Unimaginable breakthrough undergraduate post-studies

The future looked bleak three months to the completion of my mandatory national service after my undergraduate. I kept wondering what would become of me after the service. Friends were receiving offers from schools they had applied to abroad with no positive sign from the only one I applied to. The anxiety of not hearing anything positive from the University of Cambridge made me apply to my alma mater for post graduate studies with no knowledge of where I will find money to pay my fees and accommodation. As child from a relatively poor family, the thought of being home unemployed and not being able to further my education brought tears into my eyes. I got depressed anytime a friend calls to inform me of his or her admission or employment offer. Things were really tough!

On the morning of August 7, 2009, I got a call from my Music Director informing me of our choir’s rehearsals later in the evening. Due to what was on my mind, I planned not to go although I confirmed my attendance to him. After battling with my conscience all day, I decided to go for the all night. I joined a trotro (local name for commercial buses in Ghana) to Adum. On my way, I kept praying in my head for a miracle. Just then I had a strong conviction to check my emails. 

I opened my inbox and to my utter shock I had received an email from Cambridge. The email in summary read I had been awarded a Cambridge-Commonwealth Shared Scholarship to pursue an MPhil in Development Studies. The package included a fully paid roundtrip airplane ticket, tuition, college fees and stipend for the entire duration of the course. In addition, I was not to pay any visa fees. I just couldn’t believe it. I mean how possible that a poor boy from Ghana going to Cambridge? 

At that moment I heard a voice tell me, “Your ways are not my ways, neither are your thoughts my thoughts. Only trust and obey and life will be simple for you.” I cried all night singing praises to the Ancient of Days. I learnt one thing from this experience, that is, we serve a living God who will always deliver us if we stay true to him.

May we keep the faith of our fathers still and be true to it till death!