Henry Imler May 28th, 2008

As a religious studies master’s student at MU, I get two years of funding.  I teach two discussion sections per semester and in return, I get a tuition waiver and a very modest stipend.  For this, I am very grateful.  Due to a variety of factors, both personal and professional, I am taking three years to finish my degree.  Not only does it allow for a better marriage and home life, but it allows me to catch up on languages and background knowledge that I lacked because I came into my field late (middle of my second semester in grad school compared to first day of  class my sophomore year in undergrad).  While technically I could be done with my thesis early in the upcoming fall semester, extending into the spring and defending early in the spring would allow for a smoother defense and allow me to pick up reading French.

Give the above, I was faced with my last year without funding.  After talking with the administration, they were able to get me funding for second semester next year (when I did not really need it) but not for the fall when I really needed it.  I had a chance to get full funding because an opening popped up, but the program had to offer the spot to someone that had did not have funding their first year, a fair decision.  Still, I counted it as a blessing.

During all of this, I had been asking my family and church to pray that something would come up.  Yesterday, after having lunch with Meredith I checked my email.  Apparently, enrollment in religious studies classes has skyrocketed and the administration saw fit to fund more teaching assistant spots. They offered me four sections instead of two, which means double the work and therefore double the pay.

God came through, and actually doubled what I and others were asking for.  For this, I praise her!  Some people may chalk this up to circumstance, luck, and my track record at the school.  No doubt that some of that played a factor here, but I see a lot of these coincidences happening around my involvement in this program, coincidences that seem a little too uncanny for my taste.  I reckon that God was involved somehow.  There is no indisputable proof that He was, but there is proof (as in evidence) that He was.

• Christianity , Personal
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