By Amy Robertson and Rob Schellenberg

Z

oë Doiron knows what it’s like to battle through the pain.

Doiron, from Chemainus, B.C., tied for 6th in a class of 93 at Briercrest College and Seminary this year. Her cumulative GPA was an impressive 3.78, which earned her a spot in The Association for Biblical Higher Education’s Delta Epsilon Chi Honor Society, an honour she shared with only seven others in her class.

But in the fall of 2006, toward the end of the semester, Doiron almost crashed and burned.

All of a sudden, Doiron began experiencing severe, debilitating back pain, which prevented her from attending several of her classes and made library research nearly impossible and schoolwork excruciatingly difficult.

Doiron was taking 18 credit hours that semester (full load at Briercrest is 15), and the college’s attendance policy meant that if she missed more than four classes per course, she’d fail.

Doiron had excelled in her schoolwork to that point—but she had no choice but to accept the fact that she might have to take zeroes on several of her course assignments.

Doiron cried out to God for help, surrendering her schoolwork to Him. “Grace was extended,” she says, “and the Lord brought healing both physically and spiritually, renewing my absolute reliance on Him.”

That semester, Doiron finished with an astounding GPA of 4.0.

“[I] give Jesus all the glory for empowering me with His healing and sufficient but immense grace!” she says.

Doiron graduated in Caronport, Sask., April 24.