04/10/2026
At 7:42 that evening, Amaka sat alone in her shop with the lights on and the door half closed. Only three customers had come all day. One bought something small, another asked for a price and walked away, and the third promised to come back. She already knew that third customer probably would not return.
She picked up the small notebook where she kept her business calculations and began to add the numbers again, even though she already knew what they would say.
The rent was due.
Her supplier was asking for payment.
Sales had dropped badly.
One of her workers had left.
And two weeks earlier, a much bigger business had opened just a few streets away, selling almost the same things she sold.
For three years, Amaka had built her business with her own hands. She started from a tiny corner of her house, saving little by little until she could afford a shop. She celebrated every small victory: the first day she made ten sales, the first customer who returned because she loved what she bought, the first time someone recommended her to someone else, and the first month she could pay herself from the business.
She had watched that little business grow, and she had thanked God for every inch of it.
But now, sitting alone in the shop, she wondered whether it was all coming to an end.
She closed the notebook and stared at the shelves.
“Maybe I should just stop,” she whispered.
It was the first time she had said it out loud.
She had prayed. She had advertised. She had called customers. She had tried promotions. She had reduced her personal expenses so she could keep the business alive. She had done everything she knew to do, but the numbers were not changing.
That night, she went home, dropped her bag on the floor, and sat quietly on her bed. She did not even have the strength to explain everything to God.
After a while, she simply said, “Lord, I don’t know what else to do.”
And that was her prayer.
Not a long prayer.
Not a beautiful prayer.
Just the honest prayer of a tired woman who had reached the end of herself.
The next morning, Amaka almost did something she had never imagined doing. She was going to close the shop for good.
But just as she was about to lock the door, a woman walked in.
“I have been looking for someone who sells these,” the woman said.
Amaka showed her what she had and the woman bought several items.
Then she asked a question Amaka had not expected, “Do you supply in bulk?”
Amaka looked at her for a moment. “Yes,” she answered.
The woman gave her a small order.
It was not enough to solve every problem. It did not suddenly pay all her debts or turn her business into a success story overnight. But that order led to another conversation, and that conversation led to another customer. A few weeks later, someone referred her to a company looking for a regular supplier.
Slowly, almost quietly, things began to move.
Amaka eventually realized that while she had been staring at the business that seemed to be overtaking her, God had been preparing a door she did not even know existed.
That is something we often forget when we are under pressure. We look at what is happening in front of us and assume it is the whole story.
It is not!
You may be looking at low sales, but God may be looking at a new market. You may be looking at a rejection, but God may be protecting you from something you cannot see. You may be looking at a closed door, while God is preparing another one somewhere else.
Sometimes God fights for our work by changing the situation. Sometimes He fights by changing us. He gives us wisdom we did not have before, introduces us to people we could never have met on our own, redirects our plans, teaches us patience, or gives us the strength to keep going when quitting would have been easier.
So if your business is struggling, if your career feels uncertain, if you have been applying for jobs and hearing “no,” or if you are wondering whether all your effort is producing anything at all, remember Amaka.
Do not mistake a difficult season for a finished story.
Keep learning! Keep working! Keep improving! Keep showing up! Do what is in your hands to do, but do not carry on your shoulders what only God can carry.
There are doors you cannot open by force.
There are opportunities you cannot create by yourself.
There are connections you cannot manufacture.
There are battles you cannot win simply by working harder.
And there are times when the greatest act of faith is to say, “Lord, I have done what I can. I trust You with the rest.”
The business may not look the way you want it to look today. The career may not be where you thought it would be by now. The dream may feel smaller than it once did.
But do not bury it because the season is difficult.
THE LORD WILL FIGHT FOR YOU!!
Keep your hands working and your heart trusting. The God who gave you the vision is still capable of writing the next chapter.
Happy New Week Everyone.
Engr_Mazuru 🫱🏽🫲🏾
