Can I share this story as a testimony of the goodness of God!
I first must give a bit of the background of how this all started! In 2013 I had a situation with the Bulawayo City Council (BCC). For some years they did not have access to my water meter reading...I would phone my reading in but to no avail as they just ignored it and estimated my reading way over what it was. I was not concerned as I thought well when they do get the correct reading I'll just get a credit hahaha!!! Well that did not happen! They did eventually read my meter but refused to give me a credit of U$279. So I refused to pay my bill until this was sorted out! The manager in the water section point blank refused to credit me so then I went above him to the main guy in the Tower Block, the Financial Director. Unfortunately, I later discovered, this action would make me an enemy of BCC (as I was definitely being victimized, I discovered several times others with much higher bills did not even have water cut off)! He did eventually credit me with U$79 saying the U$200 was given to me as a govt directive rebate (which most people got some amount back) just two months before all this happened.. just my bad luck!!!
But by now my BCC bill had mounted up and I was unable to catch up which put me in a worse situation with them! I then went through a series of water disconnections... and then a series of legal summons (3 in total) along with legal fees and one week to pay a large amount or go to court... I now became an enemy of the legal department which made Mr... look like a fairy in comparison haha!
After suffering several years with this problem, during a time of prayer, on 16/1/15, I felt the Lord said to me "my BCC bill will be cut in half". At the time I thought it meant I would only pay half of my debt? I wasn't sure yet of the interpretation so I just wrote it down, dated it and left it at that. It wasn't until another several years that I heard of a situation, from two different sources, that BCC were offering a payment plan! Both friends told me they were cutting the bill in half and if you paid that half you could get the other half written off i.e. a 50% rebate! Wow I immediately thought this is what God was talking about so I went to see them but to my disappointment this only applied to commercial properties and not residential. But at that same time they also had a payment plan for residential too which was actually a very good deal! They said they would SPLIT your bill into two! Your current bill would be reduced to your normal monthly bill then the outstanding debt owed would be put into another separate account, called a "parked account", which would no longer accrue any interest, legal fees or any other extra charges! Wow so I thought well I'm definitely going to apply for that (as all those "extra" charges had already mounted up to nearly U$400!!!).
So I saw a very nice lady in the creditors department who worked out my payment plan by taking my debt of U$1280.29 and dividing it by 24 months which came to U$54 a month plus my current bill of about U$53 a month which totalled U$107 a month over 24 months. She said I had to first pay the U$107, bring the receipt back then she would put it through the computer etc. But then to my utmost horror she then says "Oh sorry I see you are under the legal department you will have to see them and do it through them!" OMG I was devastated and so disappointed as I knew I would have a problem with them (from past experience), maybe they might not even allow me to do it? I went home really discouraged and confused...what did God mean that my bill would be cut in half? Was it this payment plan or did He have some other way? I still wasn't sure so I did what Joyce Meyer often says "Step out to find out" in other words you take a step towards that door to see if it will open! If it doesn't then usually God is not leading you in that direction.
So the next day on 30/4/18 I went back, paid the U$107 tried again with creditors department they insisted I go to legal department so I did and saw Mr... Yes I was right I had a problem! He told me that because this payment plan had already been available for several months he would work it out over 19 months and not 24 which brought my figure up to U$122 (U$68 + U$54) a month, which I knew I could not afford! He gave me a long explanation and talked a lot, I just nodded and kept quiet! He then brings out a contract form which I had to fill in...in the space that said over how many months I wrote 19 but in the space that needed the amount per month I wrote U$54 (not U$68) which miraculously (God intervention) he NEVER noticed...he then entered it all into the computer, signed the contract and handed it over to his clerk! Wow I was now on their payment plan but because of the contract I could NOT default or would be back in trouble!
Ok now I have to explain our financial situation in Zim for those outside the country who will find this very difficult to understand haha! I'll try and be brief!!! Up to around 2002-2003 we had our own Z$ but inflation started and I remember they had a Z$500 note then a Z$1000 note. Shortly after that they brought out an additional temporary "standby" to the Z$ called the "bearer cheque" but because of excessive printing, inflation soared, quickly bringing it into trillions (counting all the zeros was mind blowing!). Then after the disastrous year of 2008 (NB a Shemitah year!) when shops were empty (which was caused by a "task force" forcing shops to reduce prices), it all collapsed and in Feb 2009, with GREAT relief, they announced we would now trade in US Dollar and SA Rand. So from 2009 we were mainly using U$. We experienced 7 years of complete financial freedom (no longer any forex restrictions), for the FIRST time in countless decades! Then as a reporter said, "the greatest heist of the century" occurred! At the end of 2016 we were very, very cleverly conned! Because there was a huge cash shortage, they announced "Oh we will print a local currency called the "Bond Note" so that it will ease the cash shortage and you will also have change" (as they first minted coins) "And we PROMISE not to mint more than 200 million worth" haha! Yes you're right they did print more $2 & $5 notes (another $400m)... then all the "real" money, i.e. hard currency, was externalized! We were then left with Monopoly money which can only be used in Zim! Now that we had a mixed currency, one real and one fake this immediately put a stop to our forex freedom - we were no longer able to use visa and master cards outside the country as before. When the Bond Note was introduced it was brought in at the same value as the US Dollar 1:1. Strangely enough inflation did not go up as quick as before and stayed pretty stable for a couple of years! The Bond started to devalue against the U$ towards the end of 2017 and was trading (on the streets, the Black Market) for 1.15-1.2 to U$; in 2018 at 1.25-1.3; Sept'18 at 1.7; Oct'18 at 2. Then for about 3-4 months stayed at 3-3.5...then from May'19 started to climb from 4, 5, 7.5, 9, 10, 13, 15, 17, 20 to currently Nov'19 = 21:1.
A side note here...shops and businesses have to buy U$ on the streets in order to import more goods, in fact even the Reserve Bank has to buy U$ in order to pay for external services such as electricity as not enough forex is available through normal means. We have very little revenue coming from exports and in fact what is keeping Zim afloat at present is the forex being sent home by the Diaspora.. Shops and businesses very quickly had to increase prices according to the black market rates or suffer huge losses! Medical expenses and even pharmacy costs soared & were even asking for payment in U$ (govt stopped this in Jun'19) but fortunately utility bills never increased! Only in Sept/Oct'19 did Zesa and BCC increase their charges which against U$ rates are still very low i.e. my BCC bill is now actually only U$4 equivalent! Those on other hand earning the RTGS Bond are complaining bitterly and many are on point of poverty, not being able to even afford grocery prices!
2/ last month they said they are printing new Bond Notes (different to current ones). Have no idea why or how it will affect inflation? Remember the more "fake" notes that are printed, the higher and quicker inflation rises!
Sorry the reason I had to explain all of that is because it is the whole crux of my story! At the beginning of paying my debt off the Bond was not much more than U$ trading at about 1.15 (which meant you got $15 extra Bond on U$100). At that time I had a temp job and my boss helped me to make those first 3-4 payments to BCC. But shortly after that the rates were slowly climbing so I was able to pay my monthly amount for one year! Then the rates began to climb more quickly and I was even able to pay extra the following month...two months later I made my last payment in Aug'19. Paying it off, not in 19, not in 24 but in only 15 months wow! Now being debt free!
It was only yesterday when I sat down and did an exercise of the rate I got against the U$ for each monthly payment, working out the equivalent U$ amount... that is when I realised what an incredible miracle God did for me!!! The total amount that I paid back to BCC was in Bond Notes, but the equivalent amount in U$ was U$368.37. This amount is NOT half (like the 50% rebate) but it is actually just over a third of the original amount I owed!!! Wow can you believe that???? Even with stealing my U$200 and with U$400 over charges I still paid U$864 less than my original debt!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!
I would be amiss if I did not add the spiritual lesson that I learned during this whole process!
James 4:10 & 1 Pet. 5:6 are pivotal here! "Humble yourselves under the hand of God, and in due season He will exalt you." He will exalt you above your difficult circumstances if you first humble yourself, under His hand no matter how long it takes. Humility means we do what God says whether we like it or not and we stay where He has put us whether it is comfortable or not. We do not try to squirm our way out or use some fleshly method to free ourselves, instead of waiting patiently for God to do it. That will only make things worse anyway! Many times when we are facing hardships we angrily think that God has forgotten about us or just doesn't care about what we are going through! But on the contrary, it is those very difficult circumstances, "the rock and the hard place", that He uses to mould & shape us (the Potter and the clay, it is only after the pot has been in the kiln can it be a usable vessel) into better and stronger characters. Without trials we would be nothing more than just "jelly beans" with no backbone and certainly with no desirable qualities!
If you will do it God's way and learn patient endurance (Isa. 41:10; Jam. 1:2-4; Rev. 3:10) while going through the hardship there will be a time when He will bring you out and not only that but you will also be rewarded! And you will be very pleased with the end result. S.J.
