During COVID, my dad was terrified of losing his job. His company had sent emails to all employees warning of impending layoffs. My dad is a very good man who never steps on toes. The only thing “evil” about him was that he wasn’t rich. He would wake up at dawn and pray for God to come through so he wouldn’t lose his job.

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He fasted with the family. If you didn’t fast, he would get angry and call you the devil fighting against his progress. While others were fighting COVID by washing their hands ten times a day, my dad was fighting unemployment, praying ten times a day for God to have mercy on him.

One afternoon, he came home from work looking miserable. I told him, “You don’t have to worry. You won’t lose your job. I know what I’m saying.” He retorted, “Are you God? Even today, four senior people were given termination letters. Just pray, or we are dead.”

He didn’t lose his job. He was one of only eight people retained. He was shocked. Some of those who were let go asked, “Why is this man still here when others with more important roles are being sent home?”

They were surprised, but I wasn’t. I knew what I was doing.

When COVID was almost over and the company began hiring for top roles again, my dad was promoted because, as they said, “He is the longest-serving employee and knows the job inside out.”

His new role came with a rent allowance and a medical insurance plan that covered the whole family. He came home that day with a broad smile I’d never seen before. He called for my mom, told her the news, and the two of them danced around the house, thanking God for the miracle.

My dad knew he didn’t deserve the role based on his qualifications alone. But he could do the job because he had been there for over ten years and had even trained some of the managers who came after him. They went to church and made a huge offering. I went with them, smiling and thanking God on his behalf, but I knew God had nothing to do with it. I had everything to do with it.

My dad had struggled to take care of us through school. There are three of us—two boys and me, the only girl. Our ages are close, with only one or two years between us, so he had to push himself to pay our fees. I saw the struggle on his face. My mom helped, but not much financially.

My elder brother had completed university, and my other brother was in his second year. I had finished secondary school and was at home, waiting for my brother to graduate so my dad could afford to send me to university.

One day, I went to my dad’s workplace and was waiting for him at the gate when a man in an SUV stopped and asked who I was looking for. I mentioned my dad’s name, and he asked if my dad knew I was there. I said yes. He got out of the car and talked to me for about five minutes, waiting for my dad to arrive. When he didn’t, the man gave me his business card and asked me to call him later.

I didn’t tell my dad about that encounter, but a few days later, I called the man, Mr. Agyemang, and we started talking. That was when I realized I was speaking to the Managing Director of the company where my dad worked. He didn’t look the part; he looked so young I thought my dad could have been his father.

The day he asked if I had told my dad about him and I said no, he proposed to me, and I said yes. We dated for almost a year before COVID hit. When my dad was worried about his job, Mr. Agyemang told me, “He shouldn’t worry. I will make his darkness appear like a sunny day.”

So when I told my dad, “You don’t have to worry. You won’t lose your job,” I knew what I was saying. I knew where my messiah was coming from. I knew about my dad’s promotion months before it happened. Not only that, but I knew about every good thing that came my dad’s way from the office before it did. Mr. Agyemang told me he was doing it all so my dad could afford to send me to school and help me achieve my dreams.

Indeed, my brother didn’t have to graduate before I started university. Mr. Agyemang was there for me through it all. Sometimes my dad wondered how I was able to do more for myself than he could. I lied and told him about a guardian angel I had met in school. He said, “I hope one day I get to meet this friend of yours.”

I graduated last year with flying colors. Before I left school, Mr. Agyemang had moved abroad with his family. Before he left, he said, “Don’t worry, your dad will be fine, and you will be fine too.”

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We’ve been fine all these years, and my dad still gives praises to God. I watch him and smile. I tell myself what I did was wrong, but looking at the good it brought, I call it a necessary evil. I might not advise anyone to go down that road, but that’s the beauty of advice—no one takes it, not even those who give it.

—Rejoice

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