It was lunch time. I’d barely sat down when she walked up to me. “Hi,” she said, “I hate to ask you this, but may I borrow some money?” I smiled awkwardly. I was still new in the office. Sure, I joked with everyone but there was still a certain level of newness to our office relationship. So, for this lady to walk up to me about this, I must have been her last resort. Though I felt trapped, I looked at her, smiled and responded, “Sure! How much?” She relaxed. I had no idea how tense she was till a smile broke out on her face. How could I say no to that or make her feel any less of a person because she was in need? How?

I asked for her details and transferred the money, crying internally at the charges and the unbudgeted for expense. I was already cutting it close with some heavy expense I’d made a week before. I couldn’t tell her that though. She’d have felt burdened. As she left, she said something about paying me back almost immediately. I assumed she meant the next day. She didn’t.

A week went by, and I was hanging on by a thread. I had to ask her about the money. She was embarrassed. Apparently, she’d intended to pay back three days before, but the funds hadn’t been released yet. She was stressed, and embarrassed. I told her I understood. Then she mentioned that if the money remained unleased by the next week, she would pay me back from her next paycheck. Did I mind, she asked. I smiled. Of course, I didn’t mind. At that point, I was at her mercy. Whenever she chose to pay me back, I had no choice but to wait. I should’ve taken my own advice about not lending money I needed. Rookie mistake.

That month, God came through for me. I had nothing. Yet I was fed every single day. Whenever I felt like I’d reached the end, money I never expected would show up. I lived on the tightrope all month without falling off. Sole dependency on God’s provision.

At the beginning of the next month, first day of the week, she quietly slipped the money to me during lunch. We were both relieved that the whole situation was behind us. We’d had enough of the awkwardness owing money brings into a civil relationship.

This morning, as she told me about something that had happened in my absence, I realised that our relationship had become better because of the money. And honestly, it wouldn’t have been but for God. For wisdom and grace to manoeuvre the situation, and His provision. His ever needed, always welcome provision.

Nana Agyeiwaa Nyameba