Sent by Olivia Tong • Aug 20, 2023

I enrolled for Australian Matriculation in college in early 2022, not knowing what I was getting myself into and definitely not expecting it to consume such a huge part of my life. Within just weeks of beginning the programme, I had already been plunged head-first into juggling daily assignments, maintaining good grades for weekly exams, leadership responsibilities in church, and university applications. It was safe to say that I soon became overwhelmed- barely balancing my personal, academic, and church lives, and trying to pour as much as I humanly could into all these different areas. My finals came around just when I began to run thin and got closer to burning out.

I remember crying out in frustration to God, waving a white flag and questioning what He was doing with my life. Why was He setting me up for failure? How was I going to get a good enough grade for university? Why weren’t my grades reflecting my effort? Did I even have a future?

I remember listening to the song lyrics “When I can’t take one more step, You will make a way” from Maker by Woodlands Worship. And it was in that moment of weakness that I realised – maybe I had been relying on my own human strength too much. It wasn’t an easy realisation, that I needed to put aside this delusion of self-sufficiency and pass the burden onto Him to complete the work that He had started in me. Who was I to think that I could get anywhere by my own human strength?

Results day approached quickly and I remember sitting outside the auditorium after DewCrew debrief, praying for God to just give me a good ending to college. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that day- opening my results in the DUMC concourse, barely able to hold my phone without shaking.

90.45 ATAR score.

This was leagues above any score that I could’ve imagined myself getting, and also leagues above any score I deserved to achieve. I remember feeling a massive wave of relief rush over me as tears flooded my eyes- how could I have doubted God’s abilities?

I will forever keep this moment as a reminder that when I am weak, I am made stronger through Him. There was no way that I could’ve humanly carried myself to the finish line without His work through me, His strength, His providence, and His undoubtedly merciful grace.