Amazing Grace

Jensyn Cone

Sometimes, medical school seems insurmountable. Trying to master volumes of information, with tests constantly reminding me what I don’t know, I often feel incapable and insufficient. My daily phone conversations with my mom often riff on this theme: “Well, we got our grades back for _. I got a _. I mean, I guess that’s okay, but if I hadn’t [insert dumb mistake] I could have gotten a _.” But recently, during one of those phone conversations, my mom stopped me.

“Jensyn, I was cleaning out the basement and found something.” Slowly, distinctly, she read a list of my personal goals from 2008. They touched on the “impossible” challenges facing me then: finishing college well, surviving the MCAT, and getting into a med school while navigating the minefield of life strewn with financial difficulty and my mom’s cancer. At the end, she paused, “Jensyn, you did all those things.” Her sentence was simple, but her point profound. Through the support of a wonderful family and the strength of an Almighty God, I am here.  Yes, I am incapable and insufficient. But my family’s support is unending and my God’s strength is infinite. The hymn Amazing Grace rings true: “Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come/Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.”