Yesterday, while Neil and I were driving home from a dinner party at our friends, I was thinking that there have been so many amazing stories in my life but I have never shared them here. So, while the window wipers were wiping the smidgeons of rain off the windshield and we were driving into to the night, I decided that it’s time to do that. These stories are nothing less than miracles. Here is the first one:
It was my last year in college. Actually, my last semester in college. Finances were always a bit of a sore subject. Getting through college meant working 4 jobs and bouncing checks to pay for gas, then begging the bank clerks to take off the fines. There were times when I was a little embarrassed when friends were all going out for a dinner and I said I wasn’t all that hungry because I wanted to save that money for something else.
As an international student, the school fees were three times the regular fees but we were not allowed to work more than 20 hours a week outside the college campus. Working on campus meant the minimums wage. And that did not last very long. While I was not happy about it, I was 20 and I was fine with it. A few times I had to turn the couch cushions over to find a few quarters but I was never hungry and I always had a place to live. Which is another miracle story because most of the time I just didn’t have money to pay for it.
As I said before, this was my last semester. Which meant that this was the last time I had to come up with the $3,200 or close to it. I have a good friend, whose mom is a very generous woman, and who was used by God in ways she will never know. She had lent me money before to pay for school. I was too embarrassed to ask her again, plus, I wasn’t sure how I would pay it back, this time I didn’t ask her. There was always a deadline date when you can pay for that semester. I am not sure what happened if you haven’t paid for it until then, probably you get kicked out. Anyway, that date had come. I had no clue where to get the money.
I was in the Admissions office while my boss, who was a wonderful woman and her boss, the Director of Admissions, were having a conversation. I had been doing a pretty good job there, so they liked me working there and as they were speaking, they poked their heads out of the office and asked if I will come to work for them that summer. I said that I would love to but I can’t because I made more working for Dr. Y, who was a boss at my other job and that I still need to earn enough to pay for this semester. At this point, the Director of Admissions came out of the office, moved her reading glasses lower on her nose and looked at me over them and asked
“Have you not paid your school bill yet?”
“No”
“Today is the last day, do you know that?”
“Yes”
“Why did you not come to me earlier?”
“Because I don’t qualify for any of the scholarships”
I would like to say that she said that they love me so much and can’t imagine the office without me and I am the greatest student worker ever, but I don’t remember what she said there. The only thing I remember is her asking me how much I need. I told her, to which she said:
“Come into my office and sit down. I might go to jail for doing this but it’s worth it”
That day $3200 were transferred into the account under my name as a scholarship.
I don’t have a profound thought to tell here at the end. Then again, I am not sure that there was a profound lesson to learn from this. It was God’s provision. At that point, I was not even particularly seeking Him. In fact, as far as I remember, I was running the very opposite direction. It’s a good thing that God does not wait until our act is together before He moves in our lives. His love is above the mistakes I made at that time and trust me, I was making them on very regular bases – every night at Carey’s. Now, when I look back, I see the miracle it was. People sometime think that God tries to get attention by sending some disasters upon them. He got my attention by sending me money pretty much out of the blue in a time of crunch.
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