Junior Year

Most school years start up at a very slow, mellow pace and then begin to gain speed after the first week or so. This pattern is often seen in grade school, junior high, and usually into High school, but then, here comes junior year. Suddenly we’re hitting the ground running with only one elective and three to four hours of homework. I’m currently writing this blog post at 6:52 AM because all I had time to do after school was homework.

This of course is not to say that I’ve never gotten this much homework before. Because of my dyslexia I am a lot slower at reading and writing, so I’ve been getting homework from not being able to finish my school work in class almost every night since I was in third grade. Homework and I go way back but he doesn’t usually come back from his summer vacation until at least a week or two after the rest of us, but then, for some reason, he decides to come skipping through the front doors the first day, second period and then again the third and fourth. Luckily choir, which is fifth period, apparently doesn’t believe in homework. The many reasons that this year is so different for me is it’s my first year in advanced English. This means more reading which equals more homework.

Because of all my struggles to learn how to read, I have a lot of anxiety towards school, especially anything involving reading and time limits. This is why my first week of junior year was very stressful including an anxiety attack during Spanish class on Friday. (People with dyslexia have a hard time learning a foreign languages). However, God is teaching me how to handle my stress by trusting him. At the end of my sophomore year, he told me that he was going to heal all of my dyslexia symptoms by the time I graduate from High school so that I won’t have to struggle to keep up in college.

As I mentioned earlier, this is my first year in an advanced English class. That has also made the beginning of this school year more stressful than most years, but I am learning a lot more than I would be learning in on level English and God is showing me that I can do all things through him. Philippians 4: 6 - 7 says: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Than you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your heart and mind as you live in Christ Jesus.” When we are walking with Christ, we don’t have to worry about anything because we know that he is in control of everything.

Sometimes he doesn’t answer prayers in the time or way we want, but he knows what we need even better than we do ourselves. We need to trust him even when we don’t understand why certain things are happening or not happening when we want them to. It’s been hard growing up with dyslexia. I have had a lot of struggles learning to read and write and as a result, had a lot of self-esteem issues, but it has taught me how to rely on God instead of my own strength and he will work it all together for good. Trusting God in the midst of trial can be difficult, but it draws us closer to him and we become better people for it. Even though my junior year hasn’t been easy, God has taught me a lot through it and I know he will continue to as long as I continue to walk with him and trust him.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about The C.A.N Sisters’ Ministry, leave a comment below, check out our website, or email us at cansistersministry@gmail.com.