Some Scholarship Stories
About 4 ½ years ago I was sitting in a 5 o’clock church service at my church and my pastor made a request or rather a statement that changed me life. He posed the question, “What is the one thing you are believing God to do in your life so that when He does it, you will know that it was Him?” That day I told God that I was believing Him to pay for me to attend college. Neither one of my parents had the funds for me to attend college nor did I have some special account put away for me to attend. My college plans rested in the hands of the almighty God. All the schools I was interested in attending were expensive private schools that cost at the least $20,000 per year. For me to attend a public less expensive school solely on the basis of tuition would have been me walking in fear and doubt instead of walking by faith. All of that to say, God kept His promise to me in various different ways: loans, grants, scholarships etc.
When I transferred to Biola I was a bit nervous about how I would financially get through my years here. My CE Scholarship was a Godsend. I can honestly say that this scholarship has been a way for God to say to me, “See I AM Jehova Jireh”. I believe that it is one thing to believe things about God in theory. It is another thing to know things about God through experience. Receiving my CE scholarship was on the level of knowing through experience. I am grateful for the department because God used them to speak to me monetarily.
- Liana "Queen" Sims
My freshman year at Biola was an amazing experience and as I face the summer ahead, I realized I would have to work hard if I wanted to return in the fall. That summer, I worked for a roofing company during the early morning and afternoon, as a waiter a few nights a week, helped my family business painting houses, and when I had spare time and able to, I would deliver baskets for a small company. As the summer was beginning to end, I realized I was short on the money it would take to pay the balance of my school bill - so I e-mailed all the guys on my floor in Stewart as well as several friends asking them to pray. It was heartbreaking to make the realization that I might not be able to go back. What would I do? That had been my goal all along.
Over the course of a few weeks, word got out (as well as the Holy Spirit) and I found myself receiving money from several places - none of them big, but all of them adding to my faith that God wanted me back at Biola. The Love Never Fails Foundation helped me, I found out about a new academic scholarship that would be added to my existing one, and finally, to get me just to my goal, the Christian Education Department awarded me money from its Financial Assistance Fund. Without it, I simply would not have been able to foot the bill to come back to school! I am so thankful for the scholarship I received and that it allowed me to continue for three more years to receive the best education I believe this nation has to offer. Thank you!
I graduated with a degree in Christian Education and also from the Torrey Honors program in the Spring of 2005. Today I live in Littleton, CO working as a volunteer firefighter and as an EMT in a local hospital Emergency Room. Most importantly, I am married to my beautiful wife, Ashley (Biola, 05', Psychology) and we are very active in our little housechurch here! We are daily trying to discover what the church is, how we have been gifted to serve it, and how to bring people into the joy and freedom it has.
– Zachary Kreeger, CE Graduate S’05 Torrey Honors Student