123. Debt Canceled with Sharon Banister

We sit down with Sharon to talk about what it feels like when a medical bill you cannot afford gets wiped away at the exact moment you are ready to pay. Along the way, we unpack grace, mercy, and trust, and why remembering past provision can fuel courage in the present. 

• A financial miracle involving medical bills, hospital grants, and a canceled genetic lab balance 
• Grace versus mercy explained through real-life provision and an unexpected refund 
• Trust as a daily question from God and why it feels harder in certain seasons 
• Remembering past hardship to see where God was present and to strengthen faith now 
• Matthew 18:21-35 as a picture of debt wiped clean and gratitude in response 

I'll see you in 2 weeks for a brand-new episode of Ordinary People Extraordinary Things. 

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Transcript

Hard Times And The Pivot Question

Nancy Bruscher 0:01

Welcome, I'm Nancy Brucher, and you found Ordinary People Extraordinary Things Podcast, a place where ordinary people share stories of faith, hope, and the extraordinary moments found in everyday life. This week I've been wrestling with something I believe many of us face. When hardships come or things don't go as planned, is God saying no, asking us to try harder, or simply calling us to pivot a little and keep going? Interestingly, this episode has felt a bit like that. We first recorded back in January, but computer problems delayed the release. And we even had to re-record a part of it. But during my conversation with today's guest Sharon, she said something that really stayed with me. It will come out at the right time for the right listeners. I love that reminder. My hope is that as you listen today, you'll be encouraged by Sharon's story and inspired to see miracles in every aspect of life. Let's get started.

Sharon On Identity And Worship

Nancy Bruscher 0:58

Welcome to Ordinary People Extraordinary Things. I'm Nancy and I'm here with my friend Sharon. Sharon, thanks for being on the podcast. Thank you for having me. I'm just privileged to be here. Oh, thanks for coming to share your story. We're gonna get into a miracle you're gonna share, but before that, if people don't know who you are, can you give three words or phrases to describe yourself?

SPEAKER_01 1:20

The three phrases I would use to describe myself is I'm a child of God who was made to worship him and serve him with my whole heart and the whole being.

Nancy Bruscher 1:28

Hmm. That's good. That's good. Is that how you mostly or have always thought of yourself?

SPEAKER_01 1:35

No. No. Worship, yes, and the serving, yes, but sometimes you forget that you're a child of God. Yeah. How do you remind yourself when you forget? His words. Reading into scripture, listening to some music, worship music that just kind of reminds me, tells me who the truth, the truth of everything is. Yeah. The song, the truth is It's so good. So good. Do you remember who sings that? It's Megan Woods, and that's my that's my skating program.

Nancy Bruscher 2:06

Yes! Yeah, oh that's a good song. Sometimes you just need songs like that to just remind you. Yes. That's great.

The Financial Miracle With Medical Bills

Nancy Bruscher 2:15

Well, you're gonna tell us a story about a miracle, and it's a financial miracle. It was.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yes, I'm so excited. So a couple of years ago, I had some health diagnoses that required me to see some specialist. And one of the specialists that I ended up seeing realized one of the blood work tests that needed to be done was going to be on the expensive side, and I don't have health insurance. Those hospitals went to see if I qualified for grants through them, and I did, and the debt for all these medical bills were taken care of completely. You know, what I had paid, one of the hospitals actually paid me back what I had put in, and so it was just one of those moments of, oh, when did that come through? One of the last things that I had was blood tests that had to be done through a genetic blood test that had to be done through a genetic lab. And I had owed about $600, and I called them and they said, Hey, let's see if you qualify for this. And I qualified to have that debt reduced, and then it took me a couple months to save up that amount of money, and then all of a sudden, when I called to pay, the rep was like, You don't owe anything, everything's been taken care of, and in that moment, just the joy that I felt was realizing that what I had owed, even though maybe it seemed like a small amount to some, was a lot to me. And I was like, Oh, Jesus paid that, you know. I just told the debt, you know, I told the rep, I was just like, Oh my goodness, thank you for blessing me today. You didn't know that you were gonna do that, but this is a huge blessing. And then I got off the phone because I felt so much joy and gratitude for God just wiping a bill away that I had no idea how I was gonna pay. And I I called a couple of different friends and texted my friend group, and I was like, Oh my gosh, you won't believe this. You know, and so for me, just knowing that God just didn't didn't provide, but he was like, I'm not gonna take it a step further, I'm canceling

Grace And Mercy Defined Clearly

SPEAKER_01 4:28

the debt.

Nancy Bruscher 4:28

I love that, and so yeah, I love that. I love how you're giving him the glory for that. And when we were talking earlier, you were you were talking about about this miracle with also the ideas of mercy and grace. Yes. And can you explain to people what those words mean? And then, like, I feel like they're used interchangeably.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

They are. Um grace is having something taken, something that you deserve, something bad that you deserve the punishment for. It's being removed, that punishment you no longer receive. But mercy takes it a step further and wipes not just the consequence or the punishment, but it gives you something in return that you don't even deserve. So, like in this situation, grace was God was providing all my medical bills and needs when I needed them, right? But mercy was taking that debt that I owed that I had no idea how I was gonna pay for it, I was just gonna be paid for over time. Having that removed and then being given back money from a hospital. How did that happen? Right from a hospital, nonetheless. Like, you know, I opened up my bank account and I was like, why do I have this money in in my bank account being given back to me? And so, like, when I talked with people, they were just like, that's because we you qualified for this and we backdated it, and I was like, That's God's mercy. He gave me back something I didn't deserve. So yeah, yeah, that's so good.

Nancy Bruscher 6:04

That's so good. How would you do grace and mercy as far as like God's love?

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Does that make sense as far as so, like with God's love, grace is we deserve death because of our sin. Mercy was when God sent Jesus down to the earth to live out a perfect life, to die on the cross and wipe away and wipe away all the sin and the debt that we owed because of our sin. He bore that shaman that we deserved, and he wore that, and because of his death and his resurrection, we no longer owe God a debt. You know, so when when we as followers die and go to heaven, we stand before God pure and blameless, yeah, versus covered in the shame and the pain and the regret and all the things that we deserve because of our sins, because

Trusting God And Remembering Proof

SPEAKER_01 7:06

we're human.

Nancy Bruscher 7:06

Yeah, that's good. So I heard you say trust, and I for some reason, well, it's probably because I'm really diving into the Lord's Prayer right now, but I hear like give us today our daily bread, and I feel like that you are kind of living that out in a in a lot of ways. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

I mean, with me, I think God, God and I play a game, and He the game is I have a question for you, and I go, okay. And his question usually is do you trust me even in this? Even if this might hurt, even if the results of this is not what you want, do you still trust me that I have a purpose and a plan for allowing this to maybe happen? And so for me, it's every day I wake up and I go and I just do things, and when stuff happens, he's like, Do you trust me? I'll take care of it. Or I have a reason for this happening.

Nancy Bruscher 8:04

And is that hard harder at different times or oh absolutely?

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Oh yeah, it yeah, you know, just everyday things sometimes can be hard. Yeah, you know, but then life things are thrown at you, and you just go, I don't know if I could do that today. I learned kind of with trust in God as He had to teach me that I had to trust myself as too. Because when I don't trust myself, it usually means I'm not trusting him. You know, and I realize this piece of uncertainty kind of sneaks in in that relationship of trust. Yeah, you know, and then the other piece to it is like when I don't trust others, God goes, it's not others you're not trusting, it's me. You're not trusting me in that situation.

Nancy Bruscher 9:00

Oh, that's good, that's interesting. It's a really different way to look at it, right? Huh. Gave me something to think about today. Yep. I'm so glad that you shared this because I think that part of trusting is remembering, right? Yes, remembering so when another trust comes up, you can say, I remember, I remember that God showed up for me at this, or maybe someone's listening and they're saying, you know, I heard that story, and Sharon, you know, she trusted God in this. Yeah, I think that's a big part of it.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

I mean, I think a lot of times in our culture, we we live in a move past, like put the past behind you, right? But I realize again the Bible, God reminded the Israelites over and over, remember when, right? And he reminded them the hard times. Remember when you were in Egypt? Yeah, remember when you went to the wilderness, remember when. And I think the purpose of sometimes God says, I need you to remember this piece of your past so that in the present I can go back and say, Where was God in that moment? Oh, he was there, right? When the Israelites were in Egypt, God was there, he was preparing a baby who was put in a basket, right? Right? When they were in the desert, he provided food, shelter, he provided a cloud by day to keep them hidden, right? And light by night to help guide their way. Yeah, they needed to be reminded where was God in that moment? Yeah, and so sometimes I think God challenges us and says, I want you to remember something. Even if it was bad or it was difficult, I need you to remember this and then see where I am in this moment. Right.

Nancy Bruscher 10:45

So you kind of have the courage to go on, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Yes, and you can then encourage others to take those same steps.

Matthew 18 Debt Story And Closing Gratitude

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Yes.

Nancy Bruscher 10:53

Oh, and did you have a Bible verse that kind of correlates with this?

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Yes, um, Matthew 18, starting, did I say 23? Yep. Going to 27, there's a story of a servant who owed a king a lot of debt. Yeah. And in the verse it says, you know, the kingdom of heaven is like a master who was trying to collect all his debts and accounts from those that owed him money. And he pulled a servant in, and the servant owed him millions of dollars. And the king was like, Hey, you need to pay this back. And the servant just falls to his knees, going, I can't do it. And the king took pity on him and said, Okay, what I should do is I should sell you, your children, your wife, and all the things you owe to paying back my debt. Right. But then when the man begged him, he just had mercy on him and he said, Okay, tell you what, I'm gonna wipe it all. Yeah, and that is just a beautiful picture to me because, like, when that genetic place wiped my debt, even though it was a small amount, it I felt like that servant in that moment of oh my gosh, Jesus paid it. Yeah, Jesus took care of it. Like, I have no idea who actually took care of it, but for me, Jesus took care of it. Yeah, and I I just was ecstatic and filled with joy.

Nancy Bruscher 12:22

What I was kind of thinking of is the story of I think it's the Ten Lepers. Oh, yes, that all get wiped. Yes, clean. Yes, only one clean back to give praise to God. Yes, I like that one. Yes, that's a good one too. Yeah, so good, so good. Well, this has just been wonderful. Thanks for sharing your miracle. Can we end with what you're grateful for?

SPEAKER_01 12:50

I am grateful that God just he sees us in our small worlds that we live, like we live sometimes just within ourselves, right? And God sees us and he loves us for who we are, and wants to show us how much he loves us by making sure that we see that he cares for us, he will provide for us. His grace and his mercy can be seen every day.

Nancy Bruscher 13:20

Yeah. So thanks for being on and sharing your story with us. Thank you for having me. On Ordinary People, Extraordinary Things, your story is his glory. This wraps up our podcast focus on miracles. And my hope is that through Sharon's story of financial miracles, my mom's story last episode about my dad being gone for 58 minutes before doctors could revive him, or Nicole's miracle birth story in episode 119, you'll begin to see more miracles in your own life. And if you ever need a reminder, these episodes will always be here for you to come back to. I'll see you in two weeks for a brand new episode of Ordinary People Extraordinary Things. And remember, your story is his glory.