Giving Thanks in The Bad

Just today, I completed a presentation that I so badly want over. Well, here is the story.

Remember the time when I blogged about "Humility Over Pride"? Well, God thinks that He wants to make a Part 2 of the lesson, now a little more challenging, a little more extreme and yes, with a little more steam.

I had a hard time working with my group mates before on a piece of discussion work earlier and that piece of work only requires my group mates and I to work on it for a short time period but this is not so when presentation needs to be done. My presentation assignment requires us to look into 2 academic papers in depth, present it to the class and try to generate some insightful discussion. On the surface, this assignment looks fine for me. I have worked on such presentations before with other groups and most turn out fine. Well, how well did it turn out this time?

As I predicted, I continued having problems conversing with them and getting them to think on the same page as me. Most of the time, they refuse to think out of their own understanding of the circumstance and were very and sometimes even overly critical of what I may suggest or contribute. I tried in every way to get them to understand where I was coming from but as I knew that work has to go on, I knew compromising is needed to move forward with our work. As long as it is not fundamentally wrong with the ideas or the chosen article, I can compromise. I was thinking, a good presenter can present everything, even things that the presenter may not be good at. So, I thought, its okay to challenge myself with an article that I would not have chosen myself.

Well, that's fine. I compromised, I learnt to listen, I learnt to understand, I tried. And the problem came when we had to work on our slides individually. Upon finishing my part of the slides which were done later than I expected, I move on with other things that I had to do. In a few moments, when I returned to the slides, I saw my slides changed and reformatted. And I was wondering, what happened? And I realized that my group mates took my slides into their own hands and changed it "for the better". (Well, even so, I would love to do the changes myself as it will be a lot easier if I were to present on slides I made and am comfortable with.) Oh my, yes, I was beginning to fume. And not only that, I returned to a vulgarity thrown at my face for "disappearing". Goodness me, I never knew I had to be there and if I knew, I would not be the irresponsible sort who would simply disappear. As you can see, we do not communicate very much as a group and this resulted in miscommunication. Perhaps something that I could do more is to double-check with them more. But what I was really frustrated with in this entire matter is with the insult. Why, even if you were unhappy, would you need to throw an insult at me? Why don't you just voice out in words what you are unhappy with?

Initially, I reacted by firstly being very upset and I thought negatively of my whole situation and experience of working with them. However, I came across a video that reminds me of 3 verses in the Bible. And I realized, interestingly, again, God wanted to shape the way I think of this matter in these 3 verses just as He did for me in the previous time.

1. Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.                  -1 Thess 5:18

2. No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. -1 Cor 10:13

3. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. -Romans 8:28

While it seems like it makes no sense to thank God for such a bad situation, I knew that God still wanted me to give thanks. And I was deemed to be able to bear this because if I wasn't, God would not allow me go through it. Finally, that there is a purpose intended for me to go through this circumstance even though now, I might not be able to see it. But thinking about it more, I think that perhaps, God might want me to be prepared for my future job or work? In the future, when I work, I am sure I would have to meet with many more who may seem unreasonable. So what would I do then? This was perhaps a little trial run.

I have decided to forgive them because I know Christ has first forgiven me for the wrong that I have done against Him. So I bear no hatred nor sadness nor any form of negative feelings anymore :) Well, I have to say it is not easy but I am learning and will continue to learn to give thanks in all circumstance, the good and the bad. And I know my response is only possible because of Jesus.

 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

-Philippians 4:13