I write this so we can remember the Lord’s faithfulness to answer prayer
After Drew’s graduation our minds began thinking about what graduate school he would go to. We started praying every night that the Lord would lay out for us a clear path to the perfect school. And that is exactly what He did, leaving us ashamed for doubting he would and praising Him for the power and goodness of everything He does.
Personally I would rather go to a football game where my team wins in the last seconds of the game with an amazing touchdown, than one where they are 30 points ahead the whole game. I sometimes think that God works in this same way. One could say that Drew and I were “losing” at the game of getting into graduate schools till the last few seconds.
With Drew getting such high test scores and having such good grades we thought he would get into at least one of the schools he applied for. We first heard back from Berkeley: “NO”. I was personally sad, being I would have gotten to live close to family if we lived in Berkley. Next I think it was Princeton: another “NO”. A little discouraging, but we were hopeful. Next it was Notre Dame. This is the school Drew most wanted to go to, and this “NO” hit both of us hard. This may have been the turning point where we started getting worried.
It was during all these rejections that Drew got a letter from a teacher in Birmingham. He had put an inquiry out on a textual criticism e-mail distribution list concerning schools with good programs. Someone forwarded it to someone who forwarded it to someone else, and this teacher at Birmingham got the inquiry and wrote Drew asking if he would be interested in going to England for school. It was nice to get the letter, but all the programs Drew was applying for in the States were programs that were free to attend. We didn’t have enough money to pay for school and definitely didn’t have enough money to move to England AND pay for their graduate school program. But Drew applied anyways.
The days that followed were filled with more rejection letters. It was at this time that I saw my husband start to worry. I don’t think I have ever seen him worry besides this incident. But one evening on a walk he confessed to me he was worried about money. He had written to Note Dame and asked what his odds were to get in if he got another Master’s degree first. They said it probably wouldn’t help much. L At this point we had very few options. We prayed he would get into John Hopkins (the last school we had to hear from). Prayed and Prayed and Prayed!
Waiting to hear from John Hopkins was long and hard. I thought we would probably hear a couple weeks before the deadline, but nothing. The date of the deadline came and went, and our mailbox was still empty. Where was that letter?! We decided to be hopeful. Maybe the fact that the letter hadn’t came was a good thing?? Drew wrote the school and we waited. About 10 days after the deadline we found out that Drew had not got in, and thus all our options were gone. At this time all our eggs were in the basket of The University of Birmingham, England. We had found out that Drew did get in, but were now waiting to see if he would get a scholarship.
Some things about our journey are hazy, but this moment I remember perfectly. I was on the couch, and Drew was on that old ugly gold chair we had. He was checking his e-mail like any other morning. We had no idea that this day was going to be the day that we had prayed for for sooo long. The kind of day that pushes you into the reality that God can truly do anything! As I sat there on the couch Drew looked up at me and with a smile and some excitement said to me he was awarded the Doctoral Researcher Elite Scholarship from the University of Birmingham, and not only was tuition paid but, so were his living costs. The icing on the cake was the 6000 British pounds for research-related items!! Translation = BOOKS!!!!!
We were overjoyed to say the least! Victoria and I were so proud of Drew. We had to take him out to sushi to congratulate him. The Lord is so good. He can do anything... Give you an amazing scholarship... Lead you to exactly where He wants you to go by closing all other doors... Bless you with the knowledge that you need not worry about things, because He is a loving father who works all things for your good (Rom 8:28). Even the hard times are such a blessing in the end.
The Lord also blessed us with a family to buy all our things. We had to sell most everything, because shipping things to England was too expensive. A family was moving into the area from New Zealand, and they bought everything from us. The husband is going to seminary next year, and we know the Lord will use him in an amazing way. We were also able to sell our cars. We wanted to visit family before we moved to England, so we were going to drive Drew’s car from Los Angles to Modesto to Los Vegas ending in Colorado Springs. It was worth the pain of driving with a baby and no AC to visit family. But the Lord broke Drew’s mom’s car down, and she decided to buy one in Los Angles and allow us to drive it home to Colorado Springs. So now we have an amazingly fancy car for our road trip.
The Lord has answered so many prayers along the way. We could use prayer for a home and church in England. But mostly we praise Him for his power and thank Him for you. Thank you for reading this blog. I pray it will bless you.
No comments:
Post a Comment