If I didn't do well on the LSAT it was not because I did not receive blessings overflowing. (Yes, I tried to write that in the LSAT style, complete with enough "not"s to knot up a Bobcat cub scout wearing velcro strapped shoes.)
I was blessed to be in Arizona with its attendant amazing weather and extended family I do not see nearly enough. I was blessed with the luxury, yes luxury, of extremely hard work, and hard mental work at that. It is what I crave and what feels right to me at this time. I was blessed with the support of a patient family back home in Spokane. I could go on and on like a parallel reasoning question. But I won't.
Jump to the night before the test, an amazing blessing from an amazing brother, well from heaven, but the hands on my head were his...followed by sleep much better than I would have expected before. I woke up early enough to turn on my favorite comfort in the world....truth and the comfort I receive as I listen to general conference. I did that from 0430-0630 as I got ready. Wow. I am so blessed to be able to do that...and it didn't hurt that I had the window open in the dead of winter.
As I drove to where Nathan had driven me the day before, I still felt fine, even a little sleepy, not too stressed. I got there an hour early and was surprised to find everyone else had too. We formed a long stream of the haggard and anxious, toting our requisite zip lock bags from the parking garage to the testing center a block away. At first no one said a word to each other, tight lipped in our own little worlds. But. We were there, we were waiting, we were all feeling the same thing (except for those gunning for 175+)...we chatted. Gratefully a couple of us spotted each other from the Princeton Review class and settled in for one last chat before we would "never see each other again"...unless I go to ASU and they do too. Hmmmmm. A thought.
We made it into the testing room, and like a marathon, I realized I had peed too early and then not late enough. The instructions and filling in of our name dots took way too long; we were there to take the LSAT and didn't need the 45 minute instructions. But hey. I was still shocked at my lack of, well, shock. I was okay! I was blessed. I felt almost not me-ish. The first section was the logic games, which I do for relaxation lately. No, I'm still not good at them and am only sure I got half of them, but I like them and I get them and they are as straightforward as running. You do the work, or figure out the set-up and you're good to go. Nothing is subjective.
Finally the inevitable happened, followed of course by the unthinkable. The five minute warning was given. I did not get nervous! I so did not get nervous that it actually scared me. Yet I was able to keep working, even with an modicum of intelligence, AFTER the bell. This is really good news. It means I got a good stab at 8 more questions than I usually do.
I was still slow and sleepy, both of which were my fault for taking too much to calm down and not being able to undo it properly. Overall though I would have to say my mental state was even better than when I am studying alone in the house in AZ with no pressure. If there was a way to be blessed without just performing a brain transplant, it happened. Here is another example.
There are six sections on the LSAT test, one of which is an experimental section. Of course they don't tell you which one that is, but basically it means that one of the sections will be repeated once more than you thought. I hoped two things: 1) that the repeated section would be an argument section and 2) that the one they threw out would just happen to be the one I did the worst on.
So back to the break. We had done 3 sections and we were up for the break; I was able to finally hit the bathroom! Yay. But the weirdest thing is that I knew, just knew, that the repeated section would be 1) reading comprehension, and 2) the first section we did upon returning from the break. I would say I was right, but it wasn't me....just another unexplainable example of the heavenly mercy I received. Since I knew it was coming I was able to prepare myself for it and get a good jump on it. The reading comprehension section I had already done was a bust; I only got two out of the four passages where I felt I had any degree of accuracy. I also have a feeling the one they will count is the second one, which is the one I did better on.
So....those are a few examples. You could say they are premises that lead up to my conclusion; if I didn't do well on the LSAT, it is not because I did not receive blessings, overflowing.
Choose This Day
2 months ago


