In one of my ‘origin’ posts, I have mentioned that I am a walking, living testimony of God’s goodness and so I decided that I will have a section of my blog dedicated to that, so any given Tuesday will become Testimony Tuesday, where I will give a testimony of the times I have seen God’s hand specifically in my life. It a way to remind myself of how many times He has come through for me and even when times are hard to know that He is always there. As always, my blog is a place open to anyone willing to share their story, if you have a testimony you would like featured on Testimony Tuesday, hit me up ;).
Here goes………
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Its mid-June 2016, I just got a call letting me know that the job I was praying for, I had gotten. Excited, I start making plans, a major one of which is a move from the cozy little town I have called home for the last seven years to the capital city of Senegal, Dakar. While Dakar is not completely new to me, I have gone over many times for my administrative tasks, this is the first time I will be going to live there. And anyone who has moved knows there is a difference between visiting a place and living in that place. So, I get my taxi driver, Thiaw, and I start what would be one of 5 trips to the capital to look for an apartment. I should note that in my little town, I had been living in a furnished villa, fairly priced but that I had no furnishings to me name.
Off I go for my first house hunting trip, my friend hooks me up with an agent who will take me to see a few places. Day one, in about 3 hours, I see 8 apartments. This guy is high energy and just go go go and variety was not a problem but I realized that I had a financial problem. I had assumed that for the apartment, I would need one month’s rent and one month’s deposit that’s it right? Nope, I was wrong. At minimum, it was one month’s rent, one month’s deposit and the equivalent of one month’s rent to go to the agency that helped me secure the apartment. Others asked for two months rent instead of one. It was at this point I realized my savings may not be enough. But I had the job I had prayed for now so I had to follow through. Not to mention that these trips to the capital were a full day commitment as the two towns are about two hours apart depending on traffic.
Day two, three and four go by and I have seen almost 30 apartments; furnished, unfurnished, nice, not so nice, great neighborhoods and some not so great neighborhoods and I am almost giving up. Might end up getting an unfurnished studio apartment at this rate with the financial demands on me. Then I remember I am part of a Sacco and I can get some help that way and they come through for me but still I have not found a place.
Day five I head to Dakar and I talk to God asking for His help. I have 10 days before reporting to my new job and I have to move. I see four more places but none feels right and all would still be a squeeze financially. Finally, Thiaw, sensing my frustration or maybe just tired of my whining, speaks up. He says his aunt has just had a tenant move out of her apartment and she is looking for a new tenant, can we go and see and maybe I will like it. At this point I am tired and frustrated but what do I have to lose? I say okay. So, we call his aunt up, she wasn’t too far away and we meet and go see the place. Simple well-kept apartment, unfurnished, available immediately. His aunt was a lovely lady, very motherly and as we spoke, I mentioned my challenges and she looked at me and said I remind her of her daughter. And because of that, if I was interested in the apartment, I could move in immediately and only pay one month’s rent and one month’s deposit and give a little something to Thiaw for helping me. I was blown away by her trust and generosity and needless to say, I accepted the deal there and then. To top it all off, this beautiful place was literally a 15-minute walk from my new job and in a very safe neighborhood!
Because of her kindness, I was able to move in the next week and start off with some basic furnishings from the funds that would have gone to an agent. God knows I would have slept on a bare floor otherwise. I knew then, as I have known many times in my life, that God watches over me and brings people on my path just when I need them. It reminds me that kindness never hurts. Be kind to people, you never know that it may be exactly what they need that day and that God can use you as a conduit for what they need. She was the conduit God used for my miracle that day and I am grateful to her and to Thiaw to this day. I still live in that beautiful apartment to this day, a little more furnished now :).
The Musings of a Wandering Mind 