I had very poor grades in mathematics as a primary school student. I struggled to understand the subject. I went the extra mile to excel in it but my results were not commensurate with my efforts. It was a sad season in my academic pursuits.

One day my father spoke to me. He had noticed that I scored very poorly in mathematics at school. He called me into his room and he said, ‘You know you’re very brilliant. Mathematics is very simple. Just take these text books and solve the exercises in it all by yourself.’

I can’t explain what happened to me that day, but I knew he had made it very simple just by talking to me. My father then gave me a set of textbooks on Mathematics to study. He had bought these books for me prior to that moment,so the above was a pep talk he gave me before handing the books over to me.

That pep talk helped me a lot. His belief in my abilities bolstered my confidence. He assured me that the books were very simple and I could solve the mathematical problems contained inside them. I doubt he knew what was inside them. But that didn’t matter to him; as far he was concerned, I was more than equal to the task.

So I took the books to study them. I remember I had always particularly admired one of those  books. Furthermore, I had always wanted to be some kind of mathematical guru. And whenever I saw senior students carrying that book I admired them. I imagined what it would be like to be someone who easily dismantled complex mathematical problems.

I sat down in my room and I started reading the text from cover to cover; with the picture I had in my mind from my father. I read the title of the book, then the copyright page. There wasn’t anything strange about those. So I flipped the book open. I actually read the preface. It was interesting. It was the story of how the author wrote the book, what the man was trying to achieve through the book,  and who the book was for.

“This is sweet,” I thought to myself.

I turned to the next page where they had the copyright, and dates. I read it down and it was fascinating. Then I came to chapter one where the mathematics began and I started reading it too. I noticed it was simple. I finished reading it, studied the first example, it was easy. I continued down.

I later came to the problem part, I solved them and my answers tallied with what the author had at the back of the book. I told myself, ‘This is good.’

I continued. I did chapter one, chapter two, and chapter three. Before I knew what was happening, I had solved all the mathematical problems up to chapter three. And that wasn’t all; I also got every single answer correctly.

Leaping up with joy, I threw the book to the floor, ran into my father’s bedroom and started shouting and jumping. I told him, ‘Daddy I have conquered math, I have conquered math.’

Do you know from that day till today I moved on to become a mathematical genius. I left secondary school with the best math result. My nickname in the university was Albert Einstein.

What changed? How I saw myself, that’s all. How I saw myself made all the difference.

Your abilities are there waiting for your self-image to change. You have a lot of abilities within you that are lying dormant like a volcano. It’s there but it’s not functioning. You have a lot of abilities in you that are kind of dormant, and they’re just waiting for your self-image to change. Once that happens, they come alive.

That’s why the Bible actually said that when you look at the glory of the Lord, you’re transformed. That transformation is a realization of all the things that God has already deposited in you that were dormant because you felt that you couldn’t achieve them.

Romans chapter 12 verse 2, also tells us something along that line:

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

This world has a pattern. And if you are not careful, they’ll fit you into that mold. But God’s word to you today is: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Self-images are built by reflectors; so they can only be transformed by reflectors. God’s word is your true reflector.