I See What You Did!

This year has been a whirlwind of paperwork, getting my son into a college that he can swim for.

It started with filling out a FAFSA form (free application for federal student aid). I was filling out the form, on line. It requested the school, my son was going to, because they would need that information to provide him with student aid. Everything was going fine, until I had to sign the form. It said the fastest way to sign it, was to do it electronically. And the way to do that, was to have the IRS text me a code, I enter the code into my form, and that would be my electronic signature. Easy, right? Not so much.

I had completed the form and then put in my cell phone number, so they could text me the code. I did that and waited. I had my cell phone sitting next to me. No texts. I gave them about five minutes. Nothing came through. I decided to do it again. I waited for the text. Again, nothing came through. I was getting frustrated. I tried it a third time. Waited for the text. Nothing happened. I had my husband text me with his phone to see if my phone was working. It worked.

I gave up. I had to settle for requesting a code by regular mail and waiting for two weeks before I could get it. This was frustrating, as the school was pressuring me to get this paperwork done.

So I put the paperwork aside and told the school in my head that they just needed to hold their horses.

Within that two week period, my son got bad news from the school he wanted to go to. He wasn’t on the swim team. He was crushed. He quickly contacted another school and the coach wanted to see him the next day. That was promising.

To make a long story short, my son got on the swim team for this second school. I had to immediately, complete the FAFSA form for the new school. I did. And what was strange about all of it was, I tried the whole texting thing, and immediately got a text with a code to electronically sign the form. It was instant.

As soon as I was able to get the code for the new school, I realized, “Oh, God had my back the whole time!” You see, if I had signed the form, for the other school, I would have to redo all that paperwork, and then transfer it over to the new school. That would have been a major headache.

We were now, applying to the right school. The one that would take my son onto the swim team. This school, would allow my son to still live at home and commute, which saves us about $10,000.

God knew all along. But God teaches us, as he answers our prayers. God doesn’t do things the way we want Him to do things. He puts His fingerprints all over our problem, so we can clearly see His hands working, in our lives. As soon as I was able to easily get that text for the other school, my mind went back to when I couldn’t do it. I saw clearly, God was stopping it and saving me. But it didn’t look like it, at the time. That’s how God works. He doesn’t just give us all the answers we’re asking for. It’s a process. And if He can show us, who He is and how He operates, He will never miss an opportunity to do that.