hope is not lost...

I'm crashing off of way too much sugar today, please excuse if this makes no sense, and the fact that I'm about to write a novel, but there is meaning behind the madness, I assure you.
In the place where I work, a domestic violence shelter, I've seen my share of every situation you can imagine, and some you probably would never want to. Against my will, I have become unaffected by so many people, places, and things. It's the only way I can remain working there without losing my ever-loving mind.
I've seen women who have come to us with nothing on their backs, with 8 children in tow, single women with more money than I will ever hope to have, and everything in between. Every situation is different, every face, every tear, every shout of anger...
Some of these women are truly in desperate need of the type of service that we provide, which is 30 days in a safe place with everything provided at no charge, from food to counseling...Many of the women who come to us are, without a doubt, much more suited for other agencies than ours.
Now I'm not going to get on a ranting soapbox, and I hate to offend anyone here, as that is never my intention, ever... but day in and day out we see women who abuse the system on a regular basis, whether it be shelter hopping (dragging their families from shelter to shelter constantly), sitting at home on welfare when they are fully capable of working at least a part time job, always demanding anything and, more often, everything, from a group of staff who only have very limited resources with which to work. I have seen many a mother within our four walls who abuses her children on a daily basis, from sun up to sun down.... I have had women scream in my face telling me that I'm nothing but a piece of crap that's done nothing to help her and her children because I won't give her steak and lobster to eat for dinner. (this is no lie)
I could go on and on and on until you'd get tired of hearing it (if you aren't already), but let me assure you, every bit of it happens day in and day out, every day of the year, in one way or another. It's frustrating, to say the least, and makes it quite difficult to remain understanding and forgiving regarding the situation as to why or how they ended up a certain way. After a while it just doesn't matter anymore because it is what it is....
I have learned that people who work hard can sometimes get the short end of the stick. That's another thing that is what it is. And now, I'm not trying to play the martyr or pat myself on the back, but my husband and I try to be the most honest, hard working people that we can. We do the best with what we have, and never live beyond our means. We don't have credit cards, and don't ever buy anything that we don't have the cash to pay for. We don't ask for handouts from anyone. We worked long and hard to pay off any debt that we have incurred in the past, such as our car and student loans. Every year, somehow, we end up owing on our taxes, we don't like it, but we pay it, because it's the law - and we are law abiding citizens. We understand that sometimes the situation we are in is fully due to our own lack of planning for a better future and don't lay blame on anyone but ourselves. But on that same note, we lay our heads down on the pillow at night, worn out, but satisfied in the knowledge that we did the best that we could, regardless.
There have been many times that we have needed a little bit of help with one thing or another, such as a gas bill that's too high to pay all at once, medical assistance because we couldn't afford insurance, food enough to make it just 3 more days until payday and there's nothing left in the pantry.... Only to be told that we make $10.00 too much to receive any assistance at all, no matter how temporary, or how much of an emergency it is. Assistance that we have paid for with the 1/3 of our checks that go to the government each month, assistance that we have never insisted that we wouldn't pay back as soon as humanly possible.
So after a while a person can tend to feel a little resentful toward the people that seem to be given everything but won't do anything to help themselves, while hard working people who ask for a simple loaf of bread or help with prescriptions are completely turned down flat. As Christians we try so hard to remain steadfast in our faith that in the end all things work for the good and that God will never give us more than we can handle, or less than what we absolutely need, in His eyes.
I won't pretend to understand the system, but I do know something needs to change before there are no resources left to give. But that's for another day... I'll now move on to the whole point of my story...
My husband has been sick for 4 days now, he's sicker than I've ever seen him in the whole 13 years that I've known him. He doesn't have insurance because he hasn't been working at his job long enough to qualify and the next enrollment session isn't for a while. He applied for CHIP, which is a statewide medical assistance program for all families in PA, a program that has a monthly fee that we are more than willing to pay. I think you know where I'm going with this..... he didn't qualify because we make about $10.00 over the limit. So he was left with no coverage and now he's sick. He wouldn't go to the hospital for 3 days, for fear of not being able to pay the bill, until I finally couldn't take it anymore and forced him to go...
Well, with all that being said, our hope has finally been restored! The wonderful staff at the hospital never asked, until he was being discharged, whether he had insurance or not. They treat everyone equally, without regards to method of payment. Hallelujah! A financial counselor came in and spoke with us, filled out some paperwork and said not to worry because we would get it all figured out and they would work with us down to the last penny. Can I get an AMEN?!
Then when I went to the pharmacy to get his meds., one of them came to over $100.00 and the pharmacist could tell that I was about to start crying when she offered to call the doctor at the hospital to see what else they could prescribe that might be less expensive, and don't you know he did and it came to $11.00?! Praise God!!! (Sherley at Walgreens, you are an angel!)
Human kindness and God's goodness has triumphed on this day and our hope is once again restored!
Today we had a happy ending...