Top of the day to You!
Welcome to another episode of The Learning BOOST, today's episode is written by Offor Princess Chinyere who holds a first-class degree in Petroleum Engineering and graduated as the best student in her set in the Department of Petroleum Engineering, Covenant University. She is passionate about teaching and seeks out platforms to give back what she knows.
So sit back and have a wonderful read.
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So before we start today's discussion let me say this: Every Setback is a setup for a comeback!
Let's dive in to what Princess has for us this morning:
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I have always been a bright chap and I have believed that right from my mother's womb. Getting good results seemed too cheap a task. Maybe, that was the reason, I never really valued it.
It was a great privilege from God and I really needed to be thankful. Some of my course mates 'jacked' their brains out but my understanding came easy. Not as easy as when I was in the process of learning because it could take me ages to comprehend.
Though, I knew that when I got to the point of eureka, I had crossed the bridge of success already. Thank God, I now know better. I absolutely appreciate God for my mental acumen.
Some few months back, when my final year began, all hell broke loose. In my Alpha (First) semester, I found out that I wasn't in the least motivated to read. I grew up loving to read hence I couldn't understand the turn of events.
One of the quotes I won't forget is that "Excellence is not an act, but a habit". This lack of motivation began a year before I recognized it. I had been slacking in a lot of areas and it greatly affected my reading culture.
I thought I could always catch up as usual. It did not shock me however when I got my Alpha semester results and to me I failed woefully. It was a first class result people would have been scabashing for, but it did not impress me. It was not my best. I considered it my worst. But, the deed had been done and I had given my CGPA a run for its life.
Omega semester was the comeback. If I didn't revenge on failure, it would resurfaced again. After being MIA (Missing in Action) as regards reading, I asked God for help. I knew my actions would have grave consequences if they were not channeled into right decision making.
Truly God was so faithful and He gave me a guide "Leave no stone unturned". I loved rummaging through a lot of textbooks both relevant and irrelevant. But, this time I was to cover every relevant textbook; soft copy or hardcopy, library books, videos, YouTube clips relevant to my courses.
The Holy Spirit helped me to filter the unnecessary materials and He really saved me from time wasters. He is so sweet. All I did was to ask and listen, and All He did was to answer and guide.
Now I also had to rely on my greatest strength and that was teaching people. I had an advantage to this edge because God once told me "Princess, if you read well, you will pass but if you read early, others would pass to". I always told people that teaching does two things for you:
1. You understand better. The teacher always gains more than the students. It is not a waste of time and energy. He gets the opportunity to correct his errors. Repeatedly teaching a thing makes it stick to the brain.
2. Your work of love ascends to God and you don't have to pray much. You can't bless God by your service and He will let you fail.
So yes, I looked for opportunities to teach people, conduct tutorials and sure, those opportunities were 'everly' available. This gave me great satisfaction and confidence. I wouldn't hurriedly say I always read early but I thank God for the times I faithfully did.
Finally with a touch of what the Chancellor (Dr. David Oyedepo) would always say," Any dummy can become a success if he productively invests his time and resources into his assignment".
That sparked up the Spirit of resilience and consistency in me. It also gave rise to a lesson the Holy Spirit taught me, "The Power of Every days". If you can consistently give time to something every day, your investments would soon yield.
Omega (second) semester exams began and my Faith was highly tested. For the first time, I cried in my departmental toilet over a paper I wrote. Still I told God, I wouldn't accept even a "B" for any of my courses and I praised God for it.
He sure kept to His Word in Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
When the results came out, I had aced all my courses with a sharp "A". Wow, I screamed and jumped in Chapel when someone told me my results. God had been super-duper awesome.
It meant so much to me because had I accepted the failure and lack of motivation, it would have created a streak to my performance in NYSC, postgraduate studies, work, marriage, family, etc. God had disgraced the enemy again. The enemy was helplessly helpless.
It was really A COMEBACK, what's more is that we had seven other first class CGPA students and a whole lot of 2.1 and 2.2 graduate successfully from my department. IT WAS A REAL COMEBACK AND IT STILL IS.
It can also be a comeback for any other person out there if they learn and heed to what I have learnt. Here are a few of the things I have learnt
1. The Holy Spirit wants me to succeed more than I want myself to, hence all I have to do is ask for His help. Luke 11:13, Jeremiah 33:3, Isaiah 65:24
2. My failure is a disgrace on Divinity. Deuteronomy 28:13 I must strongly despise failure.
3. Read early, it saves me from the stress of being tense when people are talking about something I may not know about.
4. Read every day. Proverbs 22:29. I must keep my brain working.
5. Teach others. 1 Corinthians 15:58. There will always be slow paced and dependent individuals, while I would always have something to offer if I obey steps 1-4 but I must be wise about it.
6. I can't always catch up by wishing success instead of working. Success is when opportunity meets preparedness.
7. Stay motivated and inspired. I can't afford to accept failure as a roommate, I wouldn't even share my noodles and suya with him.
8. I must determine to have A COMEBACK and let my story be the next success testimony post.
Proverbs 4:18.
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That brings us to the end of this episode, hope you were able to get something out of it, cause I certainly did.
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