Unexpected Miracle

It was a brand new year full of hopes, dreams, and expectations. 2007 was in full swing! I spent the first week in prayer and fasting and by the second week, I was back to my daily GRE prep yet again at Panera Bread café. This time, I had more time to pace myself with the GRE study and my plan was to retake the exam in 6 months. The first 4 months of the year were quite mundane and everyday seemed similar to the day before. But unexpectedly, God opened a door for me and once again I was reassured that God was still working on my behalf and ordering every one of my steps.

Sometime in late April 2007, my family was preparing to take a road trip to Baltimore, Maryland for a family friend's wedding. Two days to the trip, I desperately needed to get my hair done for the wedding as all the salons around the area were booked up and were not taking any walk-ins. My mother recommended her stylist five minutes away from our house, and so I gave her a call and she was more than willing to accommodate me. I arrived the salon that afternoon and was asked to have a seat while Mrs. Rebecca (not her real name) was finishing up with a client. Mrs. Rebecca's beautiful grandchildren were in the cozy sitting area playing. I sat and watched them play gleefully and I occasionally glanced at some pages of the magazine in my hands. Shortly, Mrs. Rebecca was all done with her client and it was my turn. She came by the sitting area and asked me to come to the back and get my hair done. Soon, I was seated and as Mrs. Rebecca was getting my hair done, we began to have a conversation about God, family, education, career, and so on. During that conversation, I had no idea that I had left a huge impression on Mrs. Rebecca. She was really impressed with the way I carried myself, my values, and upbringing. Two weeks later, I got a call from Mrs. Rebecca. She said that she remembered that during our conversation two weeks earlier, I had mentioned that I was unemployed. She told me that she might be able to help me. She asked me to update my resume and take it to the Glory Communications radio station owned by her husband, and speak with Mrs. Cornell (not her real name). Mrs. Rebecca said that I was such a remarkable young lady and that she was so impressed with how I carried myself, and my upbringing. She commended my mother for bringing up an amazing young woman and she said she really wanted to help me. I was shocked as I never expected this to happen and I was really excited although I was unsure what position I could possibly qualify for at a radio station. I thanked Mrs. Rebecca repeatedly and expressed how grateful I was for her help and kind words.

The following day, I dressed in my best professional attire, took my updated resume, and headed to the radio station. Glory Communications at the time was home to about two major gospel and talk radio stations: WFMV 95.3FM, and WGCV 620AM. I stepped into Glory Communications and asked for Mrs. Cornell. Soon, Mrs. Cornell came to the lobby with a big smile on her face and the sweetest disposition. I greeted her and we shook hands, and then she directed me to her office. Mrs. Cornell asked me a few questions and after a brief question and answer session, we started talking about her kids, life, and her new baby. We talked and laughed like we were old friends. During our conversation, I realized that Mrs. Cornell, the Sales Manager, was Mrs. Rebecca's daughter and that Mrs. Rebecca had already spoken to her husband and daughter about me. After getting to know each other, Mrs. Cornell explained the position that they had available and then she offered me the job on the spot. I wanted to jump for joy. I was so excited! I quickly accepted the offer and when I was asked when I could start, I told Mrs. Cornell that I would start the next day. I was offered a position in the sales office as an intern. Soon, Mrs. Cornell took me around the sales office and introduced me to the friendly sales staff. I was assigned a cubicle. I was also given a tour of the radio station. I met the radio personalities I had listened to for years on the gospel radio station - Tony Gee, Tony Jamison, Monica Washington, and Thelisha Casey. I was star struck! These were the radio personalities that had kept me entertained for years on WFMV 95.3FM and I couldn't believe I was actually meeting them in person and was going to work with them for the next few months until I headed off to graduate school. Just like that, God opened a door that I never expected in time for me to start saving up for my graduate school expenses.

My experience working as an intern at Glory Communications was surreal!  My job duties included writing radio commercials, scheduling when commercials were going to run, making collection calls, filing, answering phone calls, and planning events organized by the company for listeners. My favorite parts of the job were definitely our morning devotions in the conference room, and writing radio commercials. Writing church program commercials was easy. I found myself using many clichés like - "Anointed Man of God," or "Power Pack Service," or "Awesome time of praise and worship," or "Come and Receive your blessings,"  or "You don't want to miss it!" Church program commercials were absolutely easy, but when it came to business commercials, I had to think really hard and tap into my creative juices to come up with something outstanding. I remember the first time I heard my commercial on the radio, I screamed, "That's my commercial! I wrote that!!" I would constantly ask my family members to listen to the radio station for my commercials and would tell them the exact time my commercials would air. I was proud of my little commercial-writing self! I was so happy with how flexible the job was especially when it came to my GRE study. I was allowed to use my free time to study and thankfully, I had a lot of free time daily. It was almost two months to my GRE exams and I had no doubt that God, who began this good work would see me through.

To be continued...

The Christmas Hope

It was the most wonderful time of the year, Christmas 2006! I laid on my bed on a chilly Christmas night in my Christmas pyjamas under the covers all warm and toasty watching the Hallmark Channel Christmas movie marathon. This was my absolute favorite thing to do during the Christmas season. Most of the story lines were similar: A lady or a guy returns home to care for their aging grandmother, or for a work project and runs into their high school, or college sweetheart, they rekindle their romance, sparks fly and they fall back in love. He proposes the next Christmas under the mistletoe, they get married, and live happily ever after. The end! LOL! These story lines were so cliché and cheesy, but I loved every bit of it and couldn't get enough of the Hallmark movies. They had a way of putting one in the Christmas spirit, and make you feel all warm and fuzzy. As I laid down, I reached for my hot chocolate on the table, took a sip, and allowed my mind to drift. I began to imagine what life in Charleston was going to be like. I had not received my provisional acceptance letter yet. I made a mental note to send a follow-up email to Ms. Heather the next day.

I sent an email to Ms. Heather, the director of graduate admissions the next day and asked if my official GRE scores had been received. In her reply, she said that she had received my official GRE scores and that they were going to send out the provisional acceptance letter in a day or two. Two days later, and five days to Christmas day, I received a lengthy email from the Graduate Program Director - Dr. Martin (not his real name). Dr. Martin said in his email that he was surprised that I had taken the GRE exam twice. He congratulated me on the 30 point increment on the GRE exam, but also said that they were running on a tight schedule to admit me before the spring semester, and that they would have to defer my admission to Summer 2007. He added that deferring my admission till later would give me an opportunity to retake the GRE exam and prove to him and myself that I could bridge the gap in my GRE scores before he could grant me provisional non-degree-seeking admission. This was a little bit disappointing! I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me to pull up my GRE scores and was going to work hard to prove that I could bridge the gap in my GRE scores. However, I had hoped that receiving the provisional admission letter would be my little Christmas gift. I was a bit sad. I lost my Christmas cheer and was a little bit moody the rest of the Christmas season, but I was thankful to God that I still had a chance.

Few days passed and soon, it was New Year's Eve. I was excited to finally end the year and ring in a new year full of promises. That day, I had to decide on which church's New Year's Eve service/crossover night I was going to attend. I had two options: 1) Go to our really small African church and bind and cast all my "village people", and all the demons and their cousins as we entered the new year, or 2) Go to Right Direction Christian Center (African-American church), see lots of my peers, be entertained all night with upbeat gospel music, Christian comedy, possibly a recording gospel artist, inspiring messages, and so on... I went with option 2. Don't blame me LOL, I was young and loved a hype, and fun-filled fellowship 😊. The New Year's Eve service at Right Direction was everything I expected it to be and more. A few seconds to midnight, as the Pastor was making decrees for the new year, the countdown timer appeared on the projector screens. You could feel the excitement all over the sanctuary as everyone began to countdown together "…5...4...3...2...1 Happy New Year!!" There were loud screams as people celebrated all over the sanctuary as the timer hit 0. The screen showed fireworks and balloons were dropped from the ceiling. I shouted "Hallelujah" repeatedly and then hugged the people who were sitting close to me. I was so thankful to see another year. Soon, the pastor asked us to pray for the new year and then he told us to ask God for something special for the new year. For the very first time in the history of new year services, I told God that I had no special requests for the year. With tears running down my cheeks, all I could say was, "Lord, let your will alone be done in 2007."

To be continued...