I Believe in Miracles

Yesterday in class I asked my students if they really believed that when they prayed they prayed to a God who not only could answer their prayers but to a God who WOULD answer their prayers. I've heard stories from people about miracles they've experienced, and in the back of my mind, I've often thought, "That won't ever happen to me." Abby is a miracle, sure. Two pounds, fifteen ounces and perfect, that's a miracle no doubt, but I've secretly longed for one of those, undeniable miracles. Jason and I got 'purt close (to coin one of my Nannie's phrases) to one on Wednesday.

Like I said, Abby was a miracle, but she was an expensive miracle. Her medical bills were somewhere close to $50,000 and mine were about that as well. Thank God for insurance because we ended up owing only (and I say that with a smile) $9000 when all was said and done.

If your family is anything like ours, $9000 might as well have been the amount of the "stimulus" bill because we couldn't pay it. We used the stimulus check last year to pay off one of her bills, and then my wonderful friend Debra told me about a scholarship the hospital offers.

We jumped on the scholarship. By that point, though, all our medical bills were in collections. We stopped paying them because the hospital said not to pay anything until we knew the outcome. Mid-November we heard that the scholarship had forgiven half of the medical bills. Praise the Lord, a miracle.

When I called the collections agency in December, they said that we needed to wait until January to call back because that was when our bills would go back to them.

Well, calling them went to the bottom of the list because Jason started a new job; I started a new semester. Meanwhile, we turned off our home phone.

Wednesday, Jason told me to call because, according to him, "They're going to track us down and sue us if we don't start paying." So dramatic.

I had to call the hospital to find out the status.

So I called, and the conversation went like this after the lady pulled Abby's bill:

Bill lady: "Abby's bill shows a zero balance."

Me: "What?"

Lady: "It shows a zero balance. Do you have any other accounts?"

"Yes, I was in for three weeks during that time."

"Oh, it's probably that account."

She looks up the account.

Bill lady: "That account shows a zero balance too"

Me - through tears: "Well praise God."

"That's right."

It was a miracle, plain and simple. I'm sure there's an explanation, scholarship covered it, something like that, but for me and Jason and Abby, it's a miracle.

So I ask, do you believe in miracles? I hope so.