Blessings Really Do Work

I had my math final this morning. Needless to say, I was beyond scared. In fact, I was so determined I was going to fail the class, I have already registered for statistics again next semester "just in case". That way, when the grades come out and I see that I have failed, the class won't be full when I try to enroll. I will already have it covered. (Good thinking, huh).

This morning as I was getting ready for school I asked John to give me a blessing. I am not one to ask for blessings. In fact, the last time I had a blessing is when I was dying in the back of an ambulance with six broken ribs, three broken vertebrae, and a collapsed lung. I thought blessings were only beneficial in "those" types of situations. Well, anyone who has taken statistics knows, this is one of "those" situations.

John gave me a wonderful blessing in which he asked for the knowledge I had would be available to me. I felt very comforted in my travels as I headed to Salt Lake Community College at six O'clock this morning. I of course, had no make-up on and hadn't eaten anything but a small piece of chocolate.

I don't even like chocolate, but I read in a medical journal that chocolate helps trigger the memory. Thus, by eating one ounce of chocolate before a test, one is more likely to score higher on the exam because you are more likely to remember the information. I don't know if it actually works, but ever since I read the article I have done it. I don't like chocolate, but dark chocolate isn't so bad.

On my way to school I began to say my own prayer to my Father in heaven. I kindly explained to him that I couldn't be as reverent as I would have liked by folding my arms, closing my eyes, and bowing my head because I was driving, but I knew he would understand. I get a little nervous saying prayers out loud, it's actually harder for me that any form of public speaking so I made light of the situation a little. However, I then thanked my father in heaven for bringing me John. A man who has the ability to give me a blessing. That's not something I have ever had in my married life.

I went on to thank him for the many blessings I have such as wonderful kids, a great supportive family, wonderful friends whom love me. I thanked him for the opportunity for an education, and the blessing of being able to go to school. I prayed to my Heavenly Father that he would guide me through this exam today. That I could remain focused and calm. I explained to him that I have never cried over a test, not alone before one and I was merely crying because I was so scared.

I was afraid of my math final. I was afraid I was going to fail the test today. I was afraid I would forget which formulas come from what chapter and go with which types of problems.I was afraid that I would have to retake the class and frankly, I'm not so sure my nerves can handle another statistics class. I was scared that because I was so scared that when I my professor would hand me the test, I would forget everything I had studied and draw a complete blank (which I have done before on regular tests). I prayed so hard that I was bawling all the way to the college.

I tell you this because I need you to understand my fear. Sitting at my table, my professor hands me my math test, I look at it, calmly. I hear a voice in my right ear say "that's from chapter one, you got this!" I knew the answer. Moving onto question two, I read it and a little voice over my right shoulder whispered in my ear, "that's from chapter 9. No problem!" I knew how to do this one too.

I was so excited when I came to problem three and I had to draw a stem and leaf. A little voice whispered in my right ear, "chapter three baby!"

This happened with nearly every problem. I was cookin'! Then, I get to problem seventeen. Uhh oh... I know how to do this one. "It's from chapter eight" I hear in my right ear. "You got this!" I know, but I can't remember how to work the formula, I thought to myself.

You are not going to believe what happened to me next. No, there was no fire drill. I closed my eyes and I could see my notes! I wrote my notes step by step in how to work every problem there could possibly be. Sure enough, there it was! I kept my eyes closed and I did the problem. How do I know I came up with the right answer? It's multiple choice. When I was finished working my problem, I opened my eyes, and there it was standard deviation = 3.5 ..... answer C.

There were twenty problems on this test. I know I missed the last one. I am quite confident on the others. Also, I am not sure how I missed my professor belting out " 1 hour!......30 minutes!........15 minutes!" I would have completely went into panic mode then. But, for some reason, I never heard him. Or at least I didn't realize I heard him. The only time I heard him calling time is when he belted out, "two minutes!" which is when I took a deep breath and wrote my last answer, which was, "Crap! I ran out of time!".