Seas Part

This week I am humbled because in the aftermath of my last post, God did a mighty thing that elicited a visceral reaction. The other night, I went to bed early at like 9 pm because I had an opening shift the next day. Around midnight, my phone rang and I woke up - as I glanced at my phone, my initial reaction was one of dread because I realized it was my sister calling. To clarify, I guess I'm a bit conditioned to respond this way because growing up, I grew to associate late night calls from my sister with really bad news. I picked up right away, and sure enough, my sister was crying. She proceeded to tell me that she got into the graduate program back in Salt Lake. In my sleepiness, I tried to process the information and then it sank in. God made the impossible possible. She got in.

Let me backtrack. My sister's history is a convoluted one, and while it is not my story to tell, I'll share the skeletal bits that will clarify this testimony. She dropped out of college during the first semester more than 10 years ago and went back to finish her undergrad a few years ago. Throughout most of this time, she worked as a waitress (and continues to do so) and as you can imagine, going back to college took an intentionality that can be comparable to a huge leap of faith across a chasm of doubt. She voiced similar sentiments with applying to grad school last year and when I was home for Christmas, I got to talk to her and encourage her with some words that I felt like the Lord was asking me to speak over her. Last month, my sis got an in-person interview and left the interview feeling pretty dejected because it was brought up that she had a DUI from almost ten years ago. Basically, even though her application was a strong one, chances that she would get in were slim due to the fact that she might not be able to finish the practicum portion of the program due to the DUI. She met with a lawyer and looked into expediting the expungement process (it takes around 10 years for a DUI to be taken off of a record) and realized that she might have to put school on hold.

Throughout this process, I felt like God was going to answer my family's prayers in a big way and show my sister how he was pursuing her. Sure enough, I could hear the amazement in her voice as she repeatedly told me that she got in and that God had opened up a door. She had gotten an email from the school with an informal acceptance and a statement that the school would make an exception.

After we hung up, I laid in my bed trying to process everything. And then the tears came, and I found myself weeping. For most of my life, I have had a huge burden for my sister and there have been many times when I have prayed and ugly-cried for my sister by myself (to the point where past roommates have knocked on my door and asked if I was okay). I wept and wept and I guess I was pretty noisy because Liz knocked on my door and came in and I looked up at her and said, "these are joyful tears".

He makes the impossible possible; he parts red seas.