Late one evening recently at the dinner table my husband looked over and said, “Felecia, I have been keeping a secret from you.” I looked up, a bit taken aback, and looked over to my son wondering, “what is he fixing to say in the presence of our son?”
The Secret
He continued, “I found out a few weeks back we are getting dropped by our health insurance provider.” Whew! I was relived at first. I thought, “Okay, I can handle this secret.” I know it seems like a strange thing for my husband to keep a secret, however, his heart was to not cause me to worry (this is a topic I will cover in another blog sometime! ;)). I had been out of town with my mother when the letter arrived in the mail. My sweet husband didn’t want to cause me fear and he wanted me to enjoy my time with my mom.
Then reality set in. We are both self-employed and have to purchase our own insurance privately. We have had this policy a long time. It was decent, but not great. I am a stage 4 colon cancer survivor. I was initially diagnosed in 2009 as stage 3 and after chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery I went into remission. Then it returned to my left lung in 2013 and was restaged to stage 4 colon cancer. This kind of track record is not the best resume for insurance companies. Every year since my diagnosis, the premium had gone up by several hundred dollars.
Where Does Hope Really Come From?
Losing our insurance is a bit scary, to say the least. It got me thinking about how quickly things in this life can change. We think we are set. We think we have it all figured out, but then — in an instant — life changes. Someone or something threatens your security or at least what you put your trust in. Many people, especially as of late, have lost their jobs, homes, and insurance. It shatters their lives. When this happens, fear sets in as well as doubts about the future. I want to share something with you: nothing on this earth is worthy of that much trust.
The only One worthy of putting our hope and our future in is Christ. Isn’t it wonderful to know that Jesus is not going to call up and cancel our Salvation? We are not going to get a letter in the mail that says, “I am sorry, I no longer offer this Salvation Policy, Signed -GOD.” We have this promise from God: “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish: and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28).
The Only One Worth Trusting
I don’t know what is going to happen with our insurance; we are still in the process of finding a new provider. They are not supposed to consider pre-existing conditions, which leads me to think they couldn’t cancel you either; however, we live in a world that makes its own rules as it goes. Insurance or no insurance, I know that Philippians 4:19 says, “My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
What are you putting your hope in? Is it your retirement fund? Your children? Your job? Your health? Take some time now to ask God if there something or someone that you are trusting in other than Him. And if the answer is yes, you have made an idol out of something. Ask the Lord to forgive you and help you to let it go and hope in Him alone. Just do it.
“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:22-27).
