A Beautiful Day

Today’s blog post is not so humorous. If you want funny, you can read here or here or here.   Today’s blog post events make me cry with joy.  I want this blog to be a reflection of my life.   As the sign at the top says, “You can’t make this stuff up.”  Here is today’s dose of truth.

Like most of America we have some debt.   Unlike many Americans ours is not credit card; our is medical.  Thousands and thousands of dollars of medical debt. 

Happy. Happy. Joy. Joy.

Several years ago, my husband had a pretty severe car wreck  where he was rear-ended by a semi, then t-boned by an oncoming car.  It was not his fault, but the medical bills still had to be paid, while insurance settled everything.  Surgeries, MRIs, CAT scans, prescriptions,  procedures, and a never-ending round of doctor bills soon followed.  And continue to follow to every month.

 A year, a month, and a day after his wreck, my daughter and I were rear-ended by a drunk driver.   Again, medicals bills came out the wazoo and everyone wanted them paid RIGHT NOW.   Procedures, MRIs, and tons of doctor bills for me.   Yay, for modern medicine.  

We were just beginning to get our heads above water when more fun and games struck.  This summer I was hospitalized for an ovary that decided to explode, then bleed internally and infect my body.   After an emergency hospital visit, nine days in the hospital, and about 50 gazillion dollars spent, I was finally released.
  

For a while, I’ve been paying, $50 here, $20 there,  $100 if that was all the hospital would take, in a vain attempt to pay them all off.   Some of them have a balance of zero, now. Some of them will be paid off soon.  Some of them have been set up on payment plans that will end around 2015.

I kid you not.  2015.   My house will be paid off before some of these medical bills. 

 

I’m kinda hoping the whole Mayan thing is right.

Yesterday, after a long day at work, I called to make some payments and pay off two bills.  I recently got a check from insurance for an MRI I had after my wreck.   $413 bucks.  Do you know what I could do with money like that? New shoes.   New clothes for the kiddo.  New curtains.  Maybe a new outfit for me.  I decided, however, to be responsible and use it for what it was meant for.  To pay a stupid bill.  

Sometimes, I hate being an adult.

I called the place where I had gotten the MRI to make my final payment.   When the lady looked up my account, I only owed $86.  I asked her to double check, but she was sure.   I was stoked.    For those who are a little slow at math like I am (I just used a calculator to figure this up), that means I still had $327 left.  I might get those new curtains after all.  

Alas, I decided to be a grown up though, dangit, and pay another bill.  

Sometimes, I really, really hate being an adult.

I called the hospital where I had a procedure done on my neck during my recovery from the wreck.    I gave them my name and birthdate and then waited while they pulled up my account.  When she put me on hold, I thought to myself, “This can’t be good.”

She was gone forever.  Long enough for the piped in music to play almost all of  Billy Joel’s “Longest Time”  (OH THE IRONY) and the Carpenters’ “Close to You.”   Of course, I sang along. 

When she finally came back to the line, she said to me, “Miss, there’s something odd going on.  I’m not sure why you called.  You don’t owe anything on this account.”

Now, I appreciate a bargain as well as the next girl, but I’m going to pay my bills, so I told her, “Please, check again. I know I owe about five hundred bucks.”

She checked again. “Your balance is zero.”

“But that’s impossible!  I know I haven’t paid it off.”

That’s when she told me the most wonderous thing.   I had made a payment of $203, and then someone else called in and paid the whole thing off.  

$486.   Paid.  In full.  Not by me. 

I started to cry.  The lady on the other end of the phone told me, “God is good. Don’t question it.”

Being human though, I needed to know specifics.    Had it been forgiven by the hospital?  Did insurance cover more?   Or did someone actually call in and pay it?

According to the records, someone called in, gave them by birthdate and paid it. 

I couldn’t quit weeping.   The woman on the other end told me she was so glad she got to give me the news and that I had made her day.    I told her it was mutual.

To recap… I call on the MRI, and the balance has been reduced.   I was given a surplus.   Then, I decide to use that extra to pay another bill, and that bill has a balance of zero.  My cup runneth over.

Sometimes, I love being a faithful, responsible adult.

So many times, I get depressed about money  or our lack thereof, and I get down when I see amazing things happen to others.  My selfish, human side says, “Why not me, God?  When is my turn?” My spiritual side chafes at my human side, but I’m being honest here.   That’s how it is, sometimes.  Sometimes, I  am a whiny, selfish human.  

I’m sure I’m the only one.

I should have learned a long time ago, though, His timeline not mine.  His blessings are bountiful, and His care for me is more than I can ever imagine.   Now it’s my turn to pay it forward to someone else, because God is good, all the time. 

And all the time, God is good.