded them. I always considered myself more science-oriented because then I was within my comfort zone. The funny thing is that I ended up majoring in something completely different from the sciences. I remember being frustrated that seeing that my dream of being a physist not materialize. God does work in mysterious ways. Our ways are not his. We are like the characters in his masterpiece. The storyline has been written and ours is to follow HIS script not OURS. We cannot seek to amend his plans to suit our selfish desires.
what we may think as bad luck or not in tandem with our dreams are exactly God’s plans. He knows what we are supposed to be and do on this earth. We need to walk by faith ALL the time. TRUST his better judgment as opposed to ours, walk the path he has set out for us because he never errs in his plans. Nobody knows you better than OUR FATHER. Trust His ways because everything that happens in your life happens for a reason, it is not coincidence but it is because he planned it to happen that way from the very beginning. Next time you think that things are not going your way, Pause and think..your way or his way;