And He Does

Before I got into graduate school, it seemed like this elite club only certain people could join—a semi-impossible goal that was forever beyond my reach.

Now that I’m in graduate school, it’s challenging…and I’m not sure why I wanted into this exclusive club in the first place.

All jokes aside, grad school is hard. It’s hard in ways I never saw coming and in ways I expected (but didn’t necessarily look forward to).

For example, I knew that it would include some reading. I was right; there’s a lot of reading. Reading that is dense and scholarly. Reading that takes a lot of time.

This week, I had seven articles to read, and they ranged from 9-18 pages each. Timing myself on the first one and then doing some advanced math (adding and dividing haha), I wrote out the predicted times it would take me to read each one. (This includes annotating them and making brief notes on the sides.)

This is what I came up with:

It’s very possible some tears were shed. (Well not this time, but it has happened before.)

Just FYI, this is for ONE CLASS. ONE CLASS. I had other readings outside of this class.

The weekly readings might be the end of my existence as I know it. My brain will simply be overloaded with too much information and implode. (Okay so that won’t happen, but sometimes it feels like it might!)

One thing I didn’t expect from being in graduate school—one thing that came as a very pleasant surprise, was how close I would feel to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

How my relationship with Them has grown in ways I didn’t know were possible.

I’ve learned that I need Them every hour. 

I’ve learned that God is dependable.

I’ve learned that I can trust Him.

Here are some of my very real and sincere prayers to Heavenly Father:

Father, this assignment is due today, and I don’t know how I’m going to get it done.

Will you help me?

And He does.

Father, I have a *long* day of classes ahead of me and am unsure how I’ll get through it.

Will you help me?

And He does.

Father, I’ve tried to get this paper done again and again and AGAIN and feel so stuck. Beyond stuck.

Will you help me? Will you please help me?

And He does.

Father, I use my bike to get to campus, and one of the wheels is wobbling. I need help figuring out what to do. 

Will you help me?

And He does.

Father, this paper is due tonight, and I can barely keep my eyes open.

Will. you. help. me?

Please, will you help me?

And He does.

And He does. 

And He does.

I know that not every prayer is answered in the way that we want or in the timing that we want or in the way that always makes sense to us.

But I believe President Holland when he said, “I testify that God hears every prayer we offer and responds to each of them according to the path He has outlined for our perfection…It is for reasons known only to God why prayers are answered differently than we hope—but I promise you they are heard and they are answered according to His unfailing love and cosmic timetable.”

I challenge you to try it. And keep trying it. To never give up. To turn to Him again and again and again.

Because I know and I testify that when you ask Heavenly Father for help, when you reach out with faith and perhaps some desperation, you will find that He loves you. He helps.

He will.

He has.

And He does.