Are You Blessed?

May you be blessed in abundance so that you may bless with abandon!

What exactly does that mean?

In Second Corinthians Paul wrote, “And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that having all contentment in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” In other words, we are blessed by God so that we can, in turn, abound in every good work and be a blessing in the lives of others. Paul’s message reminds me of the parable of the Rich Fool in which Jesus tells us to be rich toward God. Since he uttered those words, Christians have taken the parable to mean we are blessed to be a blessing in the lives of others and we are blessed so that we might help build the kingdom of God. It was this very parable that inspired me to pen the closing statement of our newsletters and us at the Good Samaritan Health Center to celebrate our ninth anniversary in the manner we did.

Staff and volunteers were in the building thirteen hours that day and served 121 people – 86 females, 35 males, 100 adults and 21 children. We treated aches and pains, hypertension, diabetes, thyroid diseases, gynecology problems, allergies and asthma, and a plethora of less common diseases. In all, we spent $8,372 to provide the medical care which had an estimated value of $34,249 were it delivered in a traditional for profit medical office, even more if any of the people we served that day had gone to the emergency room for help.

The Good Samaritan Health Center of Gwinnett is indeed a ministry, and we are one of the most active clinics in the north metro Atlanta area safety net; we exist to care for the poor and uninsured who have nowhere else to turn. The work before us is daunting and expensive. And though we do not provide free services on a regular basis, we do lose money on every patient visit. Our 2013 average patient revenue per visit was $52.99 and average actual cost per visit was $84.73.

Clearly, we are unable to sustain our ministry or our role in the safety net without the financial support of donors. Please help us help others by making a contribution to the clinic today. Are you blessed? If you are, please help us bless others – make a donation today to support this ministry.