A Second Testimony

Sometime in 2011 or 2012, I opened a customized email account with Gmail. I say my email was customized since it didn't have an "@gmail.com" extension. Instead, its address was "[email protected]". A couple of years later, I opened another customized email account whose address was "[email protected]".

I came to love my customized email addresses not only because I had access to Google's excellent email services but also because they would leave people wondering how on Earth I was able to have such addresses. Even my immediate elder brother Paddy once remarked that my email address would make my potential employers think I was a tech-savvy chap.

And would you believe me if I told you I had opened the customized email accounts for free? Yes, they were free, just like those with "@gmail.com" extension.

A few months ago, I started receiving emails from Google informing me that Google had upgraded my email services to what they called Google Workspace. The emails went on to say that after a while, Google would begin charging me for its services.

At first, I ignored those emails from Google. But about three weeks ago when I received an email notifying me that I had 21 days to set up billing info, I started getting worried that I would be parting with some money to continue using my customized email accounts.

Earlier this week when I received an email that reminded me I had only 3 days to set up billing info, I decided not to act on it to see whether I would continue receiving emails. You see, Google offers dozens of services besides email and the only service I needed from them was email.

Come Wednesday evening after the deadline of setting up billing info expired, I was taken aback to find out that I had been blocked from accessing my two customized email accounts. And when I keyed in my billing info, I was flabbergasted to learn that in order to continue using my two email accounts, I would be paying $3.80 every month for the first one year and $6 afterwards.

I had been using one of my customized email address for over a decade and the other for almost six years and I had never paid anything for them, which made me wonder why Google had suddenly decided to charge me $3.80 every month for operating the two email accounts - an amount that is more than what I pay for this blog's hosting services. Anyway, I went ahead and agreed to be paying the amount to Google.

The following day (Thursday), the issue of where I would be getting money to pay $3.80 every month to Google weighed heavily on my mind. Even though my blog ranking on search engines has steadily improved over the last 3 months, the amount of money I am making from the adverts on this blog would not be sufficient to pay what Google was charging me for its email services.

To solve the issue, I contemplated deleting my two customized email accounts and create a free email address that ends with the "@gmail.com" suffix. But when I remembered the important information I have saved in my customized email accounts and the websites I sign in with them, I ruled out the idea of deleting my customized email addresses.

Then I contemplated approaching my kid brother Symo and request him to be helping me settle the fee Google was charging me. I mentally rehearsed how I would pitch my suggestion to Symo the next time he flew back to Kenya from Bermuda where he plies his trade.

On Thursday evening, still worried about where I would be getting money to pay for my email services, I canceled my Google payment subscription to see whether I could access my email on my smartphone. And lo! Google swiftly blocked access to my email via my smartphone.

But something delighting happened when I tried to subscribe again to Google's services: I saw a message that alerted me that if I was using my email accounts for personal matters, I could continue using a no-cost subscription service. The message delighted me for sure.

Guess what! After clicking the button that notified Google I was using my email accounts for personal matters, I was still unable to access my two email accounts. Instead, I got a message that said, "We are sorry, but you do not have access to Gmail. Please log in to your Admin Console to enable Gmail."

I did log into my Admin Console and saw that Gmail was already enabled. Because I was feeling dog-tired, I decided to work on the hitch the following day (Friday). And before retiring to bed, I prayed about the hitch and promised God that if He helped me solve it, I'd thank Him and write a testimony about His guidance.

When I woke up on Friday to a beautiful morning, I resumed working on the email hitch before I took my breakfast. But try as I might, I still couldn't access my emails. I searched for solutions on Google but none of the advice I got through it helped. And I couldn't contact Google employees since Google required that I upgrade to a paid subscription in order to get customer-care support.

While trying to trace the source of the hitch like a blindman finding his way on a busy street, I landed on a certain Google page and spotted a button that could switch on a service whose details I can't recall. I clicked the button - and bingo! - I was instantly able to access my two customized email accounts, and for free!

Accessing the emails filled me with so much joy that I jumped around my room, punching the air in triumph. Then I fell on my knees and thanked God for His supernatural guidance. And as I had promised Him, I have written this story to share a testimony on how He once again came to my aid. Truly, God is good all the time.

**********************************
RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story about a second testimony on how God has helped me, you might also enjoy another testimony that I wrote last year. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.