GOD'S PROVISION

I know a lot of people are stressed about money these days, so I just wanted to share what's going on with us as a reminder that God doesn't always do things the way we expect him to.

Devon's hernia repair at the end of October was expensive. Obviously insurance will cover some, but we'll have to cover a chunk too. Emergency hernia repairs are chunks of money you don't typically budget for. God totally covered the thousands of dollars that Silas' drowning cost, so I knew he could handle this one too. But this one was going to be more costly. We figured we'd make small payments until our tax refund came, then pay off the balance with that money. We've never had to make medical payments before, but sometimes that's the way life goes.

Well, we still haven't received an actual bill, but the EOBs have started coming in. We know there is at least one more EOB that will arrive in our mailbox, but we know some of what we'll owe. We'll call that amount "X".

Here's the cool part. We have over 80% of X in our bank account already, though an actual bill hasn't even arrived. Part of that 80% is a gift someone contributed to the "Will The Ws Ever Stop Having Medical Emergencies" fund. But the other parts are total God things. Not that a gift isn't a God thing, but you know what I mean.

One chunk is from our insurance. Remember that mammogram I had back in July? Well, I'm technically too young to have insurance pay for it. However, because my mom died in her 30s of breast cancer I'm considered high risk, which means my insurance should pay for it. Now, I'm willing to pay for it if I have to. It's important for me to get them and I'm willing to pay for them until I reach the insurance's age for payment, but if insurance will pay, then I'd be happy to let them. So I've spent the last four months sorting out mixed messages between the insurance company, the imaging place, and my doctor's office. Everyone has been nice and helpful, but things weren't getting straightened out. Until last week, that is. We received a refund for part of the money we paid for my mammogram. Woo hoo for perseverance that paid off!!

Then we spent six weeks with furnace troubles. First the furnace didn't work at all. Then it put out heat ... along with major gas fumes. Then our power blew in all rooms except the kitchen and living room. It was a mess. Well, our landlord just refunded us a large portion of our rent for November to compensate for the hassle and the extra use of electricity while we used space heaters. Woo hoo for our landlord!!

That means 80% of X has been paid off because I have a mom that died of breast cancer at a young age (which led me to pay for a mammo, which resulted in getting some money refunded) and because we lived without heat and power (which led our landlord to refund some of our rent to us).

How's that for some silver linings? So, just remember that the way God provides for your needs may be a little random, but he will provide.