Our faith will only increase when we commit to God and allow Him to control our lives, jobs, finances, relationships, families, and plans.
A few days before we left the United States for our four-week vacation to the Philippines my blood pressure went up to 150/80 but my doctor prescribed medication to control it and gave me clearance to fly.
On the evening of Thursday, April 18, 2019, the night before our flight back to the US, I was rushed to the emergency room because of high blood pressure. I was 29 weeks pregnant with my second child. My readings at that time were between 190/110 and 200/105. After two hours, they transferred me to a bigger hospital with better facilities which had an available incubator in the NICU.
As I was lying in the observation room, I prayed every moment that God would stabilize my blood pressure so we could fly back the next day, but God didn’t grant that request. Instead, I was admitted, so we cancelled our flight. On the evening of Friday, April 19, my blood pressure was down to 120/80, so the next day the local doctor advised us to book our flight and we did.
That same day they did an Ultrasound for the baby and sent me back to the observation room. Every hour, every 30 minutes, every 15 minutes they monitored the baby. The OB came and informed me that the result of the Ultrasound was not looking good for the baby, but they wanted to wait until Monday to do the next step. I was praying and begging God to stabilize my blood pressure but things were getting worse so around three or four in the afternoon I told God that I was committing everything into His hands. I had no choice but to rely on and trust His plan for my life and for the baby. And that’s where I found peace in my heart. Saturday around 6 pm the baby’s monitor reading was not doing well so they decided to do an emergency C-section. My husband and I prayed before they wheeled me to the operating room, asking God for a good outcome to the surgery. And at that time God gave me peace and the faith to trust in Him. My son Jonathan was born weighing only 2.2 lbs. and had to stay in the NICU for 33 days.
Sometimes we feel that God is late; God is not answering our prayers. But actually, God is always on time. He spared my life and Jon’s. We didn’t know which Filipino hospital to go to, but God sent us to the best hospital. We didn’t know any doctors there, but God provided us the best doctors. When we needed breast milk for the baby since mine was not enough, God provided two willing mothers. For 33 days in the NICU Jonathan had enough. We lacked nothing.
We had planned to give birth in the US but because of the emergency in a different country we ended up paying out-of-pocket for all the hospital bills, which was more than $12,000.
Once we got back to the US we sent all our receipts to our health insurance provider for a refund. Three weeks later we got a check for $469. I was disappointed. I cried, but then I realized that we prayed for it and so I prayed again and asked God to provide us with the means to pay our debts. I didn’t work for five months after the birth, and whatever money we saved went to pay our mortgage. My husband had to come back to the US early and was picking up more hours to pay our debts and to support us.
In March that year I had made a $1,000 commitment to God to support a church building project overseas so in September I handed the check to the treasurer. I told God that it had been delayed since our finances were tight, but I didn’t forget it.
Around the last week of October, we received a letter from our insurance that said it was an explanation of our benefits. So I opened the letter and found a check for more than $4,700. What a blessing! I went upstairs, woke my husband, and showed him the check; we were so happy and thanked God for it. When I looked at the next page of the letter there was another check. In that envelope we received four checks totaling almost $10,000. God indeed is full of surprises. Altogether, our insurance refunded around 90% of our hospital bills. Praise God!
Then I remembered my $1,000 commitment to God. He multiplied it more than 10 times. Amen!
God allows difficult circumstances in our lives that we may experience His miracles, His provisions, and His mercy and above all that God’s name will be glorified.
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19).
By Jolly Salavaria