Interview Season Begins

Well the first interview invite just came in last week, so the season has officially begun. However while I was really excited to receive the invite, I was convicted that in many ways I think that I haven't remembered much of what the Lord was teaching me through the last round of applications.

As much as I want to think I earn my interviews by my sheer awesomeness, every one is from God's grace to me. I haven't earned anything, but rather God is being exceedingly and over-abundantly good to me.

Please continue to pray that I would get more interviews and that they would go well. More so please pray that God, not me, would get the glory through them and that He would teach me to rejoice more at his grace rather than presume upon my imaginary awesomeness.

Responding to Life Being "On Hold"

Well as many of you know I've spent the last few weeks waiting to see if I would be pulled off of a waitlist for medical school. In God's providence however I have not been and now my focus has shifted to reapplication and continuing my research on PIV5.

One of the hardest things about this though is that in the past week Facebook has reminded me that I have many, many dear friends who did get accepted and spent the past week moving in, participating in orientations and attending their "White Coat Ceremonies" (This is where entering first year students "officially" begin med school and receive their white lab coats). In many ways I think that that's been kind of hard because my question is, "Well Lord why have you put my life on hold?"

In many of the same ways the Lord has been using this stage much like when I first started receiving wait-list letters to expose my pride and replace it with a joyful, humble trust in Him. He also ordained that in my quiet times this week one of the Psalms that I would read would be Ps. 107, where the final verse has been life and sustenance for me as I wrestle with my pride:

"Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord." (Ps. 107:43 ESV)

The whole beginning on the psalm is a beautiful meditation on the sovereignty, power and mercy of the Lord. It as a whole the Psalmist's meditation and song of his consideration of the steadfast love of the Lord. And then at the end the Psalmist calls the reader then to do likewise: Consider and meditate on the steadfast love of the Lord.

It's not a quick fix, but I want to encourage you all that the Lord has been reminding me of this when I'm frustrated or begin to mull over this when I've got down time or am doing one of the more menial tasks during the day. And instead of this being a moment for wallowing in pride, God has been so merciful to teach me so much about his steadfast love that governs even my medical school reapplication and status that it leads me to praise rather than grumbling.

What other passages or verses have helped you to remember and trust in the Lord when you're tempted to grumble against Him?

The Craziness of Life

Well the Lord has been marvelously good. In spite of the craziness of life right now, He has continued to be constant and unchanging, merciful and good. Over the past two weeks two of the schools I was waitlisted at closed their waitlists, leaving only Hershey as a medical school option for Fall 09.

However God has really been good and has been providing for me in ways a year ago I wouldn't have expected! In all of this He has been working this for my good, and ultimately so that I would know Him better.

Many times throughout this process I've been tempted to, or have been relying solely on the surety of some new thing or the waitlists. However, God had been faithful to continue to teach and remind me that He is the only one that I can stand on, not any circumstance or person.

So you can be praying for wisdom for me as I make decisions right now. Also for contentment too please. Especially as one major option is to potentially move to Athens, GA by January 1st. I really would not like to leave my family and friends here in Pennsylvania, but if that is the Lord's will I'm beginning to see how it might be a wonderful thing in His plan. However, bitterness at possibly having to leave will be a sore competitor against contentment in Christ. So please be praying for me!

In what ways have you seen the Lord turn difficult circumstances for an amazingly God glorifying end?

Still Waiting...

Well friends I once again have to apologize for totally neglecting to post regularly for oh about 2 months. In any case there has been a ton of things happening.

Mostly the biggest thing has been that my medical school application process has taken an unexpected turn. Basically two schools have put me on hold and another has waitlisted me. Other than that, I only have one other concrete decision from my 4 interviews a rejection from Harvard. So basically now that it is after May 15th I am essentially to wait until I am potentially called up to a medical school.

So it's a very weird experience just having to wait and has been pretty hard at times. But God has been using this in my life like 1 Peter 1:3-9, where the temporary trials try and prove the tested genuineness of my faith to God's glory! This has really revealed much about how little I treasure Christ above my circumstances and how He is to be my greatest treasure.

In short please be praying for me that 1) God would continue to use this time for His glory and that I would love Him above all things including circumstances and that 2) I would get accepted somewhere and if not that God would give me wisdom as I make decisions about what to do next year!

Thank you all for praying and I will be going to NEXT this weekend so hopefully I'll get a few posts up to recap that too!

God's Timing Is Not Comfortable Timing

Over the past few months I've written about my experiences applying to medical schools. After much thought and prayer I concluded that medical school was what God was calling me to and so I applied.

However, medical school applications are anything but a quick process. My primary applications went off to schools in early September, my interviews were in December and January and now it's March and I still have no clue where I'll be next year. So far the only school to get back to me said that they wanted to keep comparing me to their other interviewees and would not give me a final answer for an undefined period of time.

And for me that is insanely frustrating. Personally I'm a very controlling person, and to know that I can't control when I'll get an answer about med schools means that I feel like I'm just floating helplessly along at the mercy of these arbitrary, often malicious forces (or that's what my mind thinks) known as admissions committees.

But friends God has been so good in this! I may feel like I'm just a helpless toy of the timetables of med schools, but God holds the world and medical schools in the palm of his hand. They do not operate outside of his will and if it is God's time for me to know about my future, then God would make it happen.

God's timing is not comfortable timing for me, but I can know that based on who God is I can wait. Over occupations, security, relationships, medical schools or any good thing in life God has given me Christ and secured for me a place in His Kingdom that cannot be shaken (Heb. 12:28); Even by medical school admissions committees!

You can be praying for me that I would trust God and not freak out about the time that he has me waiting right now. Please pray that as I wait I would know Christ more (Eph. 3:14-21) and to be diligent and finish the race of college well for God's glory instead of freaking out during the time that I have left.

The Intangilbes

So it was a pretty long day running around Boston, being interviewed, and learning a new subway system (which is really awesome).

But my faculty interviewer said something that struck home. It went something like this "When choosing a school you have to take into account the intangibles. That's what your decision should come down to."

So I was thinking about it and yep, I don't know if he was a believer, but there's a whole lot of truth in that. I could base my decision solely on the pedigree of the school, but that's not trusting the Lord as to where he's setting up as a perfect school for me.

Making a decision then is all about the intangibles, especially where prayerfully God would lead me to go should I be accepted. I thought that it was just really cool that while most likely he was thinking about things like weather, city atmosphere, etc. my interview had some real truth behind his statement when taken to the Lord.

Be praying for my safe travel home tomorrow!

Traveling 'round

This post is courtesy of the Longwood Inn here in Brookline, MA. Honestly this inn is pretty awesome. The rooms are super nice, I'm right near all of the hospitals, and the rooms and amenities are super. If you ever need a place to stay on the West side (Longwood) of Boston, check this place out.

That said, those pre-Christmas blog posts never came (silly me thinking that I would actually find time to write the days before Christmas). So in the interim, before those recap posts I figured I'd share what's been going on since New Year's.

Medical school interviewing has taken me all across the Eastern US this week, and I just wanted to write today about how amazing God is. To be perfectly honest, the weather this week has been horrible. In the roughly 36 hours that I was in Nashville, it didn't stop pouring rain once and Boston is covered in snow/deep ice. But in the midst of that God has not only answered prayers for safety, but every single plane flight was safe (in the iciest of conditions) and I haven't even experienced a delay.

Plus, even in the rain and cold God even provided an unexpected shuttle for me in Nashville so that I wouldn't have to wait for another!

I want to mention all of this because I normally freak out about all of those things (weather during traveling and mode of transportations like shuttles and subways especially). However God has been showing me so much this week about trusting him and seeing that he controls rain, air traffic patterns, schedules, snow, ice and all of the things that I think that he's forgotten about, plus that he knows exactly what I need, not what I want and that He has my best interest at heart.

If He allows an ice storm to cover the city I'm flying to, it's not just to spite me, but to somehow show great He is, even if I don't see why at the start.

So how have you all seen God provide recently in unexpected ways for His glory and not your comfort?