God was also mindful of my dating and academic struggles! So what's next?
He asked me to go and write the English test again and believe for better grades. This wasn't what I had hoped for. At that time, Nigeria's economy was already nosediving, my engineering consulting work was stopped because a new government came in and truncated our work, our national currency was losing value fast to other international currencies and the cost of the test was shooting up fast.
Without informing my wife I paid for the test with much of the small amount I had. Just then I saw a free training online from the University of Queensland, it was so comprehensive I downloaded the videos, converted them to audios, watched and listened to them over and over again till I went in for the test. In the end I regained the 10 points I lost due to age and within a few months got an invitation to apply for the visa!
Yes, starting afresh may not always be as easy as preparing for a test; at times the circumstances are very grievous but what do we lose if we just start all over as compared to not doing at all? Nothing.
The following story is also personal as it is that of a family member. My younger sister recently graduated from her undergraduate studies with a first class degree. This was not because she has always been cerebral or scholarly. In fact, it was like the opposite: she was a very playful and somewhat unserious type.