Miracles begin with imagination

A story is told of a man in Papua New Guinea. He and his fellow villagers could survive only through the crops they grew. One day he lit a fire to clear his portion of the village farmland for planting. However, the fire had been preceded by a long hot period, and the vegetation was very dry. So his fire became [a wild fire, quickly spreading out of control]. It began to spread to the grassland and bushes, and in the words of his son, “a big monster of fire” resulted. He feared for his fellow villagers and the possible loss of their crops. If they were destroyed, he would be subject to village justice. Being unable to extinguish the fire, he then remembered the Lord.

www.weatherstock.com

He knelt on the hill in the bushes and started to pray to Heavenly Father to stop the fire. Suddenly there appeared a big black cloud above where he was praying, and it rained so hard—but only where the fire was burning. When he looked around, there was clear sky everywhere except where the flames burned. He couldn't believe the Lord would answer a simple man like him, and he again knelt down and cried like a child. He said it was the sweetest feeling.
- By Elder Terence M. Vinson (2013 October General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

Recently, I hear a lot of people telling me something is impossible, out of reality. For some reason, attitudes like that is starting to drive me crazy. You didn't try, you didn't go, you didn't make any effort, why sit there and let someone else' "impossible" become you reality?

When I was a freshman in college, I thought a lot about what I want to study and become one day (an extremely cruel past time, to make an 18 year old decide the res of their life.) I had some friends in law school at the time and always thought it might b interesting to go to law school - mostly because I have no idea what they do there. But then I remember that English is not my first language and I'm not exactly good at public speaking. I decided it's probably one of those dreams that will always be just a dream.

In a blink of an eye, I graduated from college. I chose a major for no particular reason except I found the classes interesting. Law school was nowhere near my plans. Then I went no my mission and before I knew it, I've been out of school for 2.5 years. Suddenly, things like summer vacation and exams seems like really far away.

At that point in my life, I had the sudden urge to go back to grad school and I started to think about law school again. It seemed kind of ridiculous and extremely late to now considering law school.

1) My English improved somewhat in my years in college but then I've lost a lot of it after being out of school for so long. My friends keep telling me about my "cute Asian accent" on Skype.

2) I also have no experience whatsoever with law, not only is my undergrad studies completely unrelated to law, I've never had any connections with law in my life and honestly, I don't really know what people study in law school - except, well, law. I did try to research on this and found that after reading through tons of materials about law school, I'm still at loss as to what exactly people do in law school.

3) Going to law school requires the LSAT, which is famous for being extremely cruel and harsh. On top of that, I haven't studied for 2.5 years, I could barely read my favorite novels these days. Nor do I really have time to study, working full time and all.

4) And lastly, I have no idea if I'm suitable for law or if I want to study law. Will it turn out to be a big waste of money?

Luckily, I'm kind of a lazy person when it comes to life-planning. It seems kind of pointless for me to plan out my life when that plans gets constantly destroyed by the plans of God. So, I had an thought, I figured I might as well pursue it until I think of something else... haha

This was back in June. I got over excited one day just applied for the LSAT. Bought a book online and all of a sudden, I realized I've officially become a "pre-law student." It was kind of weird. I went home that day and told my mom about my accomplishment for the day.

Me: "Mom! I'm going to take the LSAT in October!"
Mom: "What? When did you decide to go to law school?"
Me: "I haven't, I'm just taking the test first."
Mom: "Oh, ok. You're going to apply for the LSAT?"
Me: "Yea, I already did that. Today."
Mom: "..."

It just kind of happened. This age of technology is really too easy. Click of a few buttons and it's all set and done. Then I kind of forgot about that little impulsive decision until August, when I got my book that I ordered online. And then I realized I only have two months before I had to take the test . Oops. Well, I paid for the test so time for some serious studying. I looked for time after work or during lunch break, but I only got about an average of 4 hours of study each week. Still, better than nothing.

Studying turned out to be harder than I expected. I had to do 30 minutes increments because I started yearning every time I sat down to read. I was simply not used to studying anymore. How am I supposed to take a four hour test if I got tired after 30 minutes of reading?! I started practice just reading, getting my brain used to massive intake of information. Then I had to remind myself to actually process these information...

By about one month left, I still couldn't do a whole section of the test within the time limit, I was reading too slowly. I finally took a day off work to study and ran out of time. It was October and I had to take the test. Well, there's always a next time right?

Then I started praying. Best thing to do when you can't do anything else. I asked the Lord to help me at least do my best that I can. I was in a really good mood that day, I was surprisingly not tired. Even the rainy weather didn't bother me. The best part was finishing every single section literally right at time limit. I felt a surge of gratitude to hear the test conductor call "pencils down" while I filled in my last bubble.

I had to wait a whole month for the results, which is a torture in and of itself. The score was a nice surprise though, slightly higher than my scores during practice exams. And so, with a personal statement and resume, I find myself suddenly ready to go law school...

My dear friends, many of you tell me that I am really smart and I do a lot. It's not just not. I'm not everything you imagine. I still don't know if I want to be a lawyer, I don't know if my English will really be good enough or if I have the experience necessary to go into law school. It's just, until I go all the way to a dead end, I don't want to give up. Our potential is decided by our imagination. If you want it, you can do it. And if you do it, it's a miracle. Of course, don't forget to ask the Lord for help too!

Most often, people think too much and they get caught up in the various "impossibles" that they come up with. They think it's impossible so they assume it's impossible. And yet, if we all stand there and think of possibilities and probabilities, we'd let the forest fire burn up all our clouds. Sometimes, we just have to start walking, keep going and when you can't go any further, kneel and pray and you'll see a rain cloud over your head. There will be miracles in your life.

中文翻譯：奇蹟從想像力開始