The Assignment - the journey is as important as the result

Today I received my assignment back from Bible College. It was a good feeling to know that I had passed - a B! - but in some ways the feeling I had when I handed the assignment in to be marked was just as important for me.

I found the writing of the assignment incredibly difficult - not because of the topic or the lecturer, but because I had to face some "ghosts" from the past.

For lots of reasons high school was not "the best years of my life" and I left at the end of 5th form glad to be gone from the place and glad to be earning an income. I did leave however, not feeling that I had achieved academically and with echoes of very negative comments from teachers and classmates alike.

So to undertake a subject at Bible College this year has been very risky for me and has definitely been outside my comfort zone. I decided to take it as a credit course (which means I sit the tests, do the assignments and the exam at the end of the semester) rather than do it as an audit course (where you just go to the lectures and get a copy of the notes) because I knew I wouldn't put as much time into it or be as dedicated in my study if I didn't have to have my learning examined.

Many times I wished I had only done it as an audit course, especially when it came to the assignment. I wrote, rewrote, deleted, altered, rewrote again, and agonised over whether I had written intelligently or not. Thank you Alastair, Janette Busch, Amy and Warwick for patiently letting me "pick your brains" on writing assignments.

I have had a tendency in the past if I felt something was too difficult to just give up, and the temptation to do that again was very strong, yet all the time I knew that doing Bible College is part of God's preparing and equipping me for both now and the future and I knew that there were lessons I was learning about persevering, persistence and prayer that was as important to learn as the life of Abraham.

There was also the not wanting to let my family down, both Alastair and the children have sacrificed much so that I could make this dream happen - and they have also had to put up with a stressed mother!

So to finally hand in a completed assignment was a major milestone for me - but it is not over yet - the exam is yet to come!!

I also have a lot more respect for those who are studying full time at Bible College!