The Amazing & Divine Providence of God

Florida Storm on Saturday Night

A series of events have occurred in the past 24 hours, that no one can say it happened by chance. As my brainy boy heard me speaking with excitement the turn of events of the day...he says to me..."Mom, what does Providence mean anyway?" (Not afraid to ask..that is why he is so smart!) Let me start by explaining that Providence basically refers to God's continuous upholding the existence and natural or of the universe (you know He created it..causes it to spin on its axis...all of that!), likewise Divine Providence refers to God's direct and extraordinary intervention in the lives of people. So with that in mind...here is what happened in my life.

I have this brain (yes that has been confirmed in my MRI from 8 months ago), and it has a swollen something or other in it. Believe it or not I forget the technical name...(hope that's not a sign of anything...just kidding). Needless to say, I was told that my doctor wanted to keep an eye on it and have an MRI every six months.

An MRI at this particular place that my doctor sends me is $860. That is a large amount of money for someone who doesn't even make that in one month. However, the Lord did provide for me to get this done. This past Sunday a woman from my church approaches me and asks if I had ever be seen by a chiropractor, she works for one and knows many people who had severe headaches get some relief.

I have cluster headaches. "Cluster headaches occur in cyclical patterns or clusters — which gives the condition its name. Cluster headache is one of the most painful types of headache. Cluster headache is sometimes called the "alarm clock headache" because it commonly awakens you in the middle of the night with intense pain in or around the eye on one side of your head. Bouts of frequent attacks — known as cluster periods — may last from weeks to months, usually followed by remission periods when the headache attacks stop completely. During remission, no headaches occur for months and sometimes even years." I've experienced this intense pain for the past few years...typically hitting me in early September.

We don't think that the swollen vein in my brain has anything to do with my headaches, but since it reappeared so quickly, I didn't think pushing the MRI further back was wise. I had made the appointment for Thursday at 8:30am and the Lord provided the funds for me to have it done. As I told this woman from church that I was getting an MRI, she asked where I was having it done. I told her and she told me that there was another imaging center close by that might be less expensive...and still do the exact same scan. She would make a few phone calls for me.

Next morning she calls and says that indeed this new place can do the exact MRI for $300. Come to find out, one of my guitar student's Mom had her brain MRI done at this facility and they were able to save her from a life threatening problem. The place is reputable, and is used all the time by this chiropractor that this woman works for. Just had to call my doctor and get the order transferred from one imaging center to the next. The office staff told me that they don't recommend that other facility. When asked why, they just said, they don't like working with them...so "No...we won't recommend them to you!" I felt a little bullied, so I called the friend from church and she said I should just call the imaging center and have them fax it to a new facility. I'm a self pay patient...I have rights! How could I in good conscience spend $860 when I could spend $300...I needed to be a good steward of what God has put in my trust.

Long story shortened just a tad. I was having such a hard time. While making all of these phone calls, I had a precious little girl here who had chosen to spend the morning of her birthday with me. She wanted to make cookies with Ms. Lisa...on her birthday. My heart was breaking because  my time with her was being interrupted with phone calls to people unwilling to help me change my appointment. I was hitting a brick wall. "We don't do that?" "We won't do that?" "We don't recommend this!" I finally called my friend and just said, in tears..."I need to walk away from this for 30 minutes. I've canceled my MRI, but I need to put cookies in the oven with this little girl...priorities after all!"  She said not to worry, walk away from it for a while and make cookies.

A few hours later, she called back and said she had called a friend at the new imaging center, they had my order faxed over and in fact the nurse at the new center was going to go pick up a copy of my last MRI from the previous center on her way to work in the morning. All I had to do was wait for a phone call to schedule my new MRI. Five minutes later I get a call from the new imaging center, confirming that it will cost $300 at the time of visit and I could have an appointment for this Thursday at 8:00am. (Almost the exact same time as my other appointment).

The one detail I forgot to mention was that for about a month now my car has been having issues starting. I would have to turn the ignition for about 3 minutes before it would actually start. I knew the starter was going, but couldn't afford to get it fixed, so just kept ignoring it and praying it would last until Mike got a nursing job. This particular morning, I knew that a special young lady had chosen to spend some of her momentous day with me and so I got up early to go buy her a festive birthday balloon. My car wouldn't start...at all! It finally stopped working. On the very day that the Lord saw fit to save me $560 of which now I have money to pay for my car to be fix. PROVIDENCE - extraordinary intervention in the lives of people.

How do we forget that He loves us that much? Saving money so I don't have to go into debt...is important to my Father God because its important to me. The course of events played out in the exact right time and order. Had my car broken down a week ago, I wouldn't have had the money to pay for it to get fixed. Small details...maybe...coincidence...definitely NOT! Divine Providence....absolutely!

Romans 11:33-36 says it best...and I'm using the Message, just because it is so much fun...

Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom?

It's way over our heads. We'll never figure it out. 

Is there anyone around who can explain God?

Anyone smart enough to tell Him what to do?

Anyone who has done Him such a huge favor that God has to ask His advice?

Everything comes from Him;

Everything happens through Him;

Everything ends up in Him.

Always glory! Always praise!

 Yes. Yes. Yes.