It’s September 2017 and my commercial dishwasher has decided to cark it on us. I had only purchased this cafe less than 12 months earlier so this was a huge blow for us. It’s quite a big ticket item and at that point in time, I couldn’t afford to fork out for a new dishwasher so I delayed finding a replacement for quite some time (for almost 12 months actually).
Eventually, it got to the point where I had no choice but to start looking for a replacement. I browsed the 2nd hand listings on Gumtree – but nothing. I looked into “lease to own” – but that was a waste of money. I looked at buying brand new – but that was super expensive.
I didn’t have much of a choice really, so in the end, my only option was to buy brand new. I started doing my research for the best value-for-money dishwasher that fitted in the designated space. And after weeks of researching, I finally found the model I wanted. It still wasn’t cheap and I’m procrastinating in making this purchase, so I continue to look on Gumtree in case a listing became available (but still nothing).
I had a part-time office job alongside owning this cafe, so this was consuming a lot of my energy. And after weeks and weeks of scouring Gumtree for this dishwasher and still not having any luck, I finally had enough, I was exhausted!
So I jumped online, found a brand new dishwasher in this particular model that I wanted, added it to my cart, and as I was just about to hit the “Check Out” button……I stopped. I decided, before I finally make this purchase, I am going to spend the next 3 days praying for this dishwasher. It was a Tuesday when I decided this so if by Friday evening I still could not find this dishwasher, then I will come back and make the purchase.
So for the next 3 days, while driving to and back from my office job, I lifted my prayers to God. I prayed “Lord, I need a dishwasher. I’ve found the one I want but I don’t want to buy a new one. I just want a second-hand one that’s still in really good condition. That’s all I need, a second-hand dishwasher that is reasonably priced.” I had worship music playing loudly in the car, praying and really just asking God to step in here.
Then on Friday, as I was heading home from work, I decided to jump on Gumtree one last time, and surprisingly (though I shouldn’t be surprised) I came across the exact same model dishwasher that I have been searching everywhere for. It looked quite new and it was for a fraction of the price.
So to me, that’s amazing already because I prayed to God, gave Him exactly what I needed, had a deadline and He delivered right? But it gets better still.
I reached out to the seller to see if its still available and it was still available so I asked her to text me the details so that I can go and inspect the dishwasher. A few minutes later, I get a text message back with no business name, no address, except for a link to her location. I click on the link and it drops a pin right at “Heaven’s Kitchen!” (OMG!)
Turns out, the dishwasher was only 6 months young and we got it for even cheaper than what she originally listed. God is simply amazing!
As my faith in Jesus grew over the years, I’ve learned to bring all my needs to Him first, rather than as a last resort. He continues to make a way for us and provide for all our needs. Even through stressful times in our lives, we can lean on Jesus and turn to Him to calms our storms.