Imagine this: a senior primary school student who had no idea how to solve an elementary subtraction problem enrolled 10 years later at a tertiary institution to study mathematics! How did this happen? In the natural, it doesn’t add up, but in the spiritual, all sorts of multiplication can take place when you trust God and give Him your undivided attention!
That’s my son, Garth Juniour Reid, who is now a math teacher at a prominent high school for girls in Kingston, having pursued a Bachelor of Science in Math and Education at the University of Technology, Jamaica.
MAKING THE GRADE
How did Garth Juniour make the grade? At first, he attended a preparatory school, but we transferred him to Southborough Primary, where he passed his Grade Six Achievement Test for Jonathan Grant High. I worked hard with my son to help him understand mathematics. Extra lessons were used as a strategy to bring him up to par, but they failed miserably. It wasn’t that he wasn’t trying; something was blocking his mind from understanding the concepts.
When I recognised this, I sought God’s help in the situation. The prayer warriors at Power of Faith Ministries (Portmore) spared no effort in this regard. I took him to church sometimes in the morning for prayers before I went to work. Before we knew it, the CXC proficiency exams were on our doorstep. It was June 2016. I had the jitters when my son’s math teacher told me that she would not recommend him to sit the CXC math exam, but rather one by a less prominent examining body.
A GRADE 4 PASS PRECEDED THE EINSTEIN ANOINTING
My faith in God moved me to register and pay for Garth to sit CXC Math as a private candidate.
He attained a Grade 4! Encouraged, he promised, “Daddy, you won’t see this result again!” From that day on, my son received the “Einstein anointing” on his head from God Almighty!
The prayers had been answered long ago, but God had been waiting for my son to decree and declare over his own situation in order to turn on the light bulb in his brain. Glory to God! Garth Juniour just locked himself in his room and kept on doing and working on mathematics. By June 2017, he had attained a Grade 2 in CXC math, among other subjects, and was qualified for a tertiary scholarship (government). Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus!
PARENTS, DON’T QUIT
Parents, I adjure you, do notgive up on your children. No matter what, encourage them, don’t beat them down, pray over them. They will be grateful to God and to you later in their lives. The children of Jamaica need us as parents to stand by them, to bless them, to fast for them, hug them, love them, and anoint them. Then you will see what God will do in their lives.
Even now, God is still blessing my son in his role as a math teacher. At the first high school where he taught two years ago, he was also the youngest faculty member. The parents and the school community commended him a lot, for he and some of the students were very close in age. He is a natural leader.
I continue to encourage my son: “Garth Juniour, thank God first, give Him the praise, bless His name. All of the glory belongs to Him.”
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Garth Reid is a 64-year-old former sergeant of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and is also trained as a social worker. Married and the father of two children, he surrendered his life to the Lord over twelve years ago and is a member of Freedom Come Ministries International.
