I Asked God For A Brand New Yellow Bicycle Then He Gave Me a Used Purple One

When your prayer comes packaged differently 

If you were a daddy’s girl, did you ever ask your dad for anything even when you could afford it? Did he indulge you despite knowing you could afford it?

If you had a daughter who wrapped you around her pinkie and always had your wife complaining of the competition, did you always indulge her even when you knew you shouldn’t?

I hope these questions got you grinning if not outright chuckling, some of you, with nostalgia or tears.

I never had the privilege of being a daddy’s girl.  Never saw it modeled before me until adulthood.  The closest I have come to it is me and God.

This is going to be a very short post which anyone from the age of five to 100 can understand. So whatever your relationship with the God-figure is, I urge you to read this with a blank mind.

I am a person of Faith in the Almighty.  And if you know anything about faith, it means you get to behave ‘foolishly’ most times.  What ‘smart’ people term foolish because your actions may not make sense to them.  Heck, it does not even make sense to you most times, how much more to some self-sufficient, logical person out there.

Let me not lie.  It has not been easy to break through the facades of this single mother, who became self-reliant before she hit puberty.

It took trudging the road of cancer, joblessness, homelessness and all things that followed for me to lay it all down.  More like, still striving to.

So one of the things carried forward on my 2026 Vision Board was a request for a Bicycle.  A shiny, yellow, brand new hybrid with accessories.

I have a foldable bicycle which my neighbour gifted me.  I also had a shopper’s pushbike – purchased it pre-loved – which proved dissatisfactory.  Because of my extenuating circumstances, I require a functional Shopper’s bike.  Which was the major aim of investing in that unsatisfactory bike.

After repeated attempts, including buying brand new tyres, I parked it in our shed and did a simple thing – ask my father for a new bike.  And while at it, I might as well get an upgrade – a brand new bike.  Then 2025 ended and the prayer was unanswered.

So like a daddy’s girl, I pouted and brought the list forward to 2026.  And we both stared at ourselves most times.

“If you cannot even give someone a mere bicycle, what else can you give them?”  I whined like an entitled brat

Meanwhile, after incurring the additional cost of brand new tyres and changing them, I still couldn’t use that bike.  It remained inside the shed, not meeting any need.

As a very functional minimalist, I do not keep things lying around. As the Winter thawed into Spring, I contacted a charity to come pick up the bike.  As summer approached, they had not come yet.  And I knew someone out there needed that bike.  The women I knew either had a bike or did not know how to cycle.

Then one Saturday, a thought occurred to me – take it to the community cycle centre.  At least, someone else who needs it would find it there. And without blinking, I did.

As I did, one of the guys who knows me – he has handled the bike previously – enquired why I was giving it away since there was nothing wrong with it.

“Its summer and someone else might need it”

Then as I handed it over and left, I took a last glance.  And my eyes caught a purple bike.  It looked sleek and shiny and drew me in. I enquired about it and because I had just donated a bike, I got a huge discount off the price tag. 

I did not think anything about it until some days later as I stacked my shopping. Then it struck home!  That was the bike on my list.

“But I requested for a yellow bicycle and this is not brand new though”  I muttered as comprehension dawned

“But purple is your favourite colour and did the bike meet other criteria?”  the admonishment came

I stepped back and stared at the bike.  Outside of the colour and being pre-loved, everything else fell into place.  The bike looked more like one of those bikes you get off online marketplaces where the advert reads –

“Used a few times and parked in storage”

If I would be truthful, it was as good as new. Shiny. My favourite colour which also happened to be my brand colours.  And all accessories in place including a side mirror.

As it dawned on me, I went to my Notice Board and peered at the paper.  And at that instant, I realised that my prayer for a bike has been answered.  And because it came packaged differently, I did not notice.

I sat with God for sometime and mulled over how we humans function.  How often we miss out on gifts which come wrapped in another packaging than we expect.

https://medium.com/@amaraya_1509/why-i-cut-off-my-parents-a04787ba8c53?sk=bf7e623bd9b6332dfb56a95655d453d4

There seems to be a new trend on adults cutting off their parents? Read the article above for more on this.