Football and God’s Interception

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”

Ever since I was young, I’ve always imagined one day going to a college in Boston. It was a dream that I wanted to make real so badly and I was determined.

After getting rejected by Boston University in 2007 for a master’s program, I decided to try again in 2011. As an overly ambitious person, I even made a trip to Boston to meet with an admissions officer so I can make a good impression as a candidate. I remember I asked the admissions officer what kind of candidate she was looking for and she looked me in the eye and said, “I am looking for someone like you.” By the time I left the office, I was pretty confident that my dream was about to come true.

But not so fast.

I’ve always enjoyed visiting New York and I’ve been traveling there on a nearly annual basis since 2004. However, somehow I was always resistant to applying for schools in New York. I was afraid of living in a megacity, and I honestly was not sure if I would be able to “make it”.

By the end of 2011, I’d only applied to four schools in four different locations and New York was not one of them. I was satisfied with my decision and made it a routine prayer every day to ask God, “Please take me to the school that You wanted me to be at.”

Little did I know, God didn’t want me to go to any of the schools that I had applied to. “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Out of boredom during one ordinary night in late January 2012, I decided to check out NYU’s Social Work program and I started filling out the application purely just for fun. Long story short, I applied to the program unintentionally, just by accident. But inexplicably, from that moment onward, I started to feel God speaking to me about His plan for me to come to New York.

At first, I resisted and tried not to discern God’s words since I knew I was so close to my Boston dream. Nevertheless, my spirit was stirred and I was suddenly confused about what I wanted. The conflicting feelings were so real and surreal at the same time— day and night I struggled over which school I should go to even though I hadn’t even received any admissions offers yet! 

On February 5th 2012, I was invited to a Super Bowl party at a pizza restaurant. As I watched the game on the big screen overhead, in my head I was still debating whether I should go to New York or Boston for school. My heart was tormented. As I watched the Boston-based Patriots advancing in the red zone and about to make a touchdown, I suddenly made a quiet prayer, “Dear God, whichever team wins today, that will be the place I will go for school. I feel you want me to go to New York and I will go— but only if it’s your will.” My eyes were fixated on the TV screen while my heart was desperate for an answer. Just as I made the prayer, I couldn’t believe what I saw. The football was intercepted— it was intercepted by the Giants, the New York team.

The Giants eventually won the Super Bowl that year and eventually I willingly came to New York for school. God had answered my prayer not only through this football game, but in many other miracles that came along with it.

My Boston dream was intercepted just like how the Patriots’ Super Bowl dream was intercepted but in retrospect, I praise God for this interception. Life in New York is not a fairytale but it has been a journey of refining my character as a person and my faith in Christ, and for that I am thankful.

- Susan C.
Social worker striving to follow God’s call to serve, listen, encourage and love others well
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“These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”