Surgery of any kind requires a period of time off work to rest and recover. If you're the bread winner and the patient, short term disability pays peanuts compared to your regular weekly income!
If yours is a long term medical issue, the issue of "how to make it" constantly weighs on your mind!
So, add financial concerns to the already high stress level of illness and you have all the ingredients for anxiety and depression!
How do we effectively deal with medical conditions and their resulting financial issues without becoming a "basket case"?
Personal testimony time. Our daughter was diagnosed with chronic kidney problems when she was 14. Her kidneys couldn't drain due to kinks in the ureters at the base of the kidneys (UPJ Syndrome). Her first majory corrective surgery was done right away on the left. It was a long recovery (3 months) in the middle of the school year! We had to do homebound tutoring.
She did fine for a couple or three years, then it blocked with scar tissue! Another major surgery just like the first one was done. At this time the right side started draining slower. We were in a bind.
From that point on she had trouble. Three solid years' worth of trouble. Lots of general anesthesia procedures (stints, balloon, etc.) were done to try and get those ureters to open up.
We lost her health insurance since she was in college and had to quit nursing school (for the second time) due to lethargy, pain, and nausea associated with her condition.
COBRA was intituted at $350/mo, we took on her car payment, insurance, and student loan payment. If you were to tell us that our average income would span to cover all this plus mounding medical bills, I would have told you you're nuts!
God, in all of His infinite wisdom, literally stretched our resources. I look back on all we've had to put out, and wonder at times, "Where did it come from?" I know where it came from! The grace of God...
You see, our daughter, in the midst of all these scary medical issues never lost her faith and her trust! She remained positive, and endured everything with such victory and belief, knowing God was right there with her. She planned life as if nothing were wrong! She wanted to proceed full speed ahead like any 22 year old person should be able to do! She never gave up...and she never gave up on God.
Today she has her bounce back! She's teaching Kindergarten at our local Christian school, has her own insurance (that miraculously had no pre-existing clause), and is loving every minute with those kids. To top it off, she's even back in college! She's done a complete turn around that no one can explain. We can. She's our miracle! A testimony every day....
Do miracles happen every time? No. Do some progressively worsen and never recover? Yes. We do not take a day for granted. We relish every good day we get and thank Him for it. We know it's a gift.
Were we ready to accept the fact that maybe she would never regain her quality of life? No, you're never "ready" to do that, but we were to the point of having to quit desperately searching and accept this may be the best we can do. But God surprised us. It wasn't the best He could do! And now we have hope that her future will be much brighter than we thought six months ago!
We prayed. A lot. And others prayed. A lot.
I believe in the power of prayer! Can God heal your illness? Yes. Does He always? No. I believe that if God had chosen not to heal her, He had a plan and a reason. One that would glorify Him in the end. Kingdom work. A plan we may not see clearly now, but eventually one day we would come to understand...that's trust. Faith. Belief. That God is who He says He is. And will do what He says He will do.
Would we have grieved? Sure! Having trust and faith doesn't mean you don't have emotions! But it does mean you aren't completely broken. Bent, but not broken....
2 Corinthians 4:
8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
13It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." NIV
13It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." NIV
If you are in the middle of medical crisis, hold on. God holds you in the palm of His hand! Pray! Through His grace you will not be overcome. He will supply all your needs. He will comfort you in your challenges. He will give you strength to endure. He will hear your prayers. Every one.
Pray for His will to be done. And trust that He knows what He's doing, however it turns out!
And remember, "what is unseen is eternal". If things don't turn out the way you hoped, trust He had a "Kingdom plan" at work....
Lucy
P.S. See my article on osteoarthritis of the knees at the following link:
1 comment:
So happy to hear the good news.
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