First and foremost, Thank you God!

January 21, 2010 | Posted by Steve (cpastories)

This is a series in which I am thanking those who helped me pass the CPA exam.

First and foremost, God!

Where do I begin? I do not know. Even if I try to stick to just the CPA exam, I still see that I could not have gotten to the point of thinking or wanting to take the exam without being born, having the parents that I have, the people I have come across, the good health, the drive, the work experience, the faith, and so on and so forth.

I believe that I am here for a reason even though “the how” and “the what” are not always clear to me. I believe that all I have been, all that I am, and all that I will be is in God’s plans. I am not sure if that means it is predetermined, but I don’t think it is all coincidence or luck or fate or under my control. I can control my thoughts, how I spend my time, how much I study, how much I prepare for things,… but then I cannot control how other people drive on the road, or whether I get up the next day or not, and sometimes, I cannot even control whether I am able to sleep.  Things like that make me feel that somebody else is looking out for me, and that, for me, is God.

I would like to mention that I say lots of prayers for various things. The CPA exam was a huge undertaking, so obviously, I prayed a lot. I prayed quite a few Novenas. I made a few promises to the Saints.  I made a few “sacrifices” as I prayed. Obviously, I think, believe, and know that prayers work. So, even though I am not righteous by any means, I run to God when I need Him, [which is not the best way to maintain a relationship.] For example, I prayed to overcome procrastination; I prayed for determination; I prayed for speed, accuracy, neatness, and clarity of thought, and decision-making; I prayed for restful sleep when I was tired; I prayed for confidence; I prayed for guidance; I prayed for excellent memory; I prayed for peace of mind; I prayed for calm; I prayed for job security. I prayed for many other things that had to do with the exam, and many others that did not have anything to do with the exam. Some days I prayed “hard”, and on other days I did not pray or think about God at all.

Now, let’s fast-forward a little bit, and focus on just the CPA exams to see where I think God intervened. I must confess that whatever I put down is not exhaustive at all.

- Life, health, friends, family, peace, safety, security, money, job, great country (USA), the exam system, girlfriend, support system, another71, cpanet, twitter,  facebook, blogs, [technology], etc

- some stories:

I did not have the motivation to take the exam until 2008/2009. I had tried before, in 2006/2007 and I could not go through it for various reasons even though I had purchased the material. Part of it was because I had not registered or gotten approved, another part was because I didn’t need it at the place I was working at, and nobody in the accounting dept was a CPA, and yet another reason, things were not just right for me to take the exam. There is no perfect time, but sometimes you need a few things to be in place for things to happen. If you are not approved, regardless of how hard you work or how much you want it, you cannot take the exam unless that part is done. In 2008/2009 a few things happened.

First, I changed jobs and happened to work at company where we had a bunch of CPAs and I was encouraged to go for it if I wanted to. The job I got was higher paying than the old one, so I didn’t have to worry too much about footing the bill for books, and examination fees, etc. This job was given to me by God. One would have to know more about my life story to see how unlikely it was for things to work out the way they did.

Second, my girlfriend also moved from St. Louis, MO to Dallas, TX and she was a big help during the time she was around. She provided moral support, she was willing to let me study when I needed/wanted to, she cooked delicious meals and it was nice to come home, after 10, 12 or more hours at work, to eat, talk, and hit the books. She provided excellent relaxation, which on my own, I would not have thought about or considered seriously: we went shopping together, went to the movies a few times, went for walks, prayed together, and we ranted when we needed to. Those are just some of the things. When we look back, and she tells me some of the things I did when I was studying for Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR), we crack up at how obsessed I was with studying – and no wonder I burned out! I believe God gave me this girl. I hope we will have a million more days together! Again, one would have to look at my life to see the likelihood that Mwayi and I would have met, where we met, the time we met, and prevailed through thick and thin. God did it and I am thankful for that.

Third, the power of positive thinking, faith, belief,… Where does that come from? What makes you believe that things will work out regardless of how bad it seems? What makes you believe that you are worth it? What makes you believe that you are smart enough? What makes you believe that next time around, you will pass this exam you just failed? What makes you believe that even though your exam is in 3 days, and you need to study tonight, and your work requires you to stay at work until midnight or past midnight or do some work while you are home, you can still make up for the time, or study/review the right stuff? What makes you believe that if you ask God, He will answer your prayer? What gets you to believe in God in the first place? What makes you overcome procrastination? What makes you believe you can sleep 3 hours or not at all and still operate “okay”? What makes you spend a whole day without studying and have faith that what you have done all along, or what you will do after this, will be enough? In my case, I would like to think that God is there somewhere. I needed a lot of belief, positive thinking, faith, inner strength to get through the 10 months or so that it took to pass the CPA exam.

Fourth, my mom. She is a beautiful story. She brought me here, she got me here, she led me to God,… When I consider how hard it is to bear a child, raise him, support him, discipline him, love him, etc – I cannot but believe that one needs God’s intervention. When the child is me, you need God to make the decision that the child should live, that the child should not end up locked up, that a determined mom should work her magic to make sure that dust turns into diamond. I love you mom! Again, I think that the only way I could turn out the way I did, was to have the mom that I had/have. I am broken, but not as bad as I would otherwise be.

One can see that in thanking God for what I have become, I have to look at the people and circumstances that got me here. It appears to me impossible to share about God’s presence, influence, control, intervention, etc without bringing in His creation to illustrate or drive some points home.

Thus, as I write about the other people and things in the comings days, I hope you will be able to see God in them.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you found that helpful.

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Categories: CPA, CPA stories, Happiness, Spirituality | Tags: CPA exam stories, God, Thanks | 4 Comments »

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