In high school, I was always right.

At least, that's how I saw myself. I was a good debater, and I loved to argue. I'd pick verbal fights with other students, with teachers and my parents. I even started a debate club at my high school just so I could participate in organized arguments.

It never mattered what the topic was, or whether I was arguing for or against something. I just wanted to be right. I just wanted to win.

Mr. Tennant wanted to teach me a lesson. He taught government, which was my favorite class because we spent most of the time debating. Each week, he'd assign a debate topic to two students. Each week, I'd volunteer to debate. And every time I got to debate, I'd win.

One week, Mr. Tennant didn't ask for volunteers. "Holly and Tom, you're up. You'll debate on the right to free speech. Tom, you'll speak in favor of free speech. Holly, you're con."

As we began to debate, it quickly became clear that my arguments sounded way better than Tom's. Sounded. I knew I was twisting the truth and saying things that were just plain wrong. But what did it matter? My classmates were nodding their heads in agreement with me. I was going to win!

Then suddenly, Mr. Tennant stopped the debate. He proceeded to tell the class how wrong I was.

I was furious. After class, I stomped up to Mr. Tennant's desk. "Why did you stop me? I should have won! I deserved to win!"

My teacher looked me in the eye and said something I'll never forget:

"Yes, you did deserve to win, Holly. But I needed to show you there's a difference between convincing others you're right, and speaking the truth. You have a big voice. The question is: How are you going to use that voice?"

As I listened to his words, I felt a flood of mixed emotions. I still felt cheated of my victory. And it still seemed terribly unfair at that moment. But I knew my teacher was "speaking the truth."

Looking back, I have to wonder: What if Mr. Tennant hadn't taught me that lesson? It eventually changed many things in my life, from my attitude to my future goals.

That hard lesson helped me understand why God allows us to have experiences that are unfair, difficult or even painful. As hard as these experiences can be, God can use them to speak life-changing truths into our hearts. We just have to be listening.

Learning to listen,

Holly

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