Polycarp Ministries

I told a friend last night that there would be times when my conversion story would have flashbacks. Today is such a day. I can’t pass over how I got to college because it contains a principle that has sustained me for years. God provides for the needs of His children. If God intends for you to do something, He will provide the means for you to accomplish it. Learning that principle as a 6th grader in a comfortable blue-collar family is one thing, but applying it when the odds are stacked up is another. As a HS junior, I knew that God wanted me for lifetime service to Him as some type of minister (at that time i only knew of 4 possibilities: pastor, youth pastor, missionary, and music leader), so I needed to find a Christian college to prepare me. My parents explained to me that they could not afford to send me there, even though I knew they wanted to with all their heart, but I insisted on visiting the school.

The minute I stepped foot on campus I knew this was where God wanted me. I toured the place and started making plans to attend by filling out an application. My parents reminded me on the way home that this was out of their price range, but I was convinced of the aforementioned principle. I told them in no uncertain terms that if God wanted me to go, he would provide every penny to get me there (even if His plan included me doing menial labor for minimum pay). I remembered my hero, George Mueller (read the bio of this protestant saint and be encouraged), who trusted God with his orphanages so much that he sat his children at the table, knowing that somehow food would be provided (and they had just run out of both food and funds the night prior). God provided a bakery that made too much bread and a milk truck that lost a wheel and needed to unload milk before it spoiled, AND a check from an unknown source. And George never told a soul of his need, no one but God. Everyone told me that examples like his were rare and that God was under no obligation to provide like that. This is true, but I also believed that it was rare because so few people trust in Him enough to see His hand move like that. So I trusted God to provide my way, convinced that this was where He wanted me, and still nobody believed me.

I applied for every scholarship and grant that I might qualify for, and they all refused me. My admissions counselor advised me to apply for the presidential scholarship which paid full tuition for 4 years. “Yeah, right” I could hear people think. I barely qualifed to fill out the application with my 3.58 GPA and 28 ACT. I just kept praying, “God if you want me there, I know you’ll provide.” Friends and family reminded me that time was running out to apply for the University of Tennessee or a community college, but I held on. Weeks later I got a call asking me to come for an interview. I was a finalist!

To make this story shorter: I interviewed and later received a scholarship that nobody thought I could get (tuition paid), I found a job as an RA working for the kindest, most generous man I’ve ever met (utilities, books, food, misc. paid), and my parents offered to pay my housing (are you getting this?). God had provided every penny and so much more and my faith was greatly strengthened. My freshman year, the scholarship requirements were increased to a level for which I wouldn’t have qualified (talk about God’s perfect timing!). I could tell you all kinds of stories about how God has provided for me (and I probably will). He is the greatest! Trust Him with your circumstances. Seek and fulfill His plan for your life. He will not abandon you.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 1st, 2005 at 12:54 am and is filed under My Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.