Know that God's listening. Price: P10,000.

Thursday morning - I went to the billing department to deposit my sister's money -xx,000.00 cold cash. As usual, I talked to Jay [not real name] - the guy handling my dad's admission account since we entered St. Luke's. As this guy's been handling our cash deposits since the start, I knew I just had to hand the money, tell him the amount then get the updated statement of account (SOA). And so I did - I counted the money in front of him, he recounted the money in front of me then he said he'll be back to get his calculator, to multiply the number of pieces to the amount. simple.

To my surprise, he got back with the SOA BUT with line "ay maam, Php yy,000 lang pala ito, namali lang siguro kayo ng bilang" (yy,000 is xx,000 minus 10,000!!!). My initial reaction was: "ah... ganon ba... okay...". So I recounted the bills... and whoa. he was right!

But when he was gone again to print my receipt, I began connecting dots and realized: 10,000 could've been stolen, I knew so well I had xx,000, My sister and I counted that nights before, it stayed in a really secured place before I handed it, and I even counted that infront of him, twice. Oh, and I remember, a couple of staff were there talking to me while I counted. One talked about how nice my sandals were. While one kept on asking for the room where my dad's currently admitted. They distracted me... while I counted!!! And something certainly happened when Jay went away - with the cash I handed - to get the calculator "to compute"! FFF@#%!!!

After getting my receipt, I confronted Jay about it, but he just explained to me (in his usual fatherly tone) that the amount was really yy,000 and that he can never do something nasty. I was starting to make a commotion in their office so I just said "Fine, wala naman ako proof, so wala na ako magagawa diba. next time, compute in front of me, and don't leave this table!!!". then I walked away, feeling more angry to myself. Because I knew the 10k's gone. for good. all because of my stupidity!!!

I immediately ym-ed my sister about it. She consoled me by saying that it's ok, I was just stressed and it's just 10k anyway. "we've learned our lesson by not paying in cash again." but stillll. diba?!

I never got over it easily. I told my colleague about it, who managed to convince me that I really should complain the incident to hospital's management. according to him: even though I had no proof and though I possibly incorrectly counted the money to begin with, Jay still shouldn't have gone to get a calculator - or wherever - with my cash, or without my supervision.

At night, I recalled all the things and images: "it's still 10k!" "It's a big amount!" "They distracted me!" "it was really xx,000!!!". I felt awful, worse actually.

But... Before going to bed, I made my final decision. I'm not going to complain anymore, as I don't want to add this to the stress I'm going through. I also didn't want to put jobs at risk when I don't even have a strong evidence. There's still the 10% chance that I was wrong with my count, right? I'll just charge this all to experience.

Then I prayed for one explicit thing... I asked God for P10,000... because I realized, whether or not it was stolen, this whole thing meant 10k's now gone from my sister's funds. And I don't want her to re-pay for my stupidity. Well, come to think of it, 10k's nothing compared to the total bill. we can all earn it again. but it. is. still. TEN THOUSAND PESOS. you know what I mean?!

Then I prayed for peace of mind -assurance that if it was stolen "bahala na ang Diyos sa kaluluwa nila!", and that if it was not stolen "nahulog ko siguro, kikitain ko din ang 10,000!".

The next day I woke up feeling much better. :)

-----

The following night, friday, I went to St. Luke's as usual to spend the entire weekend with my dad. An old old friend who I haven't seen for a long time then texted me, saying he wants to visit my dad. Ok, usual. It was almost midnight when he came, my dad was already sleeping, so I just entertained him in the lobby - kwentuhan/kamustahan as usual.

Suddenly, he handed me a bundle of cash! ..."I want to donate. take this. please."

My jaw dropped, my initial reaction was "NO... it's ok... I still have funds left... it's really ok... nakakahiya sayo..."

Suddenly I remembered my prayer last night, everything flashed back!

So I asked him... "how much is this...?"

"ten thousand." (with a smile). "You cannot return it to me. It's yours. hindi yan utang ha, bigay ko yan. kaibigan mo ako."

I had goosebumps, chills ran down my spine. I was speechless at first, then tears starting rolling down my cheeks. I really can't believe it. Without a doubt, it was an answered prayer, for it was EXACTLY what I prayed for last night. except that it wasn't the way I imagined. I thought I'll have a surprise bonus from work. Or the thief will suddenly show up with the 10k. or plainly, I'll earn 10k again this coming pay day. or something. I also never thought God will answer my prayer that soon!

So... I no longer refused. I swallowed the pride and accepted it -the gift I asked for just the previous night. I told the whole story to him, to which he replied "if my 10k did a lot to your faith, sulit na sulit na yun, tubong lugaw pa" ... "at sana tinaas-taasan mo pa hingi mo sa Diyos!" haha!

Up till now I'm still so amazed. I actually wasn't able to sleep that night, I can't remember the number of times I said thank you to God. As I deposited the money, I promised God not to complain about the incident again. Again, if money was stolen or lost or what, it no longer matters. God already took care of everything. I gained more actually as I was reminded: trust God at all times, and when you do, DO NOT underestimate His works. and really, it's so ok to pray for very specific things!!!

-----

To this dear friend with a generous heart... thank you so much!!!