Donnie & Nancy Scarlett, Lynchburg, VA

If you’re eligible for Medicare, for your own benefit, please don’t “jump ship” and automatically discontinue your CHM membership. 

My wife, Nancy, and I have been blessed by using God’s money to help others with their health care costs for more than 20 years. Now, in retirement, we see God’s hand still working for our good. We’re so grateful that we remained CHM members and used the ministry as a supplement to help offset charges Medicare wouldn’t pay. 

Social Security has been our only source of income since I retired in 2010 from my role as a pastor. We maintained our faith that God would meet our medical and financial needs, clinging to Philippians 4:19: “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Serving in ministry nearly 40 years in three states, we had often experienced God’s peace in our decisions—and dealing with my cancer was no different. 

In October 2011 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and began a long journey to recovery. We didn’t know what to expect, how serious the cancer had become or how expensive the treatment would be. We assumed the cost would be significant. Nancy and I immediately prayed for God to use us so that my cancer would be an open door to minister to other people. 

The Lord directed our steps to wonderful doctors and a superb cancer clinic in Georgia, where I underwent treatment from February through April 2012. While there, I had many opportunities to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and minister to many families across the United States—families like us who were facing serious diseases. We listened to their stories, encouraged them and prayed with them. We remain in touch with many of them. 

The results of my treatment were better than we could have hoped: I feel great! We serve a prayer-answering, healing God who lowered my PSA levels significantly. 

Our medical bills from Donnie’s cancer totaled approximately $91,000. Medicare paid for everything except about $7,000, which is still a large amount to someone on a fixed income. However, our brothers and sisters in Christ stepped in to help to share most of the remaining bills, leaving only a small amount we were responsible to pay. 

Now we have begun a new “ministry” to encourage our retired friends to join Christian Healthcare Ministries. What CHM does is a model for other ministries to follow because this body of believers truly carries out the command to “bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). 

May God continue to bring new members to CHM and may it continue to bless many Christians until the Lord returns.