The first day of my senior year in high school, I realized that I didn’t have lunch period with any of the few people with whom I had a close relationship. Two of my sisters and a handful of intimate friends who went to school with me all had the later lunch, and I was stuck at the early lunch surrounded by only acquaintances. Being an introvert and a senior in high school, the last thing I wanted to do was cultivate relationships with people I only knew in passing.
Although I had never gone to my guidance counselor out of my own initiative, I had no qualms about knocking on her door that day. I went straight to her office, sat down and cried in desperation. She had to find a way to switch my lunch period. There had to be something she could move in my schedule to reunite me with my sisters and friends.
She brought up my class schedule on her computer and compared my requirements with the classes available. She searched and manipulated every class arrangement, but she came up empty. There was simply no class that I needed that could fit into my schedule, which would leave the later lunch open for me.
She looked at me and waited for me to resign to the fact that I would be eating lunch alone my entire senior year, but I would not have it. I knew in my heart there had to be something she could do. I stared resolutely at her until she finally looked back down at her computer screen. I wasn’t going to leave her office until I had a new printed schedule in my hand.
Tentatively, she asked me if I had taken honors Marine Biology. My counselor knew I didn’t have the best grades. She had visited me several times regarding the fact that I couldn’t pass Algebra 2. Also, I never took honors classes because I had very poor study skills. Luckily, however, my junior year, I decided to take one honors class because I thought the fun would outweigh the work. That class happened to be Marine Biology.
She looked pleased and somewhat shocked that I had taken an honors course. Then, she explained that I could be a teacher’s assistant for Freshmen Biology.
“I’ll do it!” I yelled.
Never in a million years did I ever think that I could be a teacher’s aid, but my desperate situation caused me to look beyond my comfort zone and my standard of normalcy. At that moment, I was open to every and any possible solution to my problem. Through a very thin chance of likelihood, I obtained a wonderful role of responsibility that boosted my self-esteem and got me into the later lunch period.
Our experiences, personalities and understanding dictate the flow of our thoughts, choices and actions. We allow ourselves very few options in life because our imaginations are weak and our view of God limited. What we don’t realize, though, is that God has infinite resources and a vast imagination, and His plan surpasses all comprehension. Oftentimes, He will allow our situations to become desperate, so we will be more willing to seek out alternate options and walk down unfamiliar paths.
When we find ourselves desperate and at a loss for a solution, we must stand firm in the promise that God is for us (Romans 8.31) and He will accomplish His promises to us (Romans 4.21). We can declare unwavering that God will provide a way through our roadblock, and then we need to look for God’s unique supply to our lack.
As we learn to rely on the Holy Spirit’s leading, our anticipation will begin to overshadow our desperation because we will trust that God will find a way when there isn’t one. Our faith will increase every time we see God provide in powerful ways, and the excitement we gain from walking with the Lord will be hard to contain.
“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland” (Isaiah 43.19 NLT).
