My God Is Awesome!

I was born into a family of nine children—six boys and three girls. Four of my brothers are older than I, but I am the oldest among the girls. Because I am older than my two sisters, washing and ironing the clothes, cleaning the house, and cooking became my lot.

My mother also requested that I drop out of school and go to work to supplement the family income. So at an early age, I learned to make cocktail bags that were exported to Hong Kong, Guam, and the United States. God blessed me in the ability to earn even more than a local elementary school teacher. This made my mother very happy and thankful. Since my three oldest brothers were all married and had their own homes, and my fourth brother was almost finished with his civil engineering course, he admonished me to go back to school. At first, I was not enthusiastic because I thought I was too old to go back to school. Besides, my former classmates in the elementary school were all in college now. I would feel embarrassed. However, my brother said that I wouldn’t grow younger, even if I didn’t go to school. That stuck in my mind; therefore, I decided to go back to school.

To ease my embarrassment, I went to night school. However, I chose not to attend school on Friday nights, as that is when my day of worship began. One evening, one of my teachers asked me why I was always absent on Fridays. I told him the reason. He became unhappy with me and announced that he would give his chapter tests only on Fridays.

I still didn’t attend his class on Fridays, but I always asked him each Monday if he would be willing to give me the missed test from the previous Friday. At the end of the year, God was honored, I believe, by helping me obtain the highest grade point average in all the classes. When I graduated from high school with three hundred other students, the faculty made me salutatorian, due to my absences, rather than valedictorian.

Thank God that when we honor Him, His response is to bless us.

Ofelia A. Pangan