Aldrin Bandiling with his family during his graduation rites.
Have you ever felt so frustrated and helpless? To the point that even yourself became a disappointment to you because things aren’t happening as planned? Well, I did and I learned how you could get through it and that’s what I would want to share with you, the one reading this, at the end of this article.
Let me introduce myself first, I am Aldrin Darbie D. Bandiling, I graduated at Nuestra Senora De Aranzazu Parochial School as the class Salutatorian of Batch 2013 with other special awards and I passed the entrance exam of my dream school, which is the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, where I’ll be studying as a scholar for graduating with honor. Sound great, right? It feels like everything’s according to plan and I’m surely gonna hit my goals smoothly to have a bright future ahead of me. Not until I lost my scholarship at the end of the 1st semester for not maintaining the required grade — that blurred everything.
I didn’t know what to do, I even considered transferring to a school with a much affordable tuition fee. Studying in UST costs so much and we were not even financially stable at that time so I was really relying on my scholarship. But my mom said, “No, tatapusin mo yung pag-aaral mo sa UST, igagapang naming ng daddy mo para makatapos ka.” So I told myself that all I need to do now is to study very hard and at least strive to be a dean’s lister just to make their sacrifices worthy. It was December of our 2nd semester and it’s also the season of Simbang Gabi, I’ve always been faithful with the one up there and so I prayed for all the desires of my heart, from passing every subject to finishing my program on time. I may have lost my scholarship but in return, I gained my determination to do what I have to do and my faith in Him. With His guidance, I was able to be a dean’s lister — felt like I had myself back again. Again, I prayed for all of my plans but unknowingly, some of them were not His plan for me. I may have frustrations for not having the Registered Marketing professional title on my name and not graduating with latin honor by .02, but I’m not complaining. I realized that God does His magic in everything especially if it’s His plan for you. He may not have given some of my desires but He led me to His plan and that is to be employed with a huge and known company in the Philippines and I’m so thankful for it.
It was a rough journey, who gets to have a smooth one? And the lesson I learned with this journey, is to just really trust His plan and His process. Never lose your faith on yourself that you’ll get through with whatever challenge you’re facing because you would always, always, regain yourself. And above all, never lose your faith in Him. (Aldrin Darbie Bandiling)
