The Lord our Provider

Dad at his store, 1981

Dad and Mom bought their business in the early 80s, when most folks their age were planning for retirement.  They bought it during a recession.  One by one the other businesses in their building closed up, but they kept plugging away and after several years of operation, they were finally starting to see a profit.

At a dental appointment, Dad was told that he had very high blood pressure.  The dentist's office set up an appointment for him with a heart specialist.  When Dad returned from the cardiologist's office, Mom had a customer, so all he could tell her was that he couldn't go to lunch as they had planned; he needed to go to the hospital for some tests.  And off he went.

Later that day, Mom found him at the hospital -- checked in and awaiting an angiogram.  She went to the hospital.  Later that evening a doctor told them that they were going to skip the angiogram and do bypass surgery the next morning.

In a daze, Mom went hom and got ready for bed.  "Lord, we don't have any money to pay for heart surgery," she prayed.  "We don't have insurance or any other means of paying.  Do you have any ideas?" and she went to sleep.  When she woke up, the words Jehovah-Jireh were on her mind.  Jehovah-Jireh -- The Lord our Provider (one of the names of God used in the Bible).  She thanked the Lord and never worried about it again.

But she did do her part -- she checked into every resource available.  She spent a couple of months filling out paper work, digging up obscure information requested by government agencies, and following up every lead.  No help came through.

In the meantime, Dad's surgery was a success.  He made steady progress by six weeks off work, long walks through the community, and a great attitude.

One day he said, "I'm going to go back to the Social Security Office and see if I can get signed up."  He'd been there several months earlier but his request had been denied.  At that time he'd been told that he would need to sell the store before he qualified for benefits.  Now they told him that he had been misinformed earlier and he did, indeed, qualify.  Not only did they begin Social Security payments, they made it retro-active to the date of the earlier visit.  The amount of back pay he received covered the costs of the surgery!

Jehovah Jireh -- The Lord our Provider.