This has been a long six months.

I submitted a devotional back in January called Challenging the Python in which I told how I felt called to take a programming class. I told in that article how I was scared to take the class. Well, fast forward six months and I am in the final weeks of the class. The end is in sight. I would like to share how the Lord saw me through this challenge. There are three ways I felt that He was with me in this challenge.

As I stated the article in January, I was really scared going into the class. Also, when I was totally clueless about what the professor was saying in class. I was tempted to allow my emotions to overwhelm me. I have not had a lot of (positive) experience in learning programming languages. However, in those times I experienced His peace that passes all understanding. I remembered to get the main concept and I told myself I will fill in the details later. Second, I remembered that the professor and TAs had office hours and that the classes were being recorded so I could go back and fill in what I missed. Thirdly, I prayed, “Lord you brought me here, please see me through this!!!” These considerations filled me with supernatural peace. Sometimes supernatural peace came before remembering these facts, sometimes after.

Secondly, He gave me the power to really lower my pride which led me to get the help I needed. I did not want to go to office hours before and after every class. I was not happy about that. I was very embarrassed. While I actually did not go EVERY time, I easily was there more often than any other student in the class. Because of my embarrassment, I tried to avoid going to office hours by getting a tutor outside of the class. However, I was not successful. All attempts to do so were met with yahoos who did not know what they were doing and did not know the Python language. I had to fire 4 “tutors”! I was able to find a tutor through the university who was able to give me an hour a week and since she was through the university, she was free!

The third assistance that the Lord provided to me was helping me to see that He actually has given me some brains to work these programming challenges out. I started to see patterns in the code and my past experiences in working with computers started kicking in. I found myself answering questions and the professor saying that I am actually asking some (gasp) good questions.

The difference that trusting the Lord in all this were inside me, and it made all the difference.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

—————————————————————————————–W.