A Series of Unfortunate Events....

One week before Christmas, my daughter was feeling increasingly sick and i scheduled an appointment to take her in to the doctors on a Wednesday. When I picked her up at school her condition had worsened and she whimpered at each swallow, with pain. At the doctors the verdict came back--Strep throat. No wonder she was in pain and her eyelids were swollen. I ran her quickly to the nearest pharmacy. After summoning her father on the phone the pharmacy reported that they did not take her insurance.The Pharmacy tech quietly notified me that our local superstore chain(called Meijers) might provide Amoxillan for free. I had heard something like this and was pleased to be reminded.

When i dropped the poor sick child at the house(she is 18) I ran down to the local Meijers store after a long day at my job. They quickly provided the medication and i charged a humidifier for her also. When I arrived home i was notified by phone that my ex-husband had our 21 year old son at the local Urgent Care for a bad cough and may need me to pick him up. I told him I would be on call as it is only a mere 5-6 blocks from the house. I picked up my son about an hour later, when he called for a ride and HE needed an antibiotic too! I drove him back to Meijers and told him to run in and see if his was free also. It was. I waited in the parking lot in the cold to spare my poor tired feet, with only the heat and radio running. After some time I pulled up in front of the store to have my son come out ready to go and my car would not start!

With a dwindling battery on my cell phone my son called a friend of his who is a "car guy". When Dom's friend arrived he knew immediately that i needed a battery jump and proceeded to do so. Then he could not open the hood of the old beater that he drives around town! He had an idea, to buy a battery from the store and jump me. I told him i did not want to know, he bought the battery and jumped my car and drove off with the excess battery.

The next morning, when i woke up for work,with my sick daughter sleeping soundly and restfully in her warm bed, it was only 61 degrees in the house and the furnace was blowing cold air! At the lowest the house should be at 68. I changed the batteries in the thermostat, fiddled with it and approached the basement. I found one side of the basement full of sewer water(!) and the furnace seemed fine, had a flame and was running constantly. My girlfriends husband came over that evening to access the disaster scene.

His verdict was that i should start calling charitable agencies first thing in the morning(Friday). I started in first thing with sick child back in bed, to call programs that were out of money and full of weatherizing advice. Then one furnace company told me that they would not look at it until the sewer situation was cleaned up.

Finally my girlfriend called to say that her husband had ordered her to research sewer men first thing for me and there was one on the way and she would meet him at my house to pay the BILL!!! Hallelujah! The Lord cares for widows and orphans!

Next I reached my other friend finally, who helps me maintain my finances, and is committed to helping me stay afloat, she accessed the situation and said she would call back.

In the meantime the sewer man came and was very excellent and thorough and was extremely grateful for my good coffee as fast as i could send it to the basement. I was happy that i had made too much that day. My accountant(that is what i call her) called back to say that she and her husband had decided to pay for the furnace repair if I arranged for it!

In the long run we could not get the furnace repaired until Monday but with borrowed space heaters, sweaters and warm socks we did quite well. Additionally,the furnace company gave us about 50 dollars off the bill because i took care of one of the owners sons for about a year.

Truly God cares for the poor, He lifts the needy from the dung heap to give Him a place with princes of men!