Believe in yourself!!

As I sat in the classroom this morning, waiting for the exam to begin, I looked around at the typically colorful room with it's brightly decorated bulletin boards. Various themes for each bulletin board: Halloween, Reading; Be kind to others. My attention shifted to the open door as another exam taker entered the room. I re-checked all the forms I had completed - date, time, place of exam, all the pre-exam jitters making me check them one more time (about the 10th time in all). "Hmmm," I thought, "did I see all the bulletin boards in here?" I turned to my left at the largest bulletin board in the room and I could feel my eyes water as I gazed at its message. In an rainbowlike arc across the board I read:
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!! Immediately, in my heart, the words were spoken to me in the voice of so many people....Ron, Laurie and Stephen, Scott and Tina, my sister, and my friends. I can't explain it, but it was a message that was sent exactly when I needed it. And I said thank you Lord. How great is He who brought me to a classroom that I have never seen before, and will likely not see again...but which displayed a powerful message.
The test? It was the most difficult exam I have ever taken - but likely the last. I went through all of the questions - answered those I could answer - marked the ones that needed to be thought about, and went back to them later. After that, I went back to the very beginning and re-read all the questions and all my answers. Two hours and 43 minutes later, I put my pencil down, gathered all my exam papers and forms, and gathered my things...bottle of water, calculator, my two #2 pencils, and my purse. The last thing left to do was to put my jacket on. Once I left the room, it would be over. Stopping at the proctor's desk, she checked to make sure everything was there in my test booklet, signed and complete. I thanked her and walked out the door...feeling behind me that colorful arc and taking it's message to heart. As I was leaving the building, one of the hall monitors - an elderly man with a smiling face said to me,
"piece of cake, eh?" Laughing, I said..."oh sure."
But as I walked to the door, I smiled to myself. And I believed.
Thanks for your prayers...see you tomorrow.
Blessings.
Sue