Do Not Be Dismayed | Day 3

Verse: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” [Joshua 1:9]

Day 3

Many students struggle with overwhelming feelings of anxiety before taking an exam. I once read an article about a college that selected an exam [from their curriculum] that students reported to have the most anxiety over.  In a new school year, the college formed a study for one semester that would monitor the student behaviors and responses during the class that offered the exam.

In the study, the students were required to take the exam at the beginning of the semester before getting into any content and then again toward the end of the semester at the regularly scheduled time. The college directors knew that all of the students would fail the first exam, especially without any preparation or material that would come in the weeks ahead.  

As anticipated all of the students took it and failed. But what was discovered was that most of the student anxiety was reduced by significant amounts after the first exam. In fact students even did better on the second exam than in the previous year’s results. The first exam actually helped them prepare for the second.

When you stop to think about it most of our fears and anxieties are usually related to things that we might not know. Is it the questions on a test, the tasks in a job, what we might be required to answer or display. We fear failure, disappointment and or embarrassment. But the best way to prepare is by practice or doing something unknown until it becomes familiar. The best knowledge comes by trial and error. Ah, experience.

While you and I may not always know what’s ahead, there is someone else that is with us that does. He sees all and helps us navigate through our daily lives.

Think about it!

1. What kind of areas in your faith life make you anxious? Is it praying out loud, giving your testimony or inviting a friend to church? I guarantee you that most of anxiety is because you haven’t done it before, but once you start, you will grow more comfortable doing so.

2. If you feel like you don’t know what to do in any of those circumstances, ask yourself if you need to be doing more in order to get knowledge?  Praying alone or reading your bible; equipping yourself with personal experience that will make sharing easier.

3. If we can accept that fear, disappointment and embarrassment might actually come as part of the lesson. Would that make us respond to new challenges differently in the future? If so, how or why?

-------

Helping Hands Camp is a faith based youth camp that completes clean up and construction projects for those in the community that are unable to do so. These five devotions were written earlier in the year and were included in the booklet used at camp. The anchor verse is same throughout the week.



Photo Credit: Huffington Post