I Was Broke, Tempted, and Behind on Rent — Here's How God Showed Up

While working on my website design for this journal, I had an epiphany — that apart from altering our family altars, roots, and foundations to become children of God, we are also meant to continuously alter how we respond to every situation or experience that comes our way.

How did I arrive at this?

I was reflecting on some of the decisions I have had to make over the years, and it dawned on me that by choosing something other than what was expected — or what was considered the norm — I altered my response to that situation. Let me share one of those experiences to add more meaning to what I am saying.

When I was studying for my Masters in Germany, things became really tough and I had run out of money. I got a warehouse student job, and I was grateful to God for it — but living abroad is so expensive compared to living in my home country, Nigeria, that even though I earned as much as 1,200 euros some months, it still wasn't enough to cover my rent, health insurance, school fees, and food.

An easy way to cut down on expenses would have been to stop paying rent. The enemy always finds ways to use our vulnerabilities as an entry point, and he certainly tried with me through this financial pressure. The next thing I knew, someone offered to accommodate me so I could reduce my expenses — but this person was a guy. Not just any guy — someone I was already emotionally attached to, and who shared the same feelings. Even while living separately, we already struggled to maintain boundaries.

At the time, I wasn't very strong in my walk with God, but I held on to one rule: I would not live with a man who wasn't my husband. Cohabiting is something the world normalises, but for Christians it is not right. The guy even mentioned that he had accommodated someone before, and that person had enjoyed a whole year of free rent. In my head I was calculating how much I could save — but after all the calculations, it came down to one question: did I want to dishonour God by cohabiting, knowing full well that there was near certainty we would become intimate?

I made the tough decision not to take that option.

I could not afford my rent for three months during that period, but through God's divine mercy, my landlord never once asked me for it. It was as though he wasn't even aware I hadn't paid — so much so that when a piece of furniture in my apartment broke, I was afraid to tell him, worried it might draw attention to the fact that I was behind on rent.

A few days after that worry crossed my mind, the landlord reached out and asked me to leave my keys — he was coming to fix anything that had gone wrong in all the rooms, including mine. I made sure I wasn't home when he came, and when I returned, he had fixed everything and still said nothing about the rent. That was the third month. He never asked, and God eventually provided for me to pay back everything I had missed.

This experience is one of many where, through the help of God, I have had to alter my response to a situation — choosing differently from what the world would consider the obvious or normal thing to do.

Altering our foundation and roots, therefore, goes beyond simply accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. That choice leads us to receive grace from God — grace that helps us alter every behaviour, every decision, and every action that follows. No wonder 2 Corinthians 10:5 says: "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

What have you altered today for the sake of your walk with God? If this resonated with you, share with someone who needs to read this, and subscribe for more altering moments. Until the next Journal, stay blessed!