Monday March 14, 2022
Created by Savanna Gazdik
Devotion
In my last year of high school, I decided that I wanted to follow in the footsteps of my grandfather and become a doctor. He was an accomplished neurosurgeon, and very well-respected within the medical community. I declared myself pre-medicine on all of my applications and told his story in my admissions interviews. I mapped out my classes and started looking into medical schools- before I had even started my undergraduate career. Despite my excitement, there was one small problem- I am terrible at science and math. Nevertheless, due to my own stubbornness I insisted on pursuing this path. As a result, I enrolled in chemistry, calculus, and biology my freshman year.
I was put on academic probation and nearly failed out of school. I told myself that when I got straight A’s for the rest of my time at Denison, it would balance out. I still received poor grades in my science and math classes, though I excelled in my humanities and social science classes. It wasn’t until halfway through my second semester of sophomore year that I realized: no medical school would take me with these grades; I didn’t even actually like the idea of being a doctor, I just thought I should be one; and I was significantly better suited to work with children. That year, I started working with Big Brothers Big Sisters, and once I realized the impact I could make on students in the school systems it was like a blindfold had been lifted. Clearly this is what I was meant to do. It didn’t exactly matter the role I had in the school, as long as I was helping students.
It took me FOREVER to realize this, yet God had been showing me signs that this was my path all along. My favorite service project in high school was tutoring students at the library. My academic strengths were more aligned with the social services than anything else. I was just too stubborn to see what God was trying to tell me. I could have saved myself so much stress had I reflected on God’s will, not my own, and not my grandfather’s. It is easy to ignore the signs of what is right for you when the journey might be hard, low paying, and less glamorous than other options. God gives each of us a purpose in this life which uses our strengths to help others and it is clear to me now how I can do that- it just took a couple extra years, countless mental breakdowns, and several attempts at chemistry to figure it out.
TLDR; God will tell you what you need, you just need to be willing to see it.
Prayer
God, please open our eyes and our hearts. Our journeys do not need to be as long as we make them if we walk with You and along the path You have created for us. Please help us see these paths early, and to learn from our mistakes with grace. Amen
