Finals Week Blues

Finals week. Y'all know what I'm talking about. It is the week where you spend more time calculating the lowest grade you can make on your final to still have an A than you actually spend studying for the final to make an A. I know I cannot be the only person who has done that before. Well, my dual enrollment classes officially ended this week, and let me tell you, I could not be happier to have some time to just relax.

I am here to tell you that you WILL survive finals week, and for my readers who are no longer in school, you WILL survive that stressful week at work. You WILL survive, and not only that, you may just learn something along the way. And no, I do not mean that you will learn how to calculate a Z score: I mean you may learn something to help in your spiritual journey.

To be completely honest, I am someone who stresses a lot, so finals week and I do not exactly get along. It just seems like there is always something to be done. To deal with my stress, I make to-do lists and just start crossing things off as I complete them. For a while there, it felt like every time there was something to cross off, there was something else to add. I tweeted two weeks ago, "I have no idea how I will be able to finish all of my homework that is due this week." I was wrong though: the way I will survive is not by writing endless to-do lists or tweeting about my problems, it is by the One Who lives within me and will be strengthening me.

What you cannot let yourself do in the midst of a tough week like finals week is let it interrupt your time spent with God. I think the enemy loves finals week, and I will tell you why. Satan loves finals week because he can prey on us by saying things like, "You do not have time to read the Bible tonight you have so much studying to do with not much time to do it," or "You are so tired; God will understand if you do not pray tonight." If he can convince to give in to those lies, we will be even weaker because we did not allow ourselves to go to the only source of strength and wisdom and peace: our Father.

How do we battle this then? The stress, worry, and exhaustion? We tell the enemy to get behind us, and we get alone with Jesus. Jesus said to come to Him when you are weary because He will give you rest. You want to keep going in finals week? The way to do that is to talk to God and study His Word. Tell Him your fears of finals week. Tell Him about how tired you are. I can promise you that you will feel better when you're done than you did before you started.

Studying and preparing for finals is important. Getting all of you work at your job done is important. However, the words found in the Bible are even more important, so you have to make sure you make time to read those words while still making time to get your work done. The devil may make that sound like an impossible task, but he is a LIAR. Spending time with God is time well spent, and you will never regret it.