God Will Make a Way!
By Andrew McChesney
As she finished high school, Jo-Anna Clayton devised a perfect plan for college. For the first year, she would enroll in a community college in her home state of West Virginia. This way she could take basic classes at reduced tuition costs and stay with her parents and three younger sisters for one more year. After that, she would transfer to a Seventh-day Adventist school to study nursing. To make sure this plan would work, she applied to three Adventist schools in the region: Kettering College in Ohio, Southern Adventist University in Tennessee, and Washington Adventist University in Maryland. She was accepted by all three.
However, during the summer, her plan to attend community college fell through as she had no transportation.
Soon, only a month remained before the start of the school year, and she had nowhere to study. Even though she had been accepted by three Adventist schools, she had not formally applied and paid the associated fees.
Then her mother, Suzanne, remembered that family friends worked at Weimar Institute way across the country in California. “What about Weimar?” she asked. Jo-Anna immediately went online and did some research.
“I don’t want to go to California!” she told her mother. “That’s too far away.” “You should at least think about it and pray about it,” her mother replied.
Jo-Anna couldn’t disagree with that. “Whatever God says to do, I will do,” she said.
A week later, Jo-Anna spoke with a Weimar recruiter about the school’s nursing program, and she began to think that maybe — just maybe — God wanted her to study there. But a major barrier stood ahead: Her parents could only pay for the down payment and the first three months of classes.
Then a series of unexpected events rapidly unfolded.
Jo-Anna applied for and received a three-way scholarship in which Weimar and the Adventist Church’s Mountain View Conference, which encompasses West Virginia, matched a $500 donation from her home church in Spencer. Then while assisting people affected by local flooding that summer, Jo-Anna connected with a group of Adventist physicians who pledged $500 a month toward her tuition.
Jo-Anna raised $1,800 by writing financial assistance letters to family friends, and Weimar matched the amount through its own worthy student fund.
God had answered her prayers and Jo-Anna now had enough money to enroll. She flew to Weimar to start classes in the fall.
While she missed her family dreadfully for the first few months, the realization that she was at the center of God’s will energized her as she worked 25 hours a week to earn more tuition money.
Jo-Anna, now 19, miraculously completed her first year debt-free, and she spent this past summer working as a babysitter and doing odd jobs to raise funds for her second year.
Like last year, Jo-Anna still doesn’t know how she will pay her tuition, but she isn’t worried. She is claiming a favorite promise, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” Philippians 1:6 (NKJV).
Andrew McChesney is editor of Adventist Mission. This story has been shortened and is being reprinted with permission. To read the original with added details, click here.
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Southern Asia Pacific Division
Prayer Requests – Sept. 17-24
BRIEF FACTS ABOUT THE SSD: The Southern Asia Pacific Division (SSD) is headquartered in Manila, Philippines. It consists of 14 countries which include: Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, lndonesia, Timor Leste, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Brunei.
The SSD has a population of 1.3 billion – the second largest population in a division – with 1.3 million church members. More than 50% of the population is Muslim; 30% are Buddhist. 86% of the members are from the Philippines and lndonesia, alone. The remaining 14% are located in the other 12 countries.
PRAYER REQUEST: Please pray for Saw Samuel (Division President), Rudy R. Baloyo (Division Secretary), and Max W. Langi (Division Treasurer). Please pray for all the Union, Conference, and local church leaders as well, that God will give them wisdom for their work.
PRAYER REQUEST: Pray for the unreached people groups in this region, including Muslims, Buddhist, Hindus, Chinese, and seculars. Pray for the remote country territories that still need to receive the gospel.
PRAYER REQUEST: Pray for the Centers of Influence in the region, as they reach those in the urban cities. Pray for more volunteers and workers for these centers, so that Mission to the Cities can be accomplished.
PRAYER REQUEST: Pray for those affected by the flooding in Bangladesh and Myamar.
PRAYER REQUEST: Pray for the youth who are seeking a deeper walk with Jesus. Pray for movements like Philippines Youth for Christ, to increase, where hundreds and thousands of young people are coming together to study the Word and learn how to be strong witnesses for Christ. Pray also for the Adventist universities and schools to be training grounds.