When I started my senior year at Shepherd University, I quickly began to make plans for Graduate school. It was an easy choice for me and I settled on WVU. I started to make plans to move out there and attend school starting in August of 2015. I did not want to go to WVU nor did I want to move to Morgantown, but I felt like God was pushing me in that direction. I prayed about it, but for several months I kept the mentality that I was going to WVU because I should, not because I wanted to.

In January of 2015 something changed. Suddenly, I was excited about moving to Morgantown. I found a roommate, an apartment, and my graduate application was almost complete. I took a trip to Morgantown on January 22nd and got an application for the apartment. I left Morgantown a few days later with an overwhelming joy and excitement about my upcoming move to Morgantown. Before, I had been dreading it; now, I was counting down the days!

I had been praying about this move and truly thought that it was what God wanted. I firmly believed that the excitement I felt was from God. School is not really my thing. I do well in school and I enjoy the challenge, but I never really wanted to be there. When I graduated high school I was miserable thinking about the idea of spending four more years in school. I prayed about that too and God made it clear to me that I was supposed to go in to Social Work.  He provided a way for me to condense my schooling and only have to spend three years in undergrad instead of four. I started out my undergrad convinced that grad school was not for me and I would not go. Then, I was told that I could get my masters in one year; which meant I could spend a total of four years in college and walk away with my masters. I could not believe that I was considering grad school. Me, the girl who didn’t even want to get her bachelors. I decided that maybe graduate school was for me, if and only if I could do it in a year. I thought that the little tiny desire I felt to go to grad school was from God. So, the plans were made and WVU was in my future.

January 29th God made Himself known to me. All week I had felt a sense of uncertainty and anxiety. I spent a lot of time in prayer and devotions without any resolve. Finally, Thursday morning I was sitting on my floor unsure of what God was trying to convey to me. I am not sure why, but I asked God to give me a sign if I was really supposed to go to Morgantown. I really have no clue why that was what I prayed about. I thought I knew that God wanted me to go, I didn’t really have any doubts about that. However, those are the words that came out my mouth. I stood up and went on my merry way.

Normally, I am about thirty minutes early to class. I either walk to class alone or with a classmate who also arrives early. Thursday, I was running late and arrived to class only ten minutes before class. After I parked, I realized I had a message from my significant other and really wanted to read it before I walked to class. So, I sat in my car and read his message which was full of encouraging words on how God has a plan for me and He cares about me. Since I was late, I walked to class with a different classmate and we ended up sitting together in class.

Our class ended early and my classmate and I ended up talking about graduate school. She told me that she had been able to look at her graduate program’s curriculum and knew exactly when she would be taking what classes. She helped me find the curriculum for WVU and I realized that I had been misinformed about the program. I had been told that I could start in August of 2015 and finish May of 2016. The document that I was looking at told me I would not be able to start until January of 2016 and graduate in May of 2017! I may or may not have had a (slight) panic attack. I immediately contacted the program director who just confirmed that I would not be able to graduate until 2017.

I asked God for a sign at about nine in the morning. By noon, He had changed my plans completely. As of five days ago, I am no longer moving to Morgantown or going to WVU. It was such a difficult day for me to realize that all of the plans I had made were being torn to shreds. God planned everything perfectly. He brought me to my knees Thursday morning, asking for a sign which made me get to class later than usual. I received the message just in time to be encouraged by its content and keep me in my car a little bit longer so I would end up walking to class with a different classmate. I sat next to a classmate I had never sat next to before who ended up helping me find the WVU curriculum; which led to the realization that WVU was not for me. All coincidences? Believe what you want, but I see God’s fingerprints on all of it.

I have no idea what I am going to do next. I am still planning on applying to various graduate schools to keep my options open, but I am no longer sure if that is what God has planned for me. For now, I will continue to pray about the situation and ask God where He wants me to go or what he wants me to do. I was unsure about graduate school, but the fact that I could do it in a year made me change my mind. From the beginning, I said that if I could not do it in a year, I would not go. My long term plans have been put through he paper shredder, but my short term plans include applying to one year graduate programs and waiting on God’s timing.

Moral of the story:
1. God has a plan for me beyond what I can comprehend
2. Don’t ask God for something unless you are truly prepared to hear what He has to say
3. JCo can’t get rid of me that easily

Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”

Hebrews 2:13, ” My trust and assured reliance and confident hope shall be fixed in Him.” (AMP)