Four Very Important Words of Advice...

           And then she gave me the best
             advice ever when she said...
                      "Be Who You Are!"

It has been a crazy, busy, wonderful, and a tiny bit scary time at our house. So much has been going on that my head is spinning. 

Yet in the midst of it all, we are soaking in love and gratitude. As we say every Sunday at church...
                      "God is good all the time, 
                    and all the time God is good!"

I have been especially busy since besides teaching I have been mentoring our precious granddaughter, Glory Sihin, Amy's oldest daughter. Another miracle daughter...the one that Amy adopted from Ethiopia. 

 Sihin came to our family when she was 14, the oldest child in the orphanage she grew up in. She has been a super bright light in our family with her radiant smile, love for Jesus, servant's heart and her unstoppable work ethic. That girl can out work me and believe me I am no slouch at working. While her
Ethiopian name is Sihin, the American name she gave herself was Glory. She wanted her life to bring glory to God!

This is a HUGE, dream-come-true time for Glory Sihin, as we like to call her. After so, so so much work in her AP classes at North Central High School in Spokane, and so much love and community service, Glory is applying to go to college.

The college of her dreams is a small, Christian university in Spokane called Whitworth University.

She knows that's where God wants her to be. A small Christian university where she can get a rigorous academic education and grow her Christian faith at the same time. Yet college is expensive and her Mom's salary as an adjunct faculty member hardly keeps the family afloat. 

Glory knew she would have to apply for every scholarship available, so besides being a full time honors student and doing community service, our precious granddaughter has spent the last eight months doing scholarship applications. That's right...eight months.

And that leads us to today...

After making it through the first two phases of an Act 6 Scholarship application, Glory Sihin is at Whitworth this weekend going through a huge drill...interviews, writing, discussing academic articles...three full days. She is over there right this very minute.

What could this scholarship offer, if she gets it?
She would have a full college scholarship to Whitworth University. All expenses paid.

Glory believes, and we believe, that if this is God's will, she will be there. Yet she has to do the work and the preparation. And she has...countless hours and may of them at our home.

You see English is her third language and just reading these poems and articles has taken her extra time to digest. And she has never been interviewed so she asked me to give her a practice one. Which of course I did.

We prayed together and talked about the fact that she wouldn't be alone this weekend. God would be right there with her. If she got scared, just pray.
We talked about how God had brought her to America, and God has a plan for her life. He has guided her this far, He would not leave her.

And then she asked me, with a few tears spilling down her gorgeous chocolate face, "Nana, what do
I need to remember besides that God loves me?"

I said a prayer asking the words to be His words for her, her heavenly Father's words for her. What came out were these four words...

                   Be Who You Are!

And then His explanation... I made you. You are perfect in my eyes. Just be the you I made you to be.
Show them My love through you. You are more than enough.

And I cried and she cried and her beloved Grandpa cried. 

You see Glory adores Bert, just like I do. She brings him flowers and cards and hugs and loves. He is a stable rock in her life and when he had a stroke she was so scared. She prayed and prayed and supported us both in Bert's get well process. She loves, loves, loves her Boppa. And he adores her.

Little did I know that just recently Bert had given her the exact same advice. "Just be yourself, honey. The YOU God made you to be!"

Yes, God works in miraculous ways!

And then it was time for Glory to go back to her home. As she gathered up her book bag and notebook, Glory stopped and gave me a HUGE hug. 

And she whispered, "Thanks, Nans, that's the best advice ever!" And off she went...

And now we want to support her. 

If you pray, could you please ask God to make His presence known to Glory this weekend? 

Could you please pray for her sense of His love and presence and that she just needs to remember His words for her...and His words for me...
           Be Who You Are! Be who I made you to be!

And all the people said, "AMEN!"

God Bless!
Love, Linda