All Good Gifts are from Above

Many months ago my friend Lisa told me about her friends David and Ellen. Ellen had food allergies to gluten, dairy, vinegar, tomatoes, fruits, and sugar. David had allergies to dairy and gluten. They told Lisa about a treatment called Advanced Allergy Treatment. They both did it and are now allergy free. When Lisa told me this, I started saving!

Exodus 23:25
You shall worship the Lord your God, and I will bless your bread and your water; and I will take sickness away from among you.

I emailed a clinic in Des Moines and told her how much I had saved up and she set me up a package that consisted of a week of treatments with two treatments a day. I planned a short trip home with a week long stay with my brother. However, the next month became very difficult financially. My taxes in Austria were twice as much as I expected and all the money I had saved was gone.

On a Thursday night, I went to a softball game to watch two of my friends play ball. We all walked home together and one of my friends asked me about the treatment. I told her the treatment was off because all my money went towards my taxes. She asked how much it would take to be cured of my food allergies and I told her about the package. That night, I called my mom and told her the treatment was off.

Friday morning, we had a great staff devotion in the morning with Thomas and afterward a friend came to my classroom to ask for some prayer and we somehow started talking about the treatment. My friend had NO idea that I had just told several people the day before that the treatment was off. She said, "I've been meaning to tell you, that I'd like to help pay for your treatment and I know of at least one other person that would like to help, too." My eyes welled up with tears. We were both crying when my students started to come into the classroom. We both laughed through our tears and said, "These are happy tears kids, don't worry!"

Later that day, I saw the friend I walked home with the night before and told her, "Remember last night when I told you my treatment was off? Well, this morning a friend told me she'd like to help pay for it!" She turned to me and said, "I've been meaning to tell you that God's be telling me since January to be putting away money for your treatment." WHAT? Since January??? See, I had it all covered in January, but God knew then that I would need to rely on Him for the money. I then went and talked to the 3rd friend that said she wanted to help and just broke down in tears at the gratitude of all these people. All the money was coming from fellow missionaries....I was flabbergasted and my friend said, "Well, we serve a flabbergasting God, don't we?" Indeed we do, indeed we do!!!

Psalm 103:2-5
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits--who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

I called my mom that night and told her the news. I was just a little worried about how I would pay the expenses on my car (getting new license plates, new drivers license, insurance, and GAS) to get from Appleton, WI to Des Moines, IA. Not sure why I worried about it when it was CLEAR that God had it all under control.

The money from my 3 friends paid the entire treatment package plus much more money that will cover ALL my car expenses, plus gas and food on my week trip to Des Moines. I'm completely blown away.