The past few weeks have been quite stressful for me. We had to meet several deadlines for the finl year project. Reports were submitted, presentations were made and re-made, the actual circuit had to be fully functional accepted as satisfactory by the various supervisors and on top of all that were the demands of other subjects we're taking so you can imagine how busy i was. I'm not going to narrate everything but i just want to concentrate on the challenges i had while doing this project.
How can you explain to people that a simple device made up of capacitors and resistors and other unfamiliar components can actually make them sleep? That was my task. I had problems getting the main component for the circuit which is an inductor that was not commercially available and the materials to make one not easy to come by, so for my first and second oral presentations i didnt have this main component. Only after asking some questions on yahoo answers did i discover that the wire can used to make the inductor is the same one used in transformers and fortunately i had an old broken down hair clipper in the house with a transformer so problem number 1 is solved.
Next came the connecting of the circuit which is actually the easiest part in the whole process. I had it working after several tries and finally showed the output to my supervisor who gave me the go ahead to build it on the Printed Circuit Board. I successfully connected everything after short-circuiting my first board. Usually we dont use the PCB in the lab so i was unaware of the current direction in the borad but on the second try it got it working and showed that to my Supervisor who was ok with it.
Now it looked ugly as it was so i got a casing for it and in the process of preparing the circuit for its new shell i broke something, the circuit wont work anymore. This is where the main problem started.
One day before we need to present my circuit stopped working, i felt like something out of the ordinary was happening. Initially i thought i must have blown one of the ICs so i got another one a few hrs before we were to present, changed the ICs and nothing. From this point on, i unleashed the power of tongues and started confessing the promises of God and exercised the highest faith i could come up with, i was very optimistic it would work but i had fear i would fail this course.
30 minutes before we go live, my circuit is still not working so i called sam to take a look at it for me and see if i made any errors but there was nothing wrong. All the connections are grounded but power is not flowing to all parts of the circuit. He kept checking and checking until somehow a solution came up and could finally go to the hall and present, 15 minutes late.
It was the most terrifying moment of my life. I couldnt imagine having to do all this again, what would i tell my father?
But i learnt a few things from this experience. We are more than conquerors in Christ! The sermons and tapes i've been listening are all saying the same thing; the kingdom of God is here among you, you possess the kingdom, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
I learnt to stand firm and confess the victory i already have in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. To press on until something happens, not to give up and fight another day but to take what is already mine. The bible says we are blessed with all spiritual gifts in heavenly places and the keys to the kingdom has been given to us.
So sometimes when it seems like the righteous are not progressing and the unrighteous are advancing, it could be that the people who have the victory dont even know what they have, so it was very encouraging to be able to go through that and come out victorious.
Sure enough we went for pizza later that evening just to celebrate new found freedom from the stress of project and i just want to thank God for sending his son to die so that we can have victory. Its true, we'll never know how much it cost to see him on that cross.
~good friday~