Let Go and Let God

I recently had to learn the hard way that you cannot always trust people in this world.

Last week, as I sat in my car waiting for Ciara to get off work, I was approached by a young man. He was asking for donations for a substance abuse program in exchange for banana bread. Substance abuse hits home for me, since I have family that have suffered from Substance abuse.

I preceded to inform him that I did not have any cash on me, but he presented his Square card reader and explained that he could accept debit cards.

I assumed you had to have a legitimate business or organization to have a Square account, I guess I was wrong.

I confirmed with him I wanted to donate $5.00 and I picked out my banana bread. He then thanked me and he was on his way.

I , honestly, never suspected anything and I was happy to have a snack while I waited for Ciara’s shift to end.

Well, I never even got the chance to open the bread, because I was alerted by my phone that I had a Square receipt for $220.00!!

My heart dropped and I felt a rush of panic! I felt this had to be wrong, but upon checking my checking account, I knew I had been scammed.

I immediately called my bank, while fighting the tears back. I canceled my debit card and disputed the charge but I was informed it could take up to 120 days to receive the money back.

Now, I am by no means rich, and that hurt me financially. That makes the pain in my heart hurt even more, knowing that he could do easily take from a mother just trying her best to survive.

I sat in my car crying for the remainder of the time. So many emotions flooded me, stupidity, regret, anger and sadness.

I wanted to find him and throw the banana bread at his head. I wanted revenge, I wanted my money back but mostly I wanted to believe this was just some accident. I wanted to believe that people are good and would never be so cruel.

After learning what had happened to me, people asked me ” Why would you do that?” And I heard ” Never trust ANYBODY!”

I also had an outpouring of support from my friends and family.

Yes, I feel stupid for my decision but I was raised to be a good Christian woman that helps others. Does God tell us to only help the people we know and trust, no He tells us to help all in need. I won’t quote the Bible Because I am terrible at memorizing scripture, but I KNOW what it says, and His words tells me to be loving, generous, kind and sympathetic to ALL.

I feel sorry for a person that feels they must steal from others. I feel sorry for their soul but I am not their judge. I will pray for them and I must forgive, for my soul.

I choose to continue to help people, to the best of my ability. I learned a tough lesson but I will not let this harden my heart.

I learned that I am blessed to know people that would go looking for this man to try to get my money back. I learned there is good people in this world and there is bad people in the world, but evil never prevails.

Hopefully, I will get my money back and be able to move on from this experience.

My only advice to give is to use caution when trusting some people but don’t let the evil in this world harden your hearts. Let’s show this world good always wins!