Having Faith in the Power of Doing Good

--by makethemsmile, posted Aug 24, 2009

Two of my friends and I were coming back from a youth meeting when a woman with three children, who were looking unclean and unkept started speaking to us. She said she and her kids needed money to eat, as they had not eaten since morning and it was already evening.

I had three hundred naira with me and I wanted to use it to buy credit to recharge my phone. I was tempted to ignore her and tell her I had no money to spare -- even my two friends told me that we should go and I should not give her anything, that she is a fake, pretentious fellow.

But, I decided not to listen to my friends and gave her all the money that I was planning to use to recharge my phone without any hopes of getting more money to top-up my phone for a few days. I was so shocked when I saw the woman burst into tears and kneel down in front of me. I told her to get up, that this was just a small amount of money and that I wish I could do more for her. She said I was the only person that day who believed her and gave her something. She was seriously weeping and I felt very embarassed. I wished her goodluck, smiled at her children and me and my friends were on our way home.

When I got home, I took out my phone to check if I had any missed calls and as I held my phone in my hands, a message came in from one of my church members saying, "I have been meaning to send this credit to you for the past two weeks but I kept forgeting. I remembered a few minutes ago, so I decided to send it now."

I was so happy and my happiness turned to full blown joy. I loaded the numbers on my phone to recharge it and I was so amazed when I received a message from the network that I just received 1000 naira credit! In my wildest dreams, I have never imagined that I could get that as a gift from someone!

Just by giving 300 hundred naira to someone in need I got back threefolds. If I had taken my friends' advice and never gave that woman anything, I am 100% sure that I would not have gotten the phone credit. Whatever you sow you will reap, it doesn't have to be immediate like mine, but never be tired of doing good if you have it in your power to do good.

5244 Reads

Posted by makethemsmile
Aug 24, 2009
Comments (23)

Readers Comments

AnjuDV wrote: This is so true. God bless you. Prayers - Anju

makesomeonesmile wrote: Great story and very true!

sethi wrote: Thank you for being abundant . What goes round comes around.

AURELIA wrote: That's beauitful. Thank you for following your heart and doing what you hoped would help her. God Bless You. ~Aurelia

StarBrite wrote: Kindness from the heart doesn't go unnoticed. God bless you. ~StarBrite

lmil1954 wrote: Well, dear...I didnt read this post when you wrote it. Somehow I missed it, but it is never to late to say, welldone, my friend. You heart is blessed, and you were so right to give the money!
God bless you, dear friend.
Love, Linda:)

arvind wrote: Great man u r great, not listening to your friends and giving the last resource is simply great, it does not matter whether she is fake or not, because everyday we see hundreds of them on the road, so giving little also helps, you feel good because you gave, even if they are fake, that small amount given will not make much of a difference to you. In fact it will make you more helpful, more understanding and build your character to give more to charity and social causes in future.

Harriet wrote: Bless you, kindness always comes first circle!

AAJ wrote: I read your contribution and i commend you for the rendered kindness. I am a nigerian residing in lagos where many people ride on deceit as horses to meet their demands, but then, i still encourage people to always show kindness to people in dire need, by so doing you are making the environment a better place to live and "he who gives shall surely receive".

madhur wrote: Very inspiring indeed. N true when u give what u have , god gives you all you need :)

Stories of Kindness from Around the World