Thankfully, I had a little bit of money set aside, but I knew it wasn't going to last too long. So, I kept my bills paid while I anxiously waited for the okay to go and get another vehicle from Car Mart.
I finally was able to get my paperwork gathered from the accident report and I went back to Car-Mart to pick up a PT Cruiser to drive.
At first, I loved the little car. It was roomy enough to do what I had to do to work.
My lawyer called me in February and told me to come get a check. The insurance company was giving her a hard time, so she held her ground for me and demanded not only the reimbursement for the vehicle, but also reimbursment for the time I had to miss work because of the accident. I received about $4,000.
I caught up on my bills, and put the rest in my brokerage account, which I named "The God Account", because God used it to buffer me in hard times.
My practice, up to that point and afterwards, was to put 10% of my earnings in the account and buy stocks with it, then watch God grow it, until it was needed.
I was able to obtain new health insurance through the marketplace. I had no idea how much of it I would need.
And, for a little bit, I was happy again.
Then, my mom called and asked me what I would do with $3,000 if she gave it to me.
I told her I would buy stocks with it and invest it, what I didn't need to pay my bills.
She gave me $3,000 and told me it was my "inheritance". She was disbursing her savings to all of her children.
This seemed strange to me. But, I accepted it. My mom was the type of person to do stuff like this on a whim. I came to the conclusion that it was just her character to try to do stuff so people would revere her in a positive light, in spite of her common demeanor. And, she was getting on with age. She was about 70 years old.
I started finding it harder and harder to climb the stairs each day, after work, when I would come home. My body started to rebell. I felt that there was something wrong, so I got a doctor's appointment.
After a lot of bloodwork, my doctor suspected I might have Lupus. She sent me to a specialist in Tyler. All I knew was that I hurt all over.
The doctor in Tyler did a few tests, then said, "Ms. Ponder, you have 'wear and tear' arthritis all over your body!"
I praised God, because I didn't want to have Lupus.
She prescribed me Celecoxib for my arthritis and sent me home. There was nothing we could do about the arthritis but manage it. And, working at McDonald's or Burger King was never going to be an option for me again.
I thought about the fact that God had given me the driving gigs just in time for my health to go south. It was all I could for a living at that point, and it was all that prevented me from the necessity of trying to get social security disability. I made way too much money doing what I was doing for that!
But, I also came to realization that I needed a back-up vehicle in case my car broke down, because without it, I was stuck without a way to make a living. It became my goal to try to save up for another "plan b" vehicle.
During the Spring, my nephew had a birthday coming up. He invited us all to float down the river as a family for fun that day.
My mom, step-dad, sister, her husband, my niece, other nephew and his girlfriend and his wife and a few other friends all gathered for river tubing and a cookout party at his house. There were about 20 of us. It was about an hour's drive to Malvern, Arkansas for the event.
As we all gathered at the river, my sister asked me if I wanted to use some of her sun screen. I refused. After all, we would be in the water, surely I wouldn't get too hot.
Clearly, I wasn't thinking straight.
By the time I got home, I had 2nd degree burns all over my legs. There were bubbles forming. And, I was fatigued and in pain.
I had received a noticed for jury duty, and I was looking forward to it, actually; but, I was so burnt I had to go to the emergency room to get my burns checked out.
They gave me colloidal silver to rub on my legs and told me to rest and stay cool.
So, I missed about 4 days of work, and my savings was being depleted for the bills I had.
And then, just when I was healed up enough to go to work, it happened:
I got up one morning and decided I was healed enough to try to work, and I got dressed and started to walk out the door. By the time I got to the door, I was so fatigued that I turned around and went to my bed and laid down and slept for about 4 hours.
I woke up feeling fine, so I started to go again. I got to the door and another wave of fatigue hit me.
Something was clearly "not right". I tested myself with my home test kit, and I had come down with COVID.
I had to miss another week of work.
I was starting to get very concerned because I had to work, because my savings was going to disappear if I didn't. I was already dipping into the money that my mom gave me.
After a week of recuperation, I set out to go back to work.
I was doing good. I was fast replenishing my savings account, when, one day, I ran over something while turning onto the ramp off of interstate and something put a hole in my radiator. It quickly drained, and my car was running hot.
CarMart would not cover the repairs, so I had to miss work, and pay for a new radiator.
Then, I needed a new alternator.
Then, my trunk latch got stuck, so I couldn't open my trunk and I had a flat tire. I had to call my cousin to help me go get a new tire because I couldn't get to my spare. My cousin lived over an hour away from me, and he was the only person who would help me.
When I asked for help on social media, I started getting negative reactions. People said I should get another job.
I could not make anyone understand that I was doing the only thing I could do to make a living and that I felt "called" to do it.
It became clear to me that I needed another vehicle, or this vehicle was going to break me, and I would have no way to make a living.
I prayed to God for relief. I just wanted to work and pay my bills. Serving God where I was would be a whole lot easier if I didn't have to worry about whether or not my job was going to still be there tomorrow.
But, I had faith. I knew God was in control, and I knew I needed patience and perserverance.
Little did I know that my whole life was about to be turned upside down.
No comments:
Post a Comment