What’s your name, how are you connected with P2C-Students, and what’s a fun fact about you?
I’m Liam Turchin, and I’ve been connected to P2C for the last four years at York University. Currently I’m a part of the Serve Team and the Club Administrator.
Fun fact: I know the first 20 digits of pi: 3.1415926535 8979323846
What's an area of your life where you've seen God at work recently?
When finishing final papers, I tend to procrastinate. Often I feel like I’m trying to put in the right study tactics and do the right things, but it just doesn’t catch.
How did you recognize the Holy Spirit in this situation?
Conviction around unhealthy habits of things piling up.
The desire to be free from pressure, seeing how it doesn’t actually change by just trying to do the right “tactics” and relying on my own human strength.
And an invitation to humility, as I see how I was ignoring God’s offer of help that was there the whole time.
What difference does Jesus make to this part of life? In other words, how is Jesus good news in this situation?
When I am getting behind, because of procrastinating or putting other things ahead, I feel less and less worthy to accept God’s help. I then feel like I’ve dug myself into a hole and now I need to dig myself out of it.
However, because of Jesus, I can start confessing, “God, I’ve put this off and I need your help.”
Jesus meets me in the hole that I am in, he’s there waiting and ready to help. He doesn’t condemn me for the things I’ve done that have made me late nor for being behind. He came to save. He loves us unconditionally.
So why don’t I just talk to Jesus and invite him in? It makes the path forward infinitely better! I remind myself, “My paper is a lot easier task than rising from a tomb.”
And Jesus cares about me. He’s an ever-present help in times of need, so I don’t need to do these things by myself.
How did you respond to the Holy Spirit's work and Jesus' good news?
Where my story took me: I love Psalm 69 where it describes neck-deep flood waters and sinking in deep mire, unable to find a foothold and about to drown. It can feel like this when I’ve got a paper due and I’m currently sinking! So I reach out to my Saviour.
My response to God: I pray about things sooner, not just waiting until “I need to.” Why go about it alone when God is waiting to strengthen and come alongside you? It builds your confidence too. The God who cares about the little things—there’s nothing stopping him from the big things too. Why wouldn’t he?
I keep a running note on my phone called “Acts of God”—which is basically a running list of prayers answered. “Little things” that I make note of, like when the weather was forecasted to be awful and it turned out great, or praying to be able to work on a paper and then two pages later realizing how God helped. I’m seeing how God keeps helping me trust in his plans.
How can we pray for you and your local P2C community?
Pray that we could bring more of these little things to God.
Prayer for York students as they finish a semester that was disrupted by a strike.
Pray for the leadership team next year to take steps of faith on campus to be confident in God, confident that he will use them for his good purposes.
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