Praise God for His wonderful blessings!
May I take a moment to share with you the tremendous answers to your prayers my wife, Dee Dee and our family have experienced over the last few days?
This really began about a year and a half ago during the summer while we were on the way to serve at Camp Good News. While we were on the way Dee Dee began to experience tremendous pain and we thought we were going to need to go to an ER, however, glory to the Lord Jesus it went away. From time to time it would come back but not to the same degree. Then toward the end of the summer it came back with a great intensity which took us to the Dr. several times and eventually the ER.
It was there that you got involved with your prayers. First, God answered your prayers concerning finding out what this was. The Dr. had some ideas but we left the ER with no real understanding. Next came a series of tests which I knew were going to present some difficulty because the insurance we have for Dee Dee has a very high deductible and we didn’t have the money to pay it, so we prayed. In fact she and I sat in the Lowe's parking lot in Port Orange before going in, to offer one last prayer because we didn’t have the money for the test and I didn’t know how this would work out. God in His sovereignty however had orchestrated things I such a way to help us, you see our appointment was about 12:00 and most everyone was at lunch. I went to the lady at the window and told her we were there to check in, however, I didn’t have the money to pay her. I let her know that I would make payments of $100 and that was the best I could do. She said she would have to check with someone and would be right back. That someone turned out to be at lunch and the lady so kindly told us to just come on in and we would work it out. PRAISE GOD! He’s answering your prayers.
I had to wait while they took her back but they said I could go back while she was in recovery from the anesthesia. I sat there trying to get some work done when several minutes later the window at the reception desk abruptly opened at which time I was summoned to a meeting with the lady who had been at lunch. It was there that I discovered that under no circumstances whatsoever was anyone permitted to make payments (Barring and act of God). I was asked what I was going to do about this and I told her that I was unable to pay the full amount but I would make payments. PRAISE GOD! Dee Dee was already in the process and so we make payments:) Actually I was kind of surprised how God worked that out, I mean I in no way want to make light of the situation, however, should God so chose He can get credit anywhere He wants it.
This test did not pinpoint the problem, so we scheduled another test and at this point I’m really wondering how this is going to work out because it was early in the morning, surely the business manager wouldn’t be at lunch at this place as well?
No need for that, as God already supplied enough money for that to be covered. PRAISE GOD! He’s answering your prayers.
This test did provide some clear direction as we found out that Dee Dee’s gallbladder was not functioning. So we called the Dr. and were told that we would get a surgical referral, so we waited, and waited, and…
Please don’t misunderstand because Dee Dee’s Dr. is a wonderful Christian woman who prays with her. PRAISE GOD! We love her and all the fantastic ladies in her office, there was no problem there. You see, God was working something out in a place where I did not expect.
One of the CEF volunteers called me and told me that she wanted to recommend a surgeon that went to her church. She told me that she really felt that she needed to do this even though he was in Flagler and we live in New Smyrna. I didn’t think a lot about it because I didn’t feel that this was an option since the hospital is almost an hour away (Even though I really love our Flagler people so much, and I mean that with all sincerity). Shortly after this conversation she called again to tell me that she had spoken with the Dr’s wife and his wife had given their home number and ask that we call them directly. I must admit at first I didn’t get it, as I’m sometimes really slow, but then I thought, “Now this is weird, Dee Dee’s Dr hasn’t given us a referral and now I have the home number to a surgeon in Flagler.”
So I called and spoke with Mrs. Bower who was so wonderfully kind and said she would call her husband’s office. Wow, I mean PRAISE GOD! He’s answering your prayers. The next day we got a call and they booked us for the next day (I think? It might have been two days out?)
The rest of this I need to preface with PRAISE GOD! He’s answering your prayers; because it just gets more amazing.
We went to the appointment on Wednesday and met Dr. Steven Bower, and I don’t know that I can adequately put into words the blessing it was to meet this wonderful man of God. He explained everything to us and set us for surgery on Friday. I must admit I was wondering where the money was going to come from but we really felt this was the right thing to do and I was sure this was the right man, however, we did not tell Dr Bower of our lack of funds.
We left his office and went to do pre-op check in and were told we needed to call tomorrow to find out how much money we needed to bring. This would be an interesting night, we knew that we didn’t have the money to pay for the surgery and now, whatever the cost, we only now had 24 hours to get it. Of course we didn’t need to get it and the One doing the ‘getting’ didn’t need any time at all.
I need to put a parenthesis here to address something that you may wonder about, why didn’t God just make the surgery free and then you wouldn’t have to worry about it. I’ll only address this to a minor detail now because my intention is to write about this in depth in the next newsletter because God taught me something about ministry to the children in this process. I’ll suffice to say that I believe that God did not even permit that to be a thought in the mind of anyone at the hospital. I think you’ll see this more clearly after what I say here as well as in the newsletter.
Thursday morning we found out that when we went to the hospital on Friday we would need $1,751.62. Wow, that’s a lot of numbers. It was here that I put out a prayer request and ask people to lift this before God. PRAISE GOD! He answered your prayers. Within hours people began to come in and drop off gifts for my wife. I can’t explain how wonderful it was to see God moving through His people. Along the way I was tempted to give everyone an update, just to let them know how things were going. However, the more I thought about that I felt that We had put our trust in God and to “update” people would really only serve to turn this into a telethon. So we prayed and waited and one by one God came to visit us through you. Some it was through giving and some it was through praying some it was both. As the money came in I kept it separated with paperclips and sticky noted with the names of the people who brought it in. When I got home Friday night I gathered my family and reminded them of our prayer for mommy and the money we needed. I then took the money out and as
I cried I began to count it in front of them as I told them about what God had done through His people. $1,157 had come in. We prayed and I asked God to seal that moment in the minds of my children forever and we thanked Him for the other $500 we knew He would provide. We prayed again that night and went to bed not knowing where the money would come from but not being able to imagine how God wouldn’t provide.
Friday morning we woke up and got ready to God to the hospital and before we left I checked my email. PRAISE GOD! He answered your prayers. Someone sent an email and said that $500 would be in the office for us. Only my family, one other person, and God knew about this specific amount and I can’t speak for God, but I know none of the rest of us told. We got in the van and made our way toward Flagler and when we arrived God had sent his messenger ahead of us just to remind us in another wonderful way of His care and provision for His children. We were in the waiting area to be checked in and up walks a person, a messenger from God, who knew of our need and had gotten out of bed early and drove all the way there to wait for us just to make sure we had the money. He asked, “Did you get the money?” I told him about the email and he said, “I thought it would work out but just in case I brought my credit card.” May I say that this was one of the most overwhelming moments of my life. I wanted to grab this guy, give him a big hug and even a kiss on the cheek. I was able to restrain myself on the cheek thing but he got the hug. To us it was as if God was saying, “Not only can I supply your needs but I have as many back up plans as it takes to get the job done!” NOTHING WILL STOP THE KINGDOM OF JESUS!
I then went to the counter to pay the bill. I had planned to just put the money in the bank and write a check but as I thought about all those bills it occurred to me that this was a holy offering to the Lord Jesus Christ and I wasn’t about to water it down. I pulled that huge pile of money out with all the paper clips and sticky notes and told the lady that she would have to bear with me. I told her about all that had happened and how God had answered prayers and this was the very money that God provided through His people. PRAISE GOD! He answered your prayers.
We got checked in and Dee Dee and I read about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ while everything was made ready. Dr. Bower came in and prayed with us and I went out to wait. About an hour and a half later PRAISE GOD! He answered another of your prayers. Dr. Bower came out and got me and we went into a room where he told me that everything went great. He did say that it was good that we did this as it may have soon turned into an emergency situation. This brother and I then rejoiced and praised God for what He had done through the hands of Dr Bower.
Do you know that God works through you? He did; each one of you that were a part of praying or giving have a stake in this. Thank you so much for praying for my dear sweet wife.
