All Eyes Are On You, Lord

IKing 1:20 "And as for you, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel [are] on you, that you should tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

It’s been almost five years since that horrible day when our van was T-boned by a speeding car.  He was just a young kid speeding through a residential area flying through stop signs.  I still remember it like it were yesterday.  I was five months pregnant with my daughter and I had my 8 year old twins and my 1 year old daughter in the van with me.  I will never forget looking through the shattered back windows to see my son, Charlie, slumped to the side not responding.  This is forever etched in my mind.  This horrific accident and the head injury he received from smashing his head and breaking the window, set in motion years of neurological problems and set backs for Charlie. 

Now we consider ourselves to be reasonable people.  So after years of paying insurance, I guess we expected the insurance company to also be reasonable.  But an amazing phenomenon happens when you come to collect those years of paid premiums.  Your own insurance company becomes your enemy!  We didn’t ask for it, but it definitely happened.   It happened almost at once.  One day we were those good paying customers, and the next day we were considered exaggerators, liars, difficult people, and the list goes on. 

We, in fact, tried everything to negotiate with the insurance company for a fair settlement for Charlie’s injuries.  We took the Word of God to heart when it says in Luke 12:58 "When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer and the officer throw you into prison.  The last thing we wanted to do was drag it out.  We tried and tried, but the insurance company just would not cooperate. 

There is an old song from the 1970s that used to be one of my favorite songs as a child.  It’s called “The Coward of the County” by Kenney Rogers.  I loved this song because the words were so awesome.  Throughout the whole song, the man is keeping his promise to his dad who has gone to prison.  He had made a promise not to be an outlaw like his dad and his dad tells him, it’s okay to turn the other cheek and not fight back.  But at the end of the song, he sings:

I promised you, Dad, not to do the things you done.
I walk away from trouble when I can.
Now please don't think I'm weak, I didn't turn the other cheek,
and Papa, I sure hope you understand:
Sometimes you gotta fight when you're a man.
Ev'ryone considered him the coward of the county.

Sometimes you have to fight for what you believe.  We felt, as Charlie’s advocates and his parents, we had to fight for him.  So we did.  We hired an attorney and the fight started.  It has been over five years and we are still fighting for him.  It has been difficult and discouraging as we have had our character come into question as parents and Charlie’s character and integrity has been called into question as well.  It has been a journey to say the least. 

We have finally come to the end of the journey and we are scheduled for arbitration. Charlie’s attorney, Dave, has always fought for him.  He has always gone the extra mile.  He has been relentless.  So I was a little taken back when I talked to him last.  He had gotten off the phone with our insurance company’s attorney who wants to meet for mediation before arbitration.  Basically, this is their attempt to try to low ball us without going to arbitration where it is likely they will have to pay the policy limits.  Our insurance company’s attorney started dropping what I feel were seeds of doubt in Dave’s head.  The other attorney suggested that maybe Charlie’s head had never really even broken that window out of the van at all.  After all, that’s just what we said happened.  It’s not like anybody saw it.     

Dave had a meeting set up with Charlie’s neurologist on the following Friday.  He let the other attorney know he wouldn’t make any decisions about negotiations until he met with the neurologist.  Dave and I talked for a while and he shared, “This is the end.  We aren’t going anywhere else for an opinion.  Dr. T. is the best in the state and all eyes are on him and his opinion.”  He went on to warn me that a lot of times, even if the physician knows the symptoms are related to the trauma, they won’t be willing to testify.  Testifying takes time, it’s grueling, and quite frankly when these physicians are running large volume practices they just don’t have the time for it. 

When I put the phone receiver down after talking to Dave, I told my husband that I sensed  there was a loss of momentum in Charlie's fight.  I shared with my husband, “We need to be on our knees praying.  We can’t stop now.  We have to finish this fight.”  I knew in my heart that it didn’t depend on Dr. T. or even Dave for that matter.  The Lord knew the truth and He would bring about His plan and outcome with or without their cooperation because ultimately He was our attorney.  1John 2:1 …And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.   

The morning of the meeting between Dave and Charlie’s neurologist, Dr. T., I rose early and came before the Lord.  I let the Lord know that although Dave’s eyes are on Dr. T. for answers, my eyes were on Him.  I wasn’t going to trust in man’s testimony, but the Lord’s.  I read the Word and spent time Him.  There was a portion of my reading for the day that I didn’t have time to read, but I sensed from the Lord that I should read it.  It was in the Ezra Chapter 1.

Ezra 1:1  Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing..” 

This was as far as I got.  My eyes rose up off the pages of scripture and the Lord caused me to understand.  The Lord spoke to my heart promising that He was in perfect control of the meeting between Dave and Dr. T. that morning and He was indeed going to stir up Dr. T.’s heart to say the things he needed to say and not only that, but Dr. T. would be willing to put them in writing. 

I ran up the stairs where my husband was getting ready for work.  I said, “John, the Lord just spoke to us.  He is taking care of this.”

Two days past after the meeting and I still hadn’t heard from Dave.  When I finally got in touch with him, he said, “The meeting went even better than expected.  I wasn’t expecting it to go so well.  Dr. T. has agreed that all of Charlie’s symptoms are directly related to the accident and he was willing to put them in writing.”   Not only was he willing to put the facts in writing, but he allowed Dave to organize them and write them out and Dr.T.r agreed to sign the document!

Just thinking on what the Lord has done has brought me humbly to my knees.  He never fails us.  He never leaves us.  He always fights for us.  It has spoken volumes to me.  God is indeed in control of every situation and every word that is spoken.  I am blessed and thankful to be under the authority of such a loving, powerful Father!