Jeremy: My wife and I joined up with Medi-Share and we have been members for about eight years.
Sharon: So when we first looked at our options, Medi-Share made us a little bit nervous. I mean, you get the paperwork and everything says, "This is not insurance." But we'd heard good things about it and we thought, "Well, let's go ahead and try it as an alternative to insurance." It's biblical. It sounded good. It should work, theoretically. So we decided to go ahead and try it. For three years we didn't actually have any medical needs that needed to be shared.
Jeremy: We were able to contribute for others and did not have a lot of medical issues.
Sharon: And then we got Anja and from the day she was born, that child was different. She just was prone to infections and she was sick more often. And then Anja on us about six months we had to admit that something was very wrong. She was shrinking instead of growing and she was very sickly. We have had people ask us, "Well, did you pray for healing for your child? Are you sure you have enough faith?" And I feel that we have enough faith to know that God can give us a special needs child and that we'll make it through each day. And we have prayed for this child, we have had nights where we begged the Lord, "Not to take her that night."
Jeremy: We have had a lot of hospital visits.
Sharon: We were running in circles, going to doctors, getting blood tests and this test and that test. And then we got to a doctor who said, "This is bad. This is really bad." And they put us in the hospital for a week. So we spent a week in the hospital saying, "Oh boy, this is going to be very expensive." A whole week in a children's hospital, all the tests, CAT scans and blood tests and chemical tests. I think we saw a dozen doctors, but it was all shared.
Jeremy: Medi-Share members has always been there for us and helped meet the needs that we have as a family.
Sharon: We got lots of bills in the mail saying how much it all added up to and the members shared in all of it. In the end, we still just paid our small portion and all the bills were taken care of, the members shared all of it. We had plenty to think about and a lot to keep us busy with Anja, but we didn't need to worry about the medical bills.
It's very pleasant to call Medi-Share. We've never had anyone unpleasant on the phone or someone who acted like they were too busy to take time to sort out whatever issue we were having. And it's so nice that they care and they're efficient and they always take time to say, "Can we pray for you? How is your day going?" I don't think anyone ever anticipates the surprises that life can throw at you, but God didn't promise any of us a special bubble free from all adversity. Otherwise he wouldn't have spent so much time in the Bible telling us how to react to it. Anja has caused us to rethink what is important in life. Sometimes you just need to learn acceptance in life and then learn to be happy where you are.
