"If-then" statements come to life!

"IF you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." -Matthew 21:22

In the middle of a frustrating math lesson today, one of my students blurted out, "Why do we even have to learn? Math? Science? History? Who cares? I wish I could just graduate so I could stop having to learn!" I'm sure my response disappointed him, because I told him that we never stop learning. Learning goes far beyond high school, and quite honestly, I'm sure glad it does! Without "learning," there would be no growth. Without growth, we'd all be boring and predictable.

When I arrived home this afternoon, I believe I learned a "life lesson." I received an email from a professor at Olivet who shared some very encouraging words. His last line, though, impacted me the most. It said, "Ask Him to help you teach and BELIEVE that He will--your faith will overcome any obstacle you face." What an awesome statement, and one that I've heard many times. The part that reached me today, though, was the part that talks about believing. . .

In geometry class I just finished teaching the students about "if-then statements," called conditionals. We discussed that for the consequent (the "then" statement) to be true, the antecedent ("if statement") must be true. In other words, one part of the statement cannot be true without the other also being true. When I looked up the verse in Scripture that talks about believing what we ask for in prayer, I discovered it fits perfectly with the geometry lesson. "IF you believe, THEN you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." -Matthew 21:22" Perhaps the opposite is also true..."If you do not believe, you will not receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Perhaps I have prayed time and time again over the past weeks that God would help me in teaching, without having the faith required, and without truly believing that one day I could actually turn out to be a decent teacher. Perhaps I haven't been believing like I should be. Perhaps my faith has been too small.

I'm not claiming to be an expert. I don't know whether what I just said is accurate or makes any sense whatsoever. What I can say is that those words spoke to me today, and taught me something new. I'm praying now that my faith will grow, and that I will be able to pray with confidence from now on.

I, for one, can say I am quite thankful the learning process never stops.