You have to do your part.

(I am a Christian and this post is written from that frame of reference. There is no bias in it and it is relevant to all religions and their 'gods')

I am amazed how many Christians rely on their God to make it through whatever it is they are going through. To see it is awesome and inspiring indeed. The problem to me is when they rely on God when they have not or are not prepared to do their side of the deal.

Let me paint a few pictures. They may not all apply to you, but I hope you get the overall point.

1) You are writing a big exam and you did not do any studying and you fail or do not get the mark that you think you 'deserve'. You blame God.

2) You are expecting to get the big raise and or promotion. You have done nothing more than usual or over and above what you normally do. You do not get the raise or promotion. You actually get a disciplinary reprimand for not doing your job. You blame God (or your boss).

3) You enter an athletic event but do not train as you should or hoped to. You land up doing a bad time or even drop out and do not finish. You blame God

The question is: how is God going to help you when you have not done your side? Yes he is all powerful and can do anything. I believe that and trust Him to do that. I will illustrate it another way: I register for a course in art with a local teacher. I do not go to classes and at the end of the course I pray and pray that God will get me through the exam with an awesome painting - sorry - not going to happen!

Stop blaming God for your shortfalls! I am to blame here - I can honestly say I do not blame God very often but I have asked the big questions of Him.

My theory to this is simple and it's an adaption of my mom’s old favourite saying before exams. She always says 'do your best and guess the rest'. Good advice. My saying is 'do your best and let God do the rest'.

He ALWAYS does his side of things - what’s your excuse for not doing your side?