Unexpected Faith From Someone Else’s Unexpected Blessing
The Bible talks about faith being a mustard seed, but sometimes it can be a lot like a plant clipping, grown somewhere else but transferred to root in your heart. In short, sometimes watching God work in someone else’s life can be just as empowering for my faith as His work in my own.
Last month, my best friend Laura had a few rough weeks. She’d been suffering with torso muscle pain for months and finally went to see a doctor. After giving her muscle relaxers, which didn’t touch the pain, the doctor ordered an X-ray, which came back normal.
All of this is no big deal when you have regular insurance and a full-time job. But as a freelance editor and part-time online teacher, Laura has insurance through a Christian health share company that does not start paying for treatment until after accruing $500 in bills per incident.
Laura received a hefty self-pay discount for her X-ray, which brought her total on the incident to $460. So we waited around for the doctor to call her back, hoping that another doctor’s visit would push her over the $500 max.
Last week I was sitting at work when I got her text. “The doctor doesn’t want to see me. She referred me to a chiropractor—which my health care doesn’t pay for.”
Like a racecar that ran out of gas only yards from the finish line, she sat with a $460 bill—40 bucks away from the mark. And to make matters worse, she was nearing the end of her session of teaching with no new classes on the horizon.
I got up from my desk to walk around the office, my thoughts growing darker. Why her? Why not me? I’ve got a full-time job with health insurance.
But slowly things started coming back to me. All the times that she had been low on work, only to have a new job come through unexpectedly or to have money sent to her unexpectedly. “God, please provide her with this money to cover her bills,” I prayed silently, simply, before rounding the corner to my desk.
When I sat back down, I saw that I had a text from Laura. “I have amazing news! My healthcare covers all incidents exceeding $500 BEFORE DISCOUNTS. My bills before discounts total $726!”
You can imagine not only our relief but also our wonder that prayer had been answered so quickly.
But here’s a truth that is both a warning and a comfort: sometimes God provides for us to give us faith to trust him through the next hard thing.
Two days later, the starter gave out on Laura’s car, costing her several hundred dollars. The same day, she filed her taxes, owing several thousand dollars that she wasn’t expecting to pay.
After the rollercoaster week of unforeseen blessings and expenses, she cried for a while—for the fear of what she knows and doesn’t know. But we both know this: God will take care of her.
I wish her health and comfort and financial stability, but I haven’t regretted watching her struggle a bit. Because her needs and God’s faithful provision have taught me over and over how much I can trust Him—to say nothing of the times that He has provided for me.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). Faith just oozes from that verse—faith and confidence in the Lord’s care. David didn’t say, “I don’t want anything” or “I’ve never wanted anything.” Those would indicate that he wasn’t presently wanting or hadn’t wanted in the past. But he says he shall not want—predicting a future condition!
Later David wrote, “Great is the Lord, who delights in the welfare of his servant” (Psalm 35:27, ESV). He was fully aware of Jehovah-Jireh’s ability and even eagerness to bless and bestow.
David was the Old Testament example of obedience to Jesus’ command, “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink? or ‘What shall we wear? . . . Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (Matthew 6:31–32).
That command gives me courage, and even a little excitement, to face the unexpected future because of what I can expect: that one way or another God will provide, and that through my need sometimes His blessing will increase someone else’s faith.
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Such good testimony to the power of other people’s blessings in our lives. I could relate!
another great reason why God intended for us humans to be in community with others, so that we are up close to their struggles, and can both rejoice and cry with them. Thanks for sharing this story as it encourages me, as well…
So much truth in this, Sarah! I have ben exponentially encouraged by watching others live out their faith when I probably would have thrown in the towel. Like Ruth said, another great reason why God intended us to be in community.