Laura Clark was a happy, healthy working mother of two daughters. A former athlete and wife to a busy police detective, life was good, until the day she had to struggle to carry her baby up the front porch steps. With her heart rate soaring over 220 beats a minute, a high-speed ambulance ride to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center saved her life. After a week in Intensive Care, she was diagnosed with MVT, monomorphic ventricular tachycardia, a potentially deadly heart condition. “The doctors told me I have what’s causing young athletes to drop dead on playing fields,” Laura said. “They couldn’t say why I didn’t die. But I knew: God saved me!”
Seven months later, another emergency treatment at Baptist Medical Center was easier to deal with medically...but not financially. It was a new year and the family was hit with another high insurance deductible. The Clarks were used to the stressful family life of a first responder, but the skyrocketing medical bills–and escalating worries over money–took a toll. “It was a hard time,” Laura explained. “My husband was working a lot of off-duty, a lot of nights and every weekend. We never saw him. It was so depressing. It felt like a never-ending battle to pay all those bills. We felt hopeless.”
But their hope was restored when their bill was paid by the Mother’s Day Offering. “It was like the biggest burden was lifted from our heads. It was unbelievable, I cried for two days,” she said. “My husband didn’t have to work so much. My girls and I see him again. It was like God saying, You’ve been through so much, here. We feel so blessed.”
The Mother’s Day Offering changed Laura Clark’s life. “For so many years, you see the video in church and think, Oh, it’s another Mother’s Day Offering. You give and don’t think anything of it,” she concluded. “But when you’re the one who receives, it opens your eyes and you realize this is the best offering ever. It’s so local and such a blessing–I can’t thank everyone who gives enough.”
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. – Proverbs 3:5