By: Estela de Jesus
Does it ever feel like God doesn’t hear you?
I prayed and laid hands on this brochure 14 years ago!
Let me tell you a story…
In 2005, having difficulty getting clients, Boni and I decided to offer his financial consultancy services through Direct Mail. I prepared a 3-fold colored brochure, for which I spent 40,000 pesos, which was the last of my savings. To save on cost, I myself walked the Nagtahan Bridge in Manila to take a photo for the cover design.
Before we mailed out the letters, I remember praying over them quietly as the bible verse “ the Lord will bless whatever you lay your hands to “ came to mind.
After months of waiting with not even a single call, we decided to follow up. Only one lady officer of a Makati based conglomerate agreed to meet with us. Unfortunately, the company had no need for our services at that time. Sadly, all those efforts failed to produce even a single client.
Years passed, and Boni continued his consultancy business. As is the practice in the industry, fees are paid on a success basis. This means he only gets paid when the client receives the loan. When a client refuses to get the loan however, even if it has been approved, he does not get paid and all his work goes down the drain. There were times when we had to dip into our savings in order to sustain our needs. Despite having no regular income, we survived those years with our 3 kids finishing college.
We went through many economic and political crises and we cannot say we “just” survived. There were times when we even saw the business thrive during those crises.
But there was a particular incident I cannot forget. I remember one instance when my husband did not get paid after working on a project for nine (9) months. The account was huge, so hoping that he will get paid at the end, we used up all our savings and incurred credit card debt just to sustain ourselves. It turned out that the said client had a bad reputation in the business world and usually does not fulfill his obligations. He failed to fulfill the conditions for the release of the loan and Boni did not get paid. Because of this, we got buried in debt. All we could do was surrender everything to God and rely on Him as our Great Provider.
That was seven years after our direct mail campaign. We thought nothing happened and we had actually forgotten about it already.
While having a meeting in a coffee shop, Boni bumped into the lady who once met with him in response to our direct mail campaign.
Yes! She was the lady company officer, the sole person who had responded to our direct mail. “What do you do now?” she asked. Boni answered, “Same!”, to which she responded, “let’s meet and I will introduce you to someone who needs your services.”
The rest is history. Through a God-given client, whom she introduced, we were able to recover all the savings we have lost and more. Another client came, and another one. All those days of famine were temporary. When we have God, days of famine and days of plenty are the same. We enjoy God’s abundance. We realized why the former client did not get the loan and we did not get paid. God was protecting our name from being tarnished by his bad reputation.
All those years in the business suddenly made sense. God reveals himself to those who seek Him.
We realized that no matter how long it takes, God answers our prayers at the right time. He delights in our work and surely, he will be the one who will abundantly reward us. Men may take advantage of us or turn their back from their obligation to us, but when such things happen, the Lord knows and He will be the one to recompense us.
Is God concerned about our business?
- He cares for our work more than we could ever imagine.
- We may forget but He never will! None of our efforts and prayers will go to waste.
- Harvest of seeds sown will come in due time. It may take longer than expected but will surely come.
YES, it took 7 years of waiting, until we entirely forgot about it. But God remembers everything. He will reward us with an answer which goes beyond what we expect. He is faithful to keep his promises.
To date, several more years have passed, and we are still reaping what we have sown. He continues to bless the work of our hands.
God cares for everything you do! He hears!
Don’t lose hope.
Boni de Jesus 