“Is the name Mary xxxxx? “ The attendant said no. I thought to myself now what is this? I was on my way to my boarding gate and didn’t need the stress of going through the reversal process when I am about to fly out. Earlier in the day I was supposed to buy some medicines and I forgot. On my way to my boarding gate I saw a pharmacy and that was my chance to get the medicines. When I paid using mobile transfer, turns out the money went to someone else and not the pharmacy. The attendant gave me the number to send a text to get the payment reversed. The message wouldn't go through. I tried again and nothing.
The attendant realised he gave me the wrong number and this time it went through. As I was waiting for my flight I thought what if they try to reach me and I am unreachable. I decided to call the phone company. I waited for some time and eventually they picked up. I explained the situation and was told they didn't need anything from me. They would wait for the recipient to respond. I asked them what would happen if the recipient declined the reversal. She said something and I asked her did that mean I would get the money regardless of the outcome and she said NO!
I wasn't having that because the amount of money I had sent was not small money and at the same time it wasn't big money but it was money that I was not willing to lose just like that. It would be like taking money and throwing it in the bin. I wasn't going to have that happen. The customer service advisor kept trying to encourage me that the recipient may accept that it was a wrongful transaction, and I would then get my money back. Similarly I kept trying to ask her what would happen if the recipient declined the reversal and she wouldn't give me the reassurance I was looking for. I wasn't happy with the way things could turnout. The advisor reminded me that the reversal had not been investigated yet, to give it time and then we would take things from there. When I realised she wasn’t giving me my options in the event the recipient declined, I decided to end the phone call and wait to hear from them.
Before the plane took off I decided, while I still had wifi, I needed to send a message on Twitter to the phone company explaining the situation and give them the evidence I had to prove that the transaction shouldn't have gone through. Earlier in the day I had watched a sermon reminding us to always include God in all our decisions and how we should learn to be still. I reminded myself I should check with God if he wants me to take this course of action. Honestly, I am so used to “GO” mode. If there’s a problem, I want to fix it. Sometimes I can be still and sometimes the situation for some reason consumes me and I can’t be still and let God.
When I was at the pharmacy the attendant had written the telephone number on a piece of paper and when I had sent the payment incorrectly I had decided to take a picture of the paper he had given me. Later on that would serve as my Exhibit A in my twitter message showing the number could have easily been misread. One of the digits he had written look like a 7 but it was actually a 1. Before I made the payment, the paper with the paybill details were covered up by a blank piece of white paper. I took the white paper out to reveal the payment details only for the attendant to say the paybill wasn’t working.
He said he would give me a number to send the payment to. I thought this was suspicious. So I asked him to give me a receipt for the payment. That’s when he gave me the paper with the telephone number. When I was on the plane, I decided to take a picture of the receipt the attendant had given me. I realised there was no detail of the pharmacy, telephone number, email, post box, radio frequency, nothing. The location was there so that was good enough as this was going to be my Exhibit B for my twitter message. FYI, these kinds of messages are the reason I am on twitter. They get me somewhere.
I composed my detailed, esquire-ish message to the phone company explaining why the reversal needed to be processed regardless of what the recipient said, and I attached the Exhibits. I told them I would not go to such lengths, calling, taking pictures of evidence and now messaging them if the transaction was genuine. I also told them I was not willing to let this slide. When I wrote that, these were my thoughts. 1. I didn’t how I would fight for this if I had to, because, the amount was not that much to fight for, for example in a small claims court or such forums. 2. This is Kenya, for the amount I was fighting for, I may end up paying more, either in fees or I would be asked to pay a bribe, so it wouldn’t be worth fighting for.
After I finished writing the message, I said to God, I know I am supposed to leave this in your hands and not go about it the way I have ( sending the message to the phone company because I am scared if I don’t then I wont get my money back). I prayed for him to help me regardless of how I’ve approached it. Why am saying I didn’t approach it the right way was because the fear factor was definitely more than the faith factor. I didn’t write the message with faith that with God nothing is impossible and nothing is too hard for him as I encourage myself in other situations. I wrote it out in internal panic mode. Externally, I was calm cool and ready to fight, forgetting yet again the battle is the Lords’. Side note: I don’t get this about myself sometimes. In some situations I am fully trusting and in faith mode and other times, I am just moving with more fear than faith as if I don’t know the God who parts the seas. I really don’t get this.
I continued my flight journey. On arrival my phone was dying and I couldn’t see if the phone company had tried to reach me. I decided to leave it till I got home and charged the phone. When I got home, I checked and there was nothing. I tried to charge the phone, but it wasn’t charging. I managed to put the cable in a certain angle, and it charged the phone enough for me to open and see the text message that the reversal was successful and another text confirming I had received the money back. God Is Good, God is Great, God is the Best!
I had already planned in my raggedy thoughts, that if the person would have declined, I would either sent them a message telling them how wrong they were while hitting below the belt. Then I thought that wouldn’t work because dishonest people like this don’t have a conscience and they might get a kick out of me sending the message. When I saw the reversal text messages, I prayed for the lady that she would receive abundant blessings not just for her but anyone connected to her. I was that excited and grateful. I was excited for many reasons. I didn’t want to lose my money and God saw to it that I didn’t. He knew how I was looking at the amount. My twitter message I am sure did didly squat to help me. It was all God. Most of all I was excited that God heard my prayer of me acknowledging I was acting in fear instead of faith and even then! He answered my prayer. I’ll say it again God is Good, God is Great, God is the Best!
Even when we don’t do as he asks, he still comes through. This is something that I am working on and need to work on because in my wiring somewhere, which is erroneous, I sometimes have it that I must do right then God will bless me. If I don’t do right, then he won’t bless me. That’s a LIE! Yes, I should do the right thing in obedience to God but because of his K.P.M.G (see KPMG post) and forgiving nature, even if I didn’t do right and most importantly acknowledge to him that I didn’t do right, he won’t withhold his victorious right hand from blessing me. We can never gain righteousness on our own doing because that’s Jesus job and he did it amazingly well such that because we believe in him, we get the hook up so through him and only him are we righteous. So, the good and great news is if I fail in my obedience to God, which I will because of the sinful nature of my humanity and where my raggedy-ness comes from, it doesn’t, can’t and won’t disqualify me from Gods’ abundant and exceeding blessings. Truly truly, God is Good, God is Great, God is the Best!
Related verses: Isaiah 41:10, Genesis 18:14, Luke 1:37
Next post: 5/3/2023
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