It's over---finally

*Huge sigh of relief*

It's finally over. I woke up at 5:45 a.m. this morning, left the house at 7:00 a.m., drove to a school 45 minutes from here and sat down for 4 hours to take the A.C.T. test. On a side note, you may be surprised to know that I have never walked through the halls of a public school before in my entire life until today, so I can now officially say that I have.

I was told the test would start at 8 a.m., but we didn't begin until 8:25, which I'm guessing was because of late students. Also, I arrived at about 7:40, so needless to say I sat in anticipation to start for longer than I would have liked. The neat thing was that on a bulletin board in front of me contained a huge poster with the verse Philippians 4:13 written in huge letters--I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It also contained a lot of other posters that read things such as "Rock the World For Jesus," "WWJD?" "So You Wanna Change the World? What Are You Waiting For?" and other ones. I wasn't expecting those in a public school....

I sat there and read that verse in Philippians over and over and basically meditated on it.

I can...through Christ
I can do....through Christ
I do can do all...through Christ
I can do all things through Christ.
I can do all things through Christ
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

"I can do this through Christ..." I thought. Notice it doesn't say, "I can do all things." But instead, "I can do all things through Christ." I can do anything with His help!

I am grateful for God's blessings and help on the test today. I know it was His grace that helped me and I am thankful He answered my prayer. I have studied since April for this test. I have asked for God's help and I did the best I could do today, so whatever my score is I shall be happy because I have done all I could do.

I have to say next to prayer, a huge help in being prepared for the test was taking practice exams from the A.C.T. For Dummies book I bought. They are formatted just like the real A.C.T. test that includes even answer documents so you can practice filling in the correct answer. I sat down in a quiet room, timed myself, and took the test for 4 hours straight just like the actual A.C.T. under similar conditions as the test itself. After time was up, I checked my answers and was able to see what I needed to improve on and such. I did this twice, and I can't stress what a tremendous help this was to me. I have learned so many tricks and techniques that I was easily able to sit down today and work on the test while keeping up with the short amount of time I had because I had practice doing so before hand. So if anyone reading this needs a good tip for the A.C.T., this was a big help to me!

I am sooo glad it's over! It feels like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders and now I can finally enjoy my summer. I am now anticipating to receive my scores. I give God the glory for helping me today and now that those dreaded four hours of my life are gone, I hope I will never have to do it again.

Thank you so much for all who prayed for me!