i don't talk about religion often on this blog, but i really wanted to share this.
do you remember
this post when we found out paul got a job and i went on a slight rant about how we got stuck paying penny's $12,000 hospital bill out of pocket?
well, this weekend we got some really REALLY good news.
apparently there's a thing called "financial aid" that you can apply for and you give them all this financial information like last year's tax return and paystub copies, and a committee considers your situation and can usually help you out with the hospital bills.
imagine our surprise when we get a call on friday that says that the ENTIRE remaining bill of $10,000 had been wavied. i broke down in tears when paul told me. like, WHAT?! are you KIDDING me?!! no more $250/month payment out of our own pocket?! no more stupid hospital bill looming over our heads?!
i'm still a little shocked.
and the timing couldn't be more perfect. our new insurance starts up next month with a hefty monthly payment and we were worried about paying the hospital bill and the insurance premium at the same time. i had called to see if our monthly payment could be lowered and the guy informed me about financial aid, which i was completely unaware of. for some reason i thought that medicaid and financial aid were the same thing.
(they're not). now that old hospital payment can go right towards our new insurance payment.
now you might think that it was just lucky that that guy told me about financial aid because it has always been there as an option and becoming aware of it is was convenient, or good timing, or whatever. but i know it was something more.
now this is where it gets religious.
we have a doctrine in
our church that if you pay 10% of your income as a
tithing to the church that you will receive a blessing of always being financially sound. now that doesn't mean you'll be rolling in the big bucks, it just means that somehow you'll always have money for groceries, or for rent, or utilities, i.e. the necessessities.
it could be explained away as just working hard or lucky or the government steps in with assistance, but i know that blessing has been true for every month of our married life. as a young couple with a baby living on one income, it gets tight every month. but somehow the money comes from somewhere and we have enough to support ourselves, even if at the end of the month we only have $40 in our checking account and the next paycheck is still a week away.
yes, it can seem like a sacrifice to give up 10% of your income, but really every single thing we have in our lives is given to us through blessings from our Heavenly Father. seriously, EVERY thing we have. so really, we're only having to give back 10% of what's not really ours anyway in the big scheme of things. it's the least we can do to show our gratitude to our Heavenly Father for everything that He blesses us with: good health, loving family, a roof over our heads, two cars that work, a great job with benefits, a beautiful little daughter who we love so much...the list goes on and on.
and that 10% does amazing things. yes, some of it does go toward building our beautiful temples and church houses but alot of it has always gone toward food storehouses for the poor and disaster relief around the world,
like the recent sad tragedy in haiti.
and i know that because we pay our tithing that we are blessed financially every month and have been blessed more recently and profoundly with this gigantic stressful burden off of our shoulders. all said and done, i am supremely grateful to be a member of this church.
