Stephen Merrill

Life University

I first want to say thank you for providing scholarships for students and I also want to thank you for allowing me to give the praise to the one who deserves the praise. When I first saw this topic the first thought that came to mind was Proverbs 3: 5-6 (NIV): "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." This verse is what He has allowed me to live my life by every day.

The number one goal He has laid on my heart to do as a chiropractor is to share with people how to have a relationship with God through Christ. For many people, including many of my classmates, He has not opened the door to explain this or my fear has gotten in the way. In the cases where He has not opened the door, He has called me to pray, live a life dedicated to Him and quietly expect Him to move. This is an area that Proverbs 3: 5-6 comes into play very heavily because He constantly reminds me that it is very important to evangelize out of love and not to force it down peoples’ throats.

Another way that my Faith has made an impact on what I do began near the beginning of my schooling at Life University. Around that time God began to give me a dream of becoming debt free when I graduate. Romans 13: 8 has been my cornerstone verse for this dream. Knowing the stress of debt and the distractions that it brings has really caused me to make this an urgent prayer request. This dream has caused my wife and me to see God’s Faithfulness. When I first started school, we took out loans for school and for some living expenses. Gradually He has called us to take out less and less until this last quarter we were blessed to pay for school through mutual funds, my wife’s work and my work study. The huge challenge will be the next approximately 18 months because there appears to be no more extra mutual funds to pay for school. Despite this challenge, we know God is our provider and He will make it happen so that we can provide for future ministries that He calls us to provide for.

These final descriptions of how my Faith impacts what I do is truly a way for me to give praise to God, look back in amazement on what He has done in me and for other people to see how real Christ is when a person devotes their life to Him. These descriptions fall under the category of character. I already mentioned the evangelism calling He has placed on my life. What I did not mention is where He has taken me from. I once was so shy that even someone mentioning God in the classroom would literally cause my face to turn bright red. Now He has given me enough boldness to hand a Gospel Tract to a complete stranger and allow Him to make the seed grow. Another area that amazes me, which I mentioned above, was in the area of trusting God for our money. We have been stretched many times to give more than we can afford to something God is calling us to give to. The Faith builder is that He has provided every time. The final descriptions of character are those found in Galatians 5: 22-23 and those found in Proverbs (especially Wisdom.) Just by simply asking for them and walking out the tests that He has given me the grace to go through, I have seen these blossom in my life.