I got into grad school...

True story.  

I was thinking about how I got to this point.  We are constantly told that small decisions and events have the potential to drastically change our lives.  Here is one of mine.

Don't worry, even though it was only a year ago I'll start it with once upon a time.

Once upon a time, I was registering for classes, something just didn't feel right and so I stayed up late searching through the online catalog, trying to find the solution to my unease.

I came across a class--An Introduction to Egyptian Archaeology

The unease I had felt for some time disappeared.

I felt that I had found my answer.

I had heard rumors about the professor teaching the class, she was apparently one of the hardest professors in the department.  

But I thought: I can do this, I'll work really hard.

So when, despite my Herculean effort, I got a D on my first test, I was a bit...hmmm, devastated.

But I didn't give up.

I resolved to work harder than I ever have in my life,

Along the way I learned how I learn.

The way I approached my papers, schoolwork, studying, memorizing, and testing completely changed.

The next midterm approached.  

I was terrified.

I asked everyone I knew to pray for me.

I was terrified...I mean really, really petrified.

I went into the test at 2:30 in the afternoon.

I was amazed, the blank pages of my test booklet became quickly filled with artifacts, sites, dates, deities, connections, and pages upon pages full of every single fact I had learned.

I was ecstatic.

Unfortunately, this plethora of information took a great deal of time.

About 7 hours.

At 9:30 pm I started to shake, see spots and I had only finished my rough-draft for the essay part of the test.

I wrote a hurried note of apology and explanation to my professor, turned in my test, and ran out of the building, very, very ill.

I was devastated.

I felt that I had failed.

After a weekend of anxious anticipation for the embarrassment I would surely face the next week,

I went into my class,

I apologized to my professor,

she was very understanding of my plight but didn't understand why I was so distraught,

considering I had gotten 103% on the test.

No joke.  

Those pages of inspired "fluff" saved my grade.

To make an even longer story short, I have taken 2 classes from her,

besides that first test I have never gotten less than 103%.

I went from being her worst student to being one of her most improved students.

Improved being an incredible understatement.

Shortly after that second test she mentioned her project in Syria.

She mentioned it almost every time I met with her over the next year, asking me to go with her once I had graduated.

Also, during the second class I took with her, she encouraged me to apply for graduate school.

Looking back

that experience is a major turning point that led to the path I am now on.

In 17 days I graduate from university.

In 23 days I am going to Syria with that same professor.

In a few short months, I will be attending grad school.

A dream I've always had but never, never, never thought was possible.

This woman has changed my life.

Those who prayed for me in that horrific second midterm, changed my life.

By very small and sometimes difficult means, God changed my life.

Yep, by small and simple things shall great things come to pass.

Even if those small things include a seemingly meaningless class and a bombed test.