I am a musician and this is a little one but it spoke to me particularly because of the nature of how it came about. I got into a bit of debt during the pandemic as my business was in live entertainment, and when it shut down I had to borrow against my credit cards. Things are starting to look up as I have a large sum of money coming in soon in the next few months from a commercial I shot recently. However, in the meantime, I am still pulling odds and ends together to be able to make my rent and pay my bills.

It was the end of the month and I had to get gas, but my credit cards were still maxed out as I had been only able to pay the minimum for now. I used my debit card at the pump, thinking in my head that I would have just enough to scrape by as the next day my health insurance premium was expected to auto-debit.

After filling up, I checked my bank account and was disappointed to see that the gas pump had put an additional $100 pending hold on it, which I forgot is standard if using a debit card instead of a credit card. I knew that the next day I would get an overdraft fee when my insurance was debited. At first, I felt defeated, but then I remembered to “live as if,” and meditated on the feeling of having enough in my account to cover all my costs. I also thought about calling the bank and asking them to remove the pending charge but ultimately, I decided not to make the actual call.

That night around 10 pm, I checked my account again and was surprised to see that not only was the pending charge removed, but the actual charge I paid at the pump for $42 was nowhere to be seen. It was as if my credit card had never been charged at all! I said thank you to God for helping me remove the charge as well as for the free gas!