Finances Sorted Out By God
One of the dreads of being in your final year in the university is called ‘PROJECT’, which is not only physically and intellectually draining, but also financially demanding.
The time to begin my project was drawing near and I didn’t have any money at all. I told my pastor that I had no money to do my project and he prayed for me! I had a lot of trips to embark on – I had to go to ten different local governments in the state – in the course of my research. All the while, I kept trusting God. I told my shepherd [the church leader directly discipling me] in church as well and she supported me with the little she had and it helped me to some extent to make photocopies of my questionnaire.
After a short while, I was led (by the Holy Spirit) to call a woman who I had never met but had spoken to previously on the phone when I housed a ward of hers who was coming to write Post UTME exams in my university. The woman sent me the total amount needed for my project and even more! That was how I didn’t need to worry about the funds for the project till I was done!
The Date Kept Moving!
Initially, I paid someone to write my project for me, but my pastor got to know about it and was displeased with the idea. He told me to make sure I did not submit it. He said I have to do my work myself. That slowed down my work because I had to start all over again. I was sad, but I had to obey, because overtime, he [my Pastor] had taught us that obedience to God is the strategy to win every battle that comes our way.
Shortly after I began my project myself, the Department started calling for the submission of our projects to our project supervisors for vetting and corrections. Normally, we were to take the work to our supervisors after completing each chapter, but my own supervisor told me to go and complete the whole work then bring it to him when I’m done.
When I was done, I took it to my him and he asked me to bring it to him another day. My mates were getting ready for defense but I wasn’t. I thought to myself that, since all this was happening because I chose to obey, I had the confidence that God will help me. This made me tell my course mates and others around who were with me that the project defense wouldn’t hold until everyone was done with their work, although I was actually concerned about myself.
A day was fixed for the defense to take place, but something happened and so it did not hold that day. The second date was fixed, but it didn’t hold still – I think there were some people who hadn’t finished their work.
Finally, a date was fixed for the defense. That morning, I had my devotion and while I was praying, I said, “I don’t want to defend my project, instead, I want to just talk and chat with the examiners because I won’t know what to say.” It was a funny prayer but God heard. Then I listened to some messages and got ready for the day.
I dressed up very casually, with a short sleeved shirt for school. I saw all my colleagues dressed in their suit and shoes yet I still had peace. A lady who was also in my group came up to me and started complaining bitterly that we are lazy and unserious in the group. She was upset that each time the man asked us to do things, we just never did them even after a message was sent to remind us. I told her I hadn’t seen the message that was why I didn’t respond, but it made no difference. Later, on that same day before the defense proper began, I went to the supervisor’s office and introduced myself. I told him he ‘was’ my supervisor. He took offense in the fact I said ‘was’ instead of ‘is’. I corrected myself immediately and he told me that he hadn’t even scored the submitted projects including mine. He had to score the projects submitted, as a particular percentage of our total scores was to be given by him.
After my eventful introduction, he gave me the score sheet and said, “Take these; make photocopies and write down these names and topics.” He gave me the score sheet to photocopy and write down the names and topics of the people he was supervising to ease the work he would do when it was time to put in the scores. I put down all except two names which included mine.
Shortly after, another lady walked in and he told me to give her two projects to record so I gave her mine and another’s so that there would be no room for me to influence my scores. While I was busy putting down the names, he asked me about my own project and I told him I hadn’t seen it yet. He requested for it and I gave it to him, he flipped through the pages and told me it was okay. I’m sure he gave me a good score though I didn’t see it but he was obviously impressed by my work.
Assisting the Defense Process
I helped carry the printed projects to the office of my project supervisor afterwards and he told me to distribute the different projects to the different examiners in their offices. My mates saw me and laughed at me saying I wasn’t ready and probably would have to come next year! Probably because I wasn’t super dressed like them (remember I had dressed up very casually that day with a short sleeved shirt and not a suit!), and the fact I was the one carrying their work all around to the examiners.
I had the opportunity to influence who would be my examiner because my supervisor sent me to carry all the projects to a particular office where people were being allocated to their examiners, but I didn’t. I trusted that God who started it would complete it for me. I knew if I told my supervisor who I wanted to examine me, he would agree but I didn’t. When it was my turn to defend, I walked into the examiner’s office and was given a seat. I was really comfortable.
There were two men in there. “Present your project defense,” they said. I started talking about what I had written on (my topic) and they asked me a difficult question on methodology. I knew I couldn’t answer it. Miraculously, just at that time, the power went out! The two men stood up to open the windows so that more air could come in. When they returned to their seats, they started complaining about how difficult it was to open the louvers especially the one in the office of one of the examiners. When they were done discussing, they asked me to ‘summarize the project’ and give them a reference. Just like that! I quickly answered them and was dismissed. That was how my project defense ended!
– Bro E.
Brother E. is currently serving in a state in Central Southern Nigeria, where he leads the Corpers Fellowship, serving God along with those who are fiery lovers of God.
He can be reached via email at testifiers@g-lh.org