The Twenty Peso Story

There are certain things in life that you would never expect to happen, like getting pooped on by a random bird, finding a thousand-peso bill on the floor of a megamall, and even losing your job.

Like many of us, there is a story that changed how we look at our lives and how we move forward. Allow me to share ours.

Let me take you back a couple of years, to 2015. I was already married and already had our first child. My husband and I both worked at a call center at that time; we were earning, but truly not enough to make ends meet. With our child, bills, and everything else in between… it was not enough.

We tried many things to earn a little more. My husband was good with food, and I was into clothes and fashion, so we decided to make a business out of it. He made munchkins, and I sold thrift shop/preloved clothes that I redesigned. We tried our best to make it work; however, we could not dive in too much because 24 hours a day was just not enough for us to fit work, business, and our health.

We then left our business behind and tried another route. We put our savings into a multi-level marketing business. We had so much faith in it because we saw the potential it had. I even chose to resign from my job and apply for a different one because I thought that we would be able to make it up until the end of my training.

As with many MLM businesses at that time, we had to invite people to join us to ensure our earnings. Day in and day out, we would send messages to people and invite anyone whom we see as a potential investor. We would have about one to two sign-ups a week with all our efforts. We realized then that we may have made a bad choice.

We did not give up, though. We gave it one last push. Our uplines had one of their “big” meet-up events. We had 12 invites, and we felt so sure that at least 3 of them would sign up, so we could earn a little. We needed this to work because our bills were already due, and we were already out of groceries.

It took hours to finish all the business talks. We put in all our effort and time to get some pay in. But alas, the night ended with zero sign-ups.

We did not expect to go home empty-handed. We were stressed about where we were going to get funds to pay our bills and everything else. We did not fight; we were just out of options. My husband tried borrowing money from his co-workers, but they were also out of funds.

No money. Bills were knocking on our doors. Our son needed his milk and diapers. We were at rock bottom. We only had enough to get us home and for my husband to report to work.

Twenty pesos in our pockets.

We went home, and my husband was at work. I didn’t know that time, but he said that while on his ride to work, he was crying. He called me in the morning and said something had happened.

He asked me if I wanted to hear good news or bad news. I was still groggy, and I didn’t know what to expect, so I said… bad news. I didn’t want to believe it at first. I was hoping to hear something along the lines of “I had to sell off my phone to get some money”, but it was far worse than what I thought of.

He lost his job.

It felt like cold water was being poured over my head. Thoughts of where we were going to get money and how we were going to get through the week without supplies were swarming in my mind.

I was silent.

Then I remembered… he said he had good news.

Good news? What good can possibly come out of our situation right now?

I then asked him, “What’s the good news?” … He said, “I have a 100k check to cash out, where do you want to go?”

A tear fell from my eyes.

He went on to explain that he didn’t lose his job because he was fired. The company had to let go of employees due to redundancy. Apparently, there were too many managers, and they had to remove a few because of the current state of the business. And that cheque he received was his separation pay and his loyalty pay from the company.

I honestly didn’t know how to feel at that time. I was relieved and confused at the same time. But one thing I did understand, we were given a second chance at how we handled our lives.

We cashed our cheque the following morning, along with the other managers who were let go.

The amount was more than enough to pay our bills and debts. We got a reset.

We learned many things that day… We learned that we should never let ourselves get to zero, that we should always have a backup, and that we should never EVER just rely on our plans.

We never expected things to happen, but, in all honesty, we thought we were already on a good path with the plans that we had laid ahead. That’s when He intervened. He had to let us feel what it was like to hit rock bottom, because if He didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate the beauty of the plans that He had for us.

Trust in Him. He will not let you fail. Lean on Him and walk in the path He made for you.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

– Jeremiah 29:11