By John Julius Muwulya |
A miracle is usually talked about as a surprising and welcome event that is believed to be the work of a divine agency. Most of us usually want to see God to fully acknowledge him in our lives. For me, I believed in him, but I always took him for granted. I invited him into my life when I thought necessary. But I never attributed any of my success to him.
All the success I have got so far, I have attributed solely to my own doing and determination. The failures, I would blame them on God.
This all changed last weekend when I attended the National Student Leadership Forum on faith and values in Washington, D.C. It all started here in Portland when I was introduced to a man that nominated me for this opportunity.
I was introduced to this man by a mentor of mine at the company I worked for this summer. I met the mentor through an event organized by another mentor of mine. The event was a men’s retreat at Cannon Beach which I almost did not attend, but my sister, Noela, encouraged me to.
It was my sister who introduced me to the first mentor a while back. For an ambitious guy like myself who wanted to make connections, it all seemed like mere coincidence that was meant to be. It all came together at the National Student leadership Forum in Washington, D.C this past weekend.
It was a chain of “statistical miracles” that all finally made sense.
I realized that though I may have a great and loving family, God has always been there to get me to places where mentors could unintentionally help with my character development. And I needed help to overcome struggles that I have been engaged in for a very long time.
My greatest struggle, until this summer, used to be lying. Another struggle was selfishness and being arrogant. Thinking it was all about me.
With all these character struggles, I was trying to please people so that they would like me. I didn’t want to be seen as not perfect enough and not good enough. In the process of this, I hid so many stories that make me who I am.
As a leader, I realized I had a problem that needed to be fixed over the summer so that my character and integrity as a leader would never be in question. In this character development process, God has been there trying to seek me out but I kept on saying “no.”
I allowed him to be part of my life when I wanted him too. I would ask him questions at times, and along the way as answers to them, he has provided “statistical miracles.” He brought mentors along the journey.
These and many others are some of the “statistical miracles” I can point out, but I strongly believe that all of us have these miracles in our lives. We might not at times realize these “statistical miracles” in our lives, but they are there.
God is always extending out his hand inviting us in, but we at times keep on saying, “Wait for another time, Lord.” We may try to wait for a perfect time, which may never come.
All along we may fail to realize these special “statistical miracles.” God wants us to know what we want to know, and the more you know it’s God, the bigger your steps will be. I wanted to share my experience in a hope that some others out there may also realize their unique “statistical miracles” too.
Muwulya is a senior civil engineering major. He can be reached at muwulya15@up.edu.
