Paying With Prayer

By Andrew McChesney

Choomba Simillah was being expelled from the University of Zambia.

He owed 9,000 Zambian kwacha (about U.S.$900), and he had no idea where to obtain the money.

Image © Pacific Press

But Choomba wasn’t going to give up. He was studying for a bachelor’s degree at the public university while teaching at Rusangu Secondary School, a Seventh-day Adventist boarding academy in Zambia.

Choomba approached various people to ask to borrow the money. He looked for a way to sell his car, a maroon Toyota Voltz. He prayed to God to intervene.

Then he went to a bank in Monze, the nearest town to Rusangu Secondary School, to apply for a loan. He learned, however, that the bank had stopped offering loans.

As he dejectedly left the bank, a friend called out on the street, “Can I hire your car for 21 days?”

Choomba looked up.

“There is a white man who has a daughter coming here for the holidays”, the friend said. “He wants to travel. He asked me to look for a sound car, and I think yours will do”.

“That sounds like an opportunity”, Choomba said. “What should I do?”

“Just take your car to the car wash”, the friend said.

Choomba gave his car a good wash and met with the white man, who was spending several months with a friend on a farm in Monze. He said he wanted to take his adult daughter on a tour of Zambia and offered 12,000 kwacha to borrow the car for 21 days. The amount was enough to buy a second-hand car.

“I couldn’t believe it”, Choomba said in an interview.

The man asked to take the car the following day, a Saturday. Although Choomba needed the money, he refused, not wanting to engage in a business transaction on the Sabbath.

“No, we can meet on Sunday”, he said, praying silently that the man wouldn’t change his mind.

The man agreed to pick up the car on Sunday and handed over 11,000 kwacha on the spot.

Choomba promptly returned tithe and went to the university to pay off his bill. He never was expelled and went on to graduate in 2016.

Now more than ever, he believes in the power of prayer.

“Be patient and trust in God”, said Choomba, 37. “You might struggle to do this or that, but He knows what you want. His appointed time always comes”.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

All Rights Reserved. No part of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide may be edited, altered, modified, adapted, translated, reproduced, or published by any person or entity without prior written authorization from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

Print/PDF/Email