I got into Berkeley !! Praise God !!
Testimony:
So about all of you know I have been attending UCSC and I am about to finish my second year. Initially, I applied for Berkeley and didn’t get in, I was extremely disappointed because it was my dream school. But I did get into UCSC.
I didn’t want to go to Santa Cruz. I would’ve been completely fine going to a community college, but of course Gods plan he wanted me to go. The main reason he wanted me to attend to that school is due to save a soul — in this case meeting Kiara and leading her to our church. Yes, God could’ve saved Kiara another way, but he wanted to use someone to physically go save her. That’s what love is. Love is sacrifice. Love is sacrificing your energy and yourself for other people.
Throughout my 2 years in Santa Cruz, some people thought I was having fun or the “college life.” But it was the total opposite. I tremendously suffered there mentally. Of course, yes I’m grateful I’m not in a 3rd world country, but being in that environment, taking the classes I disliked, the discouragement, the isolation — it took a toll on my mental health. It was especially very lonely there and I didn’t know much people even when I put myself out there. This isn’t a city life where you can see people all around you, the campus is super spread out and big so you can’t really bump into people — most of the people there weren’t my type of people I would hangout with as well.
It also was like a hippy country land to me 😂.
On top of all that, I had to arrange and practice worship on top of all my heavy school work. Praying and reading as well so I was constantly busy with little time to myself.
But in the midst of it all, I kept on reminding myself to stay thankful and accept this plan he had for me.
Another thing I want to mention is I stayed away from the temptations. The partying, drinking, drugs, and weed. No matter how down I felt or fallen I told myself stubbornly I will not comfort my sadness to the fleeting moments of pleasure. I’m sure if I did those stuff God would’ve prohibited me from being accepted to UC Berkeley. Of course, acknowledging how we feel is okay, but letting it drive or dictate us to make a wrong decision isn’t.
Of course please understand, I’m not trying to say I’m better than anyone else, I really truly am not. I have many flaws and problems I am continuing to work on. But what held me back from doing those acts was knowing God was going to strike me. Also I want to emphasize, it’s a different story if you did these things before coming to the church, but if you’ve been in this church for a while and fall to those temptations, you’re just going to end up loosing ground and weakening your spirit. So I told myself it’s not worth it at all.
In my first year, I was in a triplet and I had 2 roommates. They weren’t my ideal type of people to be friends with and I didn’t feel compatible with them. They were both unbelievers, but I still continued to pray and read everyday, even when they were in the room I prayed which probably weirded them out 😂. I remember as I spoke in tongues I would say my “holy fire” quietly 😂☠️.
All the music courses I took I didn’t enjoy all of them not even the slightest. Especially, this upper music upper division class I took a couple months ago. It was extremely difficult, what made it even worst was the professor. She was super aggressive and went after me especially since I wasn’t as advanced compared to everyone else. She would pick on me a lot since she expected me to grasp the material quick and I wasn’t able to. But in the Bible since it stated we should respect our authorities no matter what, I continued just to give her my respect. It always felt super discouraging to be in that class and I really started to hate music. I wouldn’t say I’m naturally good at music, it’s all through God that I’m able even managing to perform in this field. So I ended up receiving a D in this class.
Additionally, I was also taking a vocal lesson class. Every single lesson, it would be discouraging because she wasn’t the best support. She would tell me I’m getting worst and my voice condition is damaged, which also contradicted to what church people would tell me. I have actually been dealing with this condition called “vocal nodules,” which is tiny bumps in your throat and singing becomes more difficult. So I was her worst student. She would keep telling me I needed to go see a doctor. Sometimes in our lessons she would be somewhat frustrated at me since I couldn’t perform to her standards which hurt me. This went on for about 1 year I had to endure her jabbing words. I could tell she cared, but she didn’t approach it the right way.
Of course, God is much greater than this weakness of mine and I do believe he will heal them one day.
Since I accepted Gods plan for me in Santa Cruz I wasn’t planning to transfer, but Pastor Steve urged/pushed me to just might as well apply. So I submitted my application last December and hoped for the best. I remembered how I got a D and was worried about Berkeley viewing that. When I received this bad grade, Pastor Yoojin advised me to continue to do my best. She emphasized my bad grade won’t limit God from getting me into Berkeley since God isn’t limiting to anything. She states more important for God is to do his will, be in will, and do what God wants me to do — which I submitted and followed her words.
I continuously told myself “It’s all in Gods hands, and if I end up doing Santa Cruz for another 2 years, so be it.” I remembered Pastor Jun preached about how your words are super important. Whatever we speak we are subconsciously sowing seeds, so I wanted to speak words into existence. I would tell myself often, “I got into Berkeley, I got into Berkeley.”
Today, I received an email from Berkeley. I was super nervous and I couldn’t even open it for a couple minutes. I reminded myself if I didn’t get in it was okay in order to mentally prepare myself. When I opened the letter I was in complete shock! Tears of joy flowed down and I thanked God immediately🥹!!
Overall, this was all through God. I’m extremely thankful he used me to save Kiara and I’m really glad Kiara is now saved. When I was at my lowest, Pastor Yoojin would remind me that God says one soul is more precious than the whole world — that was what kept me going. In the end, it didn’t matter where I went anymore because our lives are meant to save and love others. In our walk with God we are spiritually going to be carrying our Cross and it’s not going to be easy.
More than 23,000 transfer applications and approximately 24-26% only got in. I’m super super grateful and I’m still speechless. God is so good!!! 😭😭🤍🤍
