The Lord blesses all of us in special, unique ways. Christine Darden is a perfect example of this, having excelled by the grace of God in her career at NASA.

From Movieguide. By the end of her 40-year stint with NASA, Christine Darden was known as a brilliant mathematician and engineer. Obtaining her dream job wasn’t an easy goal, though.

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Today, she is heralded as the fourth “Hidden Figure,” a title used by author Margot Lee Shetterly to refer to NASA’s “human computers” Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Darden herself: all of whom were scientifically-minded African American women whose example aided the civil rights movement. HIDDEN FIGURES was even adapted for the big screen back in 2016….

Though she wasn’t featured in the production, the biblical principles in the movie applied to her life, as well….

Darden’s fascination with science and space began when she was just a child through her natural curiosity….

As she grew older, the great space race punctuated many stages of her life including her early years as a student delving into mathematics….

Soon she was taking classes at Hampton University, a daunting undertaking as she found herself taking six math courses simultaneously. Furthermore, she was typically the only female presence in the classroom. Between the workload and the sense of having to swim upstream in a predominantly male scholastic atmosphere, the pressure was a lot to put on herself.

Nevertheless, she remained determined. During this time, her faith kept her going. It was a source of personal enrichment and inspiration. Specifically, she found consolation in Scripture.

“Things in the Bible helped me live…life and believe that God can help me do certain things and work with me in certain ways,” Darden told CBN News.

With this faith and her rugged perseverance, she hit the books. All the while, she and her family were uncertain what employment might look like for her in the future.

At Hampton, Darden was unwittingly in close proximity to the local NASA center, where the three other “Hidden Figures” were working as mathematicians. By this time, these “human computers” had begun to change what the working environment was like for African-American women in this field….

An encounter at the university’s placement office, where an office worker told her to fill in an application form for NASA recruitment, changed everything for Darden. It was successful. By 1967, she had a job at NASA….

Darden got married. She also continued her education, earning her doctorate from George Washington University in 1983. During her time with NASA, she became the first African-American woman to be included in the Senior Executive Service.

The 79-year-old Darden has acknowledged her indebtedness to the Bible, a testament to faith in the trials of life. Her thirst for knowledge has not changed much from that blunt curiosity she had in her youth, taking apart a doll to see what made it talk back.

(Excerpt from Movieguide. Photo Credit: SpaceX on Unsplash)