Oct 1, 2019 From short-changed to life-changed.
Emile lives in Manado, Indonesia in the Malalayang Suto region of the city. She is a shopkeeper. One day, she went into downtown Manado to buy supplies for her shop. That afternoon, when she got home, she noticed that she had been shortchanged by the vendor by IDR 23,000.
Distressed, she decided to go back the next day and ask the vendor to make it right. He scoffed, refusing to refund the money.
Emile was really disappointed. She lives on a very tight budget and every single rupiah helps her keep the shop open. But she couldn’t do anything about it, so she went home and tried to focus on knowing that the Lord would provide.
A friend had invited her to the Malalayang church that evening for the evangelistic meeting. While she was still feeling down, she decided to go anyway.
That night, Jimmy Oei was presenting on the subject of God’s grace. To make the illustration clear, he decided to offer cash in US dollars, which has an exchange rate of approximately 1 dollar to 14,000 rupiah.
As Jimmy talked about how God’s grace is free, he felt very impressed to call Emile forward and gave it to her. Emile was stunned.
Later, as she recounted her story to Jimmy and his wife Dianna, Emile’s eyes welled with tears of gratitude. Not only had God used Jimmy to cover the amount the vendor had shortchanged her, it was enough to ease the financial concerns of her little shop!
When we are committed to His mission, God is there with us and as promised in Romans 8:28: We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.