Another Miracle--"You Will Not Have to Fight This Battle"

Not every verse that someone sends me by text speaks so powerfully as the one a friend sent Sunday morning. "You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you...Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you." 2 Chronicles 20:17

     I wasn't sure what to make of the verse and how it had stood out to me. What battle God was telling us we didn't have to fight. Was He going to just heal my cancer or what? 

  I was still pondering this verse Monday morning, the "tomorrow" after Sunday. What were we going to be facing? Jonathan and I were on our way to medical appointments in Sioux Falls, and on the way we were stopping in Mitchell to pick up a load of windows he had ordered for the remodel projects on the reservation. Jonathan also had to try to find three toilets for those same projects at Sioux Falls Menards since the Rapid City Menards had been out of stock. So we were facing many things that morning regarding cancer, mission work, and more. But then it dawned on me that at 10 that morning I had planned to make a follow-up call to a financial aid advisor in Pierre. She hadn't been able to come up with much except Healthcare Marketplace (which was iffy) since we'd been denied Medicaid twice (even after Jonathan asked SIM to cut his wages recently so that we could qualify.) Jonathan didn't think it was any use to call this lady, so we didn't. Was that the battle we didn't need to fight? I didn't know.   

     Well, after my second set of chemo treatments this week in Rapid City and the day-after injection for stimulating white blood cells, Jonathan reluctantly but courageously decided to go visit the billing office in person to talk about all the bills. Although (praise God!) foundations are covering two of my most expensive chemos and the injection drug, we are still left with approximately $12,000 every three weeks, every time I have chemo. That does not include extra doctor visits, follow-up, labs after the chemo, etc. To be fair, a free wig, free hats, free books and puzzles of my choice, and free hot water and camomile tea bags are provided! :) :) At the cancer center, the financial aid person had said that because we lived far away in White  River, we were "outside their service area," and did not qualify for their special hospital's aid. There was nothing they could do for us, she said. 

     Anyway, Jonathan headed into the billing office to talk about self-pay discounts and pay up with credit card at least for the last chemo day. We could still turn those bills in to Samaritan Ministries, but we were coming down to the end of what Samaritan Ministries will continue to reimburse for us, and Jonathan had little hope left about financial aid for the next few treatments, since even if we qualified for the Affordable Care government insurance, that would not kick in until January.  At the billing office, Jonathan "happened" to be directed to an office of a man to whom he told our dilemma, how we'd been denied Medicaid, etc. The man asked about our income and said, "You don't need Medicaid. With your income level, you just need to fill out this form and we put you on a sliding scale, so that you just have to pay [a small co-pay]. I'm the head of this financial aid office and it's not going to be any problem. " He gave Jonathan the one-paper form, and away went my husband, hardly able to believe what God had just done!

     My mind went back to the verse that had hit me between the eyes Sunday morning. "You will not need to fight this battle." We had kept going, taking my position in that hospital chair for my chemo infusions, and God had fought the financial battle. 

We don't know the details of how it will all turn out, but at least for that day, God fought for us and gave us relief from our feeling of helplessness.

That morning I had also read in my devotions, "Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man." Vain had been the "help" of the financial aid person in the cancer center. God had truly helped us by redirecting us right around the corner to the right person to talk to!