God's plan.
Do you ever want to do something that's obviously your plan, your desire, and you don't want any interruption?
Do you ever want to do something that's your plan or your desire, and you don't want any interruption from an outside force?
This was me 20 years ago; I had written my National Common Entrance Examination. This is the qualifying exam for secondary school in Nigeria. When the results were released.
My mum and I began planning to get me into the secondary school behind the house we lived in then. I had enrolled in the primary school a few months earlier to sit for the qualifying exam. So we thought it would be easy to get admitted to the Secondary school. We received a big NO from the vice principal administrator; he said I was not posted there and that it would affect the quota system, but I could check another state secondary school in some suburb.
We picked up our bags and dashed off to the other school. On getting there, we were asked to check the list for my name. My mum perused the list, and I can remember seeing her frown while she grumbled that the students on the list had average scores, and she was certain I would be a local champion if I got enrolled there. If only she knew she was mumbling those words a little louder than my ear's reach, that it caught some gentle man's attention. He greeted my mum and asked her what school I had selected while I sat for the exam. My mum, with glee, responded, Federal Government Girl's College Bwari, Federal Government Girl's College Akure and two other schools I obviously can't remember.
Well, well, after that, the man told her to go to the National Examination Council (NECO)'s office, she asked for the address, and there we went that day. On getting to the office in Zone 4, Wuse, Abuja. My mum was asked to sit while I stood; we were waiting for the paper, which was also the exam result that had my fate... it was a long 5 minutes, like the longest I have stood. The man behind the table flipped the papers so fast it was almost finished, and my name had not been seen; I couldn't hold it anymore, and hot, steaming tears rolled down my eyes uncontrollably.
My mum asked why I was crying like she didn't know, and I responded. My name is not there. The man quickly answered that it was, like a miracle, he asked for my name again, which my mum and I said in a chorus. He said here it is, and you can imagine I was smiling from ear to ear with tears still on my big round cheeks.
... that was how I went to my first secondary school choice on merit, which was also God's plan for me. In that school, I made lifelong acquaintances, friends and role models.
Many times, we sway from east to west, north to south, missing God's plan at the centre. We have the urge to go our own way, but it is nothing like God's original plan for us. I pray we can turn to God's will for our lives. Amen.
Prov.3. [5] Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. [6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.