The last time I got a bad case of palpitations

... was when I received an email from ECFMG tonight telling me that my score report for the USMLE Step 2 CS exam was available for download.  This was the practical test I took in Los Angeles on June 19.  The minute I saw the sender (onlineservices@ecfmg.org) on my inbox, my heart started racing.  I've been waiting for this email for a little over a month.  And when it finally came, it was a few hours earlier than I had expected.  I was expecting the email to arrive a little past midnight but I received it at 10:27PM.  I was totally unprepared for it.

Logged in to ECFMG.  Clicked on Score Report Information.  When the page finally loaded after an eternity of waiting, I was met by this:

Without having to download the actual score report, I knew that I had passed the CS exam.  My heart finally decelerated a little bit.  If I had failed, I wouldn't have been ECFMG-certified.  Being ECFMG-certified only means that I am now eligible to apply to residency programs in the US and that if I do, they'll actually pay attention to my application.  It's a big step in some ways but I still have a long way to go in terms of trusting God and waiting for things to happen.  My next uphill battle is the 2009 Match and all the procedures that come with it (residency application, interviews, etc).  I get impatient sometimes but I know that no matter how things turn out, God's ways are higher than mine and that His plans are perfect.  I just need to learn to trust Him completely.  And that's not such an easy thing to do sometimes.