When I was a junior in High School, I used to pray over my Chemistry Textbook.
I’m not kidding.
In the middle of doing my homework, with the book open on my desk, I’d lay my hands on its pages. Then I’d put my head down on my hands as if I was going to go to sleep, and I’d pray. I’d pray that whatever the book was supposed to teach me about Chemistry would magically enter my brain. That God would use osmosis or His incredible grace to help me understand the language of chemical equations my brain could not compute.
I’d pray that whatever the book was supposed to teach me about Chemistry would magically enter my brain.
This praying, went on for months. Basically anytime I had homework or knew I had a chemistry test the next day. But as Chemistry is just one of those things God did not wire my brain for, the praying seemed to be more emotionally fortifying than anything else.
One night, after such a moment of prayer, I had an epiphany. Perhaps it was coincidental, perhaps it was God helping me put things into perspective. But all of a sudden I had this picture in my head of me, on my graduation day. And guess what graduation me wasn’t thinking about?
Chemistry.
All of a sudden, I could see past this incredibly hard academic year—that was punctuated by this class I thought I would never survive—and I realized, there would come a day when I wasn’t thinking about it. Better yet, there would come a day when I was free.
There would come a day when I wasn’t thinking about Chemistry. Better yet, there would come a day when I was free.
Friends, I share all this today because there will come a day when what we’re worrying about today—will be the furthest thing on our mind. Yes, many of us are carrying unimaginable burdens (financial, medical, relational, etc.) that are heavier than anything we’ve ever held before. And yes, this pandemic won’t be easily forgotten. But friends,
There will come a day when we are on the other side.
There will come a day when what is crushing you will no longer crush you. When what is consuming your mind, won’t cause a heaviness in your heart. When you will laugh all the way down through your belly to your toes—because joy has found you again.
I know comparing my high school chemistry class to what we’re going through right now, may seem trite. But when you’re in high school, things like chemistry are the concerns that fill your life—or at least they should be. They are the concerns that when you get to the other side of them, you learn—you will get to the other side of hard things.
There will come a day when what is crushing you will no longer crush you.
About a year and a half after my epiphany, praying over my chemistry textbook, I graduated High School. That whole day I didn’t think about Chemistry. I took hundreds of photos with my friends in our caps and gowns. I crossed the stage and received my diploma. But never once did I think about chemical equations.
Yesterday’s chemistry class, is my today’s pandemic concerns. Friends, I keep thinking, God helped me through chemistry—and so many harder things since—we will make it through this.
What was your “chemistry class”—the thing in High School you thought you’d never get through?
What is your struggle today that feels unending?
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