A Little Testimony
About a Wonderful Ministry
We have been members of a Christian medical sharing company (as an alternative to traditional health insurance) called Samaritan Ministries for five years. This means that every month we write a check directly to a fellow believer with a medical need. We, in turn, have had three maternity needs covered and a small need for my husband for a minor heart issue. Our monthly share has continued to rise over the last couple years, by necessity, due to rising medical costs, but we continue to be so grateful for this ministry.
Honestly, over the years, when I’ve called Samaritan with a question, I have been sometimes impatient with the request to pray with me, which has always been offered by the representative. It’s not that I don’t appreciate prayer, but as a young mother, it can be hard and stressful to even get on the phone, much less engage in a long serious conversation.
When I was pregnant with our third baby, my husband began to have frequent reoccurring heart palpitations. He is an RN and probably more conscious than most people about all the many things that can go awry with our hearts. So we started going through the process of testing and lab work to try and figure things out. During this time, we had a question about a bill and I made the call.
Toward the end of the conversation I started to feel the dread of the prayer time, but of course like a good Christian I said sure when the kind man asked if he could pray for us. And then, standing in the kitchen, with our three and two year olds sitting at my feet, I felt deeply the Lord’s love and presence and I started to cry, for he didn’t just pray for my husbands heart, he prayed for our new baby as well, and the older children and for me, even though I never mentioned any of these things. He prayed for my husband as a whole man— a father, working a stressful job, trying to provide for a young family—a man bearing the burdens of a woman bearing a child. I muffled my tears, said thank you and ended the call.
I cried that day simply because I felt like someone took the time to see us, as God does. Instead of just answering the question and saying a quick prayer for my husband, he took a moment to simply consider our family, living out the heart of God. We are all familiar with the beautiful words of 1 Peter 5 :7, and literally the verse reads, for it is a care of His, concerning you.
And so we are encouraged, as costs rise, to remember that our monthly share goes toward the healing of this broken impersonalized medical system we are all apart of—in sharing the financial burdens of our brothers and sisters, in making sure they are seen and cared for and in praying for them, most of all. It is a good thing, and it is helpful to remember every month: this is not just another bill, this is holistic change. This money is going to someone who, in return for their pain and anxiety is receiving true charity, a burden shared and a need met
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