Getting the rug pulled out from under

My professor pulled the plug on my thesis project and told me I should start over on a different topic.  So now it is back to square one.  I got the original topic for my thesis about a year ago from the professor I decided to work with.  I knew nothing about the topic: Automated grammatical tagging for Spanish language sample analysis (doesn’t that sound like fun?).  I have been researching and writing on this topic ever since, especially these last couple of months.  I have been trying hard to understand what my professor is talking about and how he wants me to extend his research.  Well, after reading another one of my drafts, my professor said that the topic was “too hard” for me and that he “recommended” that I do something else if I want to graduate.  I thought I was doing what my professor wanted.  But apparently it wasn’t enough.  So he gave me another topic option that is supposedly “better.”  Now I get to start from scratch on another topic that I know nothing about and try to understand once again what it is that my professor wants me to do. 

Be Not Afraid by Greg Olsen

What exactly is a THESIS?

Dictionary definition: A long essay or dissertation involving personal research, written by a candidate for a college degree

Katherine’s definition: a requirement for graduate students to do the grunt work for their professor’s research on a topic dictated by the professor :-p

As I sat there in his office, I tried hard to hold back the tears as I felt the rug being pulled out from underneath me.  But, I realized that I have a choice.  I can choose how I will react to this.  I can be angry that I did all that work for nothing.  I can be sad that my professor didn’t think I was capable of completing the project.  I could have all kinds of negative thoughts. OR . . . I can be grateful that I still have time and that my professor is still willing to work with me on another topic.  All I can do is move forward.  And I can either do it grudgingly and angrily, or I can be positive about it. 

Setbacks happen a lot in life, things we don’t expect.  It is our chance to show our faith in Jesus Christ and trust His plan for us.  He sees the big picture.  The trials we face are often blessings in disguise; we just don’t realize it at the time.  As I read in the New Testament, I was reminded that “all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28) and it is up to me to make it work for good.  God will help me if I allow Him to guide my life, even when I don’t understand the reasons. When life pulls the rug out from underneath me, I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are always there to help me back up. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)