Facing The Giant

As some of you may know from Friday's post, It's Official!!, I have passed my board exam for Occupational Therapy! It has been a long journey, but worth it! Some of you have read about my struggle with this test from my post, Confident Heart. 

To give you a brief over view, I graduated with my Master's Degree last December and have sat for the exam five different times, failing four of the times and once "failing" it by one point. I have struggled with test taking anxiety all of my life. After months of studying, I finally took many of my friends and family members advice in seeing a doctor. I was against taking anti-anxiety medicine (I don’t see anything wrong with anxiety meds if you need it, but I just felt very conflicted about it), but I went to the doctor anyway and to make a long story short, my blood work came back and I have HYPOTHYROIDISM. TA-DA! That explains all of it!! For the past several months I have been feeling anxious, depressed, sluggish, moody, having no appetite, and experiencing weight gain and I literally thought I was going crazy! The doctor immediately put me on medication for it because two days later I was scheduled to take the exam. When exam day came, I felt like “me” again. There was no extreme heart pounding in my chest, sweaty palms, and negative thoughts. I was confident and believing in myself again! Once I completed the four hour exam, I went home and “tried” to forget about it for the long, agonizing two weeks to get the results! The first week went by quickly since my family came into town for almost a week to celebrate Thanksgiving, but once they left, it became really hard. 

Here are a few of my favorite scripture verses I read to stay in close communication with God.
 

- "I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born." Isaiah 66:9

- "Do not fear, I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

- "Any my God with supply all [my] needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Phillipians 4:19

- "Don't be worried and bothered by so many things; they don't matter. Instead listen to what God is telling you." Luke 10:38-42
- "We exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perserverance and perserverance, proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." Romans 5:3-5
- "For I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." Isaiah 41:13
- "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28
 

I am not saying that my thyroid was the complete reason why I didn’t pass the first four times, but I think it played a big part. I do fully believe God brought me through this! I relied more on God during this time of my life than I ever have before and I feel it taught me so much about Him and myself. I now have a much great relationship with God and thank Him for all the lessons I have learned through this journey in my life! I can’t wait to see what else he has in store for me! 

I also can’t go without thanking my family and friends! You never gave up on me and continued to encourage me to keep going! And my husband Jon, he has been a great supporter through it all! He supported me in moving to Florida to complete an internship of my dreams after we first got married and when the days came when I wanted to give up and come back home to him, he would push me to just keep going! He was there through the tears, mood swings and the days that I just wanted to give up! I love you JON! 

I can’t wait to start working with the gifts God has blessed me with! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and remember to always have faith in yourself!
-Kristen