Nothing is Impossible
“You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you…” 2 Chronicles 20:17
Many years ago our church launched a building program, fundraising for essential structural repairs and a much-needed addition. This was exciting for me because I knew the benefit to our growing church but as our congregation was being encouraged to give sacrificially, we wrestled with what that meant for us, tithing but living paycheque to paycheque. At the same time, we’d just added a new baby girl to our family, making us a party of four. It was a happy, busy season marred only by the blank pledge card sitting on our kitchen table. God, however, had bigger plans and it was about to look worse before it looked better.
Somehow in adding our daughter to our health insurance plan, the paperwork didn’t get filed on time. The rule was 31 days postnatal and the forms were late by a day or two and thus, coverage was denied for her birth. This meant several thousand dollars of medical bills out of our own pocket. Immediately, I got on the phone to the company HR department. They told me I could appeal, but—heavy sigh—they’d never seen a successful one. Taken aback, I thanked the staff member but told her that maybe they’d never seen a God like mine.
I sent the appeal and prayed desperately. While I was used to our finances being a daily faith walk, this insurance debacle grieved me more because of its complete preventability, its needless waste of money. Struggling in conversation about this with God one day, a light bulb went on and I felt lead to pray: Lord, if you will rescue us from our own stupidity and work a miracle in the claim department, we will dedicate all that money to you, to our church building program. We filled out the church’s pledge card with the exact amount and put it in the offering basket that Sunday. It seemed a crazy, risky thing to do because it wasn’t like we had this money. However, if we were going to pray for cash to fall from the sky, I knew I would feel a whole lot better knowing it would go to our church. Despite coworkers saying our case was hopeless, I continued to remind God of our deal.
During this time, I was also in touch with the hospital finance department, who were waiting patiently for their money, and I’d told them of our story of appeal. They asked questions about our income and kindly suggested the hospital’s benevolence fund. While that was tempting, I knew my cause, my wall, was still before the Father. They graciously gave me a date several weeks away, upon which time they needed payment or a payment plan.
The agreed-upon day came and we’d received no answer from the HR Department or insurance company. With a leaden heart I dialed up the hospital and greeted the now-familiar clerk.
“I was just going to call you!” She said brightly.
I cringed and answered, “Yes, I know. I need to—“ but she cut me off.
“The insurance paid everything in full today!”
“They did?” I was dazzled. The God of the universe saw fit to intervene on our behalf somewhere in middle management at a large health insurance company. Our friends and coworkers were shocked. It encouraged everyone’s faith. We made payments for two years on this pledge, but, in an adjacent miracle, it was never the budget-breaker I worried that it might be. The church renovation was fantastic and our hearts were glad that we were able to be a part of it all. Great is God’s sufficiency!
“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” Isaiah 49:16
Carla Taylor-Brown