Near the conclusion of my second year at East Central, I had decided to attend the University of Southern Mississippi. I had been accepted, and had visited the school and was working on the financial aid.
At the time, I was a waitress at Chunky Shoals, and I was at H&R Block getting help on filing my taxes for the first time. Everything was just going great!
But while in Wal-Mart afterwards, I received a phone call that changed my life. I found out that I had been a victim of identity theft. Someone had used my name, social security number and date of birth to file his or her taxes somewhere else. Because of all this, my social became red flagged, which basically meant until everything was to be fixed, my social was basically useless.
Therefore, I couldn’t receive any financial aid or student loans to go to Southern that coming fall. Talk about a heartbreak! That summer was full of hour long phone calls with the IRS trying to resolve the issue, though I feel like I was treated like the criminal instead of the victim.
I didn’t want to quit school, so I went back to EC for a third year relying on nothing but a band scholarship. I took online classes so I could look for a job to save up for school since financial aid seem to be a lost hope. That next spring, one of my best friends talked to me about a school called Belhaven. I had never heard of it, but it was apparently a Christian college in Jackson.
Even though I told her there was no way I could afford it, she talked me into going on tour there with her and her sister. It was a day right after a snow that we went. I absolutely fell in love with the place, but I just thought there was zero possibility of me attending there without any financial aid. A lady in the financial aid department overheard me telling an admissions counselor why I couldn’t attend Belhaven, and she called me into her office. She sat me down at her desk, and she went right to work on the computer.
She said to please not let this be the reason for me not to attend Belhaven, and that she was going to see what she could do about my financial situation. Not even a month later, I received my acceptance packet, and the school had found a way for me to receive financial aid!
I’ll never forget my first day of class walking from my dorm and just knowing that was the place God had planned for me. It took some crazy circumstances and caused a lot of frustrations and tears, but He lead me right where I was supposed to be.
I write this story to explain my testimony of Psalms 23:1-2: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.”
Like the verse says, “He leads me.” The Shepherd leads and guides His sheep. And our Shepherd leads and guides us. God has our lives mapped out, so all that trouble and chaos you’re going through, yeah, there’s a reason for it. He’s got a plan for it, for He is just guiding you to where you’re meant to be. Once you get to that place, there’s not going to be a doubt in your mind that that is where you’re meant to be! Trust the Great Shepherd, and let Him guide you.
Pray for all the students in the area that they may receive the strength and determination for this final push of the school year, especially for those seniors suffering from the awful sickness “senioritis.”
I hope everyone has a very blessed week! Please keep me updated with any community news or prayer requests by emailing me at bradley.katie93@gmail.com.
