Pleasantly Surprised.

A while ago, I wrote a blog about struggling when to give money and who to give money to. That blog came out of the frustration and heaviness I felt of the responsibility of being the "rich" person around these people I came to minister too.

My night guard, who is in his 60's and a very sweet man, came to me the afternoon I wrote that blog. His wife had been in the hospital with some very serious problems and now they were sending her home. Except, his bill was 10,000 kwatcha and they would not let her leave until  he paid at least half of that.

Let me put this situation in perspective for you...My night guard makes 14 cents an hour. Yes. $1.68 a day. So his monthly salary is $44. This is the standard across the country.

The hospital bill was $70. That is almost double his monthly salary. So you can see why he came to me in a panic.

When he showed me the amount, I didn't know what to do. I struggled and wrestled with what I should give him. I have been told countless times that you can't give to everyone, and that you should never give out large sums of money. At first, i was just going to give him the 5,000 Kwatcha so she could at least leave the hospital. You see, I was down to my last $100 myself. 

I finally talked myself into giving him 8,000. Surely they could eventually come up with 2,000 Kwatcha later. After I gave him the 8,000, I was immediately convicted. "Lauren, why have I blessed you with money? To hoard it? Who's money is it anyway? Give him all of the money."

Uggg. I ran and stopped him at the gate and I gave him the rest of the 10,000. He smiled at me and just kept saying, "yewo, yewo mama." (Thank you, ma'am)

At that point, I wasn't sure if the money was even going to a hospital bill. Sometimes you just don't know. People coming up with heartbreaking stories to pull on the purse strings of white people is so common here. But, I knew in my heart I had done what God told me to do.



So, that was back in April.

Fast forward to tonight. This is the first time I have been around to pay my nightguard his salary. I went out to give him his 6,600 he receives each month. He just looks at me and says,

"Mama, you gave me the money to get my wife out of the hospital. Take back 1,000. Keep 1,000 each month until I pay you back for what you did. You are such a good madam."

I just stood there speechless as tears came to my eyes. Do you realize the sacrifice he just made? He gave up many days worth of food so that he could pay me back. I never asked him to repay the money and never expected him to.

Wow. Just wow.