Graduate!

I'll sing to You, Lord, a hymn of love for Your faithfulness to me. 
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I'm carried in everlasting arms; You'll never let me go through it all.

4th Feb 2017 | MCKL Graduation | @Dream Centre

Emily has graduated! ...but not from university just yet. I finished my A-level programme last year and we had graduation last Saturday.

I had the privilege of doing Scripture reading during graduation, and the selected passage was Psalm 33. The psalm professed truths about God that I felt were so timely. "Don't count on your warhorse to give you victory..." We are often so materialistic, not in the sense of material wealth and possessions, but in the sense that we trust more in things we can see & discern physically (like a warhorse) than in the omnipotence and loving Sovereignty of God, who orchestrates all things carefully and gloriously out of the "vast reservoirs" of His Love.

Why do I say this was such a timely reminder? Well - in a ceremony that celebrates academic achievement, we do need to be reminded that:

(a) These things only matter in the scope of eternity if we devote these to the glory of God. Giving thanks for His blessing, faithfulness and help throughout our term of study; learning out of the joy of experiencing God's gift of intellectual understanding; learning about the wonderful creation God has given to us; using the things we study to help others in a God-honouring way...

(b) As Pre-U courses are meant to be stepping stones into university, we are often anxious to study as hard as possible to achieve results that get us into the most highly-ranked uni... But remember that God in His Sovereignty determines all things. I found that the papers I did best in were the papers I was most stressed out about and which I felt didn't test the parts of the syllabus I was strongest in. I felt this was God's supernatural reminder that He's there and He breathes upon even what seems like the most material part of a student's life: results, exams, grades.

Graduation has been a wonderful reminder of His faithfulness and blessing. I know that no matter what happens, God is there. What He chooses to give and what He chooses to take are all according to His rich grace. So I try my best to give thanks in everything, remembering they are all God's gracious gifts. :)


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