In His Own Words

The following is a post my dad wrote in response to my recent entries and to share his point of view of the past few weeks. It is written as he dictated it to my mom and me, so for the remainder of this post "I/me/my" is Gilbert.


In Gilbert's Own Words:
As I read the last few entries of Lizi's blog this week, I could only sit and weep as the reality of God's faithfulness washed over me.

To give some background: one reason I have this tree service business is that I like to do the work. Cutting, splitting and dealing with the wood is great exercise. We've used wood to heat our home since 1983, so it began with that. I also like climbing trees. I enjoy the challenge of knowing how to take each limb down safely.

In addition, my business partner and I thought it would be a profitable business, but we've found nearly all of our income goes to repairs on vehicles and equipment. In the nearly two years since we joined forces we've barely broken even.

I am reminded that I have said many times the Lord is the One who supplies all my needs. The apostle Paul said to the Philippian believers in chapter 4 verse 19, “ My God will supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” And I have testified many times how He has done that.

What I've come to realize is that once again, I was trying to supply my own need instead of letting the Lord provide for me. I have preached it to myself and others for years. Now He has put me in a position where I have to actually live it.

While Lizi has mentioned my wheelchair, here's more of the story:

The Lord used a client of mine to remind me of how God often meets our need even before we ask. This woman first hired me eight years ago to do a substantial amount of work for her when she was living out of town. I didn't know her, nor did she know me, but she trusted me and acted on faith because she had heard of me from someone else who knew me. Since then, I've done a number of jobs for her, and we've become friends. She once conveyed to me that she'd referred me to a friend, saying, “Everybody needs a Gilbert in their life.” This proves that the Lord's life shows even when we're not trying but are simply going about our work. I'd have to say the reverse is also true. She has been a wonderful client and a generous friend, providing the chair and more to help with my recovery.

A few weeks ago, when I knew I'd be going home, I was desperately searching online for an electric wheelchair—determined to get what I needed by my own effort. During this time, my dear friend Scott (who has become a close companion through work and his care for me since my accident) was at this woman's neighbor's house talking about work that needed done. As he was leaving the neighbor's, he saw my client/friend's husband backing out, so Scott went over to greet him. He told Scott that my friend was in the house, so he went in to see her. He spent some time visiting over tea and crumpets (Scott is British, and this client loves his appreciation of good tea), and it was then that she learned of my accident. After he'd been there about an hour and had left, she immediately called me and said with tears in her voice, “Scott just told me that you'd been hurt.” We talked a while and she said she would come see me the next day.

Before she visited the next day, she received a call from the nuns who ran the school she'd attended as a child. She's kept in touch with them through the years, so it wasn't unusual for them to share information. This time they wondered if she knew anyone who needed an electric wheelchair. They were cleaning and found one and needed to get rid of it. Just to be sure it worked, one of the 90-something year old nuns drove it around the parking lot to test it out!

So that day I got a call from her. “Gilbert, guess what? The nuns found a wheelchair in the basement. Could you use it? It runs well, just needs a charger.” (She then ordered a charger and had it sent to our home.) No one had said anything about the need for a wheelchair, yet within days of realizing I would need it, the chair was at my house being tested by my children and grandchildren in the house and driveway. God provided the wheelchair, not me.

Meanwhile, we had also begun looking for a ramp. After seeing how the Lord provided the wheelchair, Scott said, “I can't wait to see how the Lord takes care of this one!”

Ironically, Scott not only got to see, but he actually got to be the means the Lord used to take care of it. Here's how the events unfolded in his own words:

“I saw the listing for a ramp for $300 late at night. I'd been praying with my wife that day, saying, 'Lord we need a ramp, preferably for less than $2000.' Almost nothing I was finding online was listed for less than $1000, and they were going quickly. When I saw that $300 ramp, I told Gilbert, and he said, 'Buy it!' I contacted the seller immediately, but he'd already made a deal with someone who was going to come pick it up on Sunday. I told him I would come on Saturday with $500! That's when he told me that the man he was selling it to needed it for his disabled daughter. When I heard that, I backed down, telling the man, 'Well, your disabled child trumps my old geezer with two broken legs.' I apologized for being crass and offering more money in an effort to move up in the line of those wanting the ramp. A couple days later, I was looking again at the website and saw that the ramp hadn't been marked off. I reached out again, certain that it had been sold because I knew what a good deal it was. No deal that good could fall through, because everyone knows what a good deal it is! The seller called me back right away. The previous buyer had fallen through on three different pick-up times, so the seller said I could have it if the man didn't come by 11 the next morning. I agreed, hung up the phone, and was shocked to receive a call back from him 20 minutes later. He said he had changed his mind, he wanted me to have it, seeing that I was such a decent guy and all that. I went up the next day with cash and picked up the ramp—for the original price of $300. The next cheapest ramp I had found by then was $750, two hours away, and I would have had to take it apart myself. This $300 ramp was a great deal, unheard of really. For it to have fallen through three times was absurd. Nine or ten other people had also shown interest. On top of that, the seller had it disassembled and ready to load when I arrived to pick it up. We were blessed to receive it.”

And as a further blessing to our family, Scott came to the house that same day to begin installing the ramp, despite the fact that it was over 90 degrees outside and unbearably humid. Over the next couple of days he finished assembling the purchased ramp, followed my designs and built an additional wooden ramp to extend across the top of the porch to the doorway, and made it possible for me to come home for the first time for the occupational therapist's home evaluation. I was disappointed to have to go back to rehab that night, but in order for the occupational therapist to get paid, I had to go back to spend one more night. As much as I wanted to stay at home, I also knew I needed to take care of her when she had chosen to complete this evaluation on her day off. She is also the same person who made the comment that “God knew someday you were going to need wider doors and an open layout,” which triggered my daughter Lizi's most recent blog post, and hence this post. All of this enabled me to come home for good the following day. In a matter of six days we went from needing a ramp to me being able to come home.






Beyond the wheelchair and ramp, several people have sent Scripture verses and gifts to our family. Meals, money and prayers have blessed us and reminded us that God is with us in this journey.

One passage is Psalm 91:14 -15, which came to me from two sisters. “Because He has loved me, therefore I will rescue him. I will set him securely on high because he has known my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in distress. I will rescue him and honor him.” He has honored me with people we don't even know sending checks to supply our needs along with other provisions from those we do know, many from out of town.

One sister sent me this song that has come to mean a great deal to me:

“The Anchor Holds” (Listen Here)

1. I have journeyed
Through the long, dark night
Out on the open sea
By faith alone
Sight unknown
And yet His eyes were watching me

Chorus:
The anchor holds
Though the ship is battered
The anchor holds
Though the sails are torn
I have fallen on my knees
As I faced the raging seas
The anchor holds
In spite of the storm

2. I've had visions
I've had dreams
I've even held them in my hand
But I never knew
They would slip right through
Like they were only grains of sand

3. I have been young
But I am older now
And there has been beauty
That these eyes have seen
But it was in the night
Through the storms of my life
Oh, that's where God proved
His love to me

http://www.lawrencechewning.com/custom.html

As I listened to Lawrence's story of how this song came to be, I realized that his story is the same as all those whom the Lord receives. Hebrews 12:6 says, “For whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” Like most believers, he had no idea why the Lord would take him and his wife through their ordeal. He wrote this song after a difficult time of loss which included his father's death, burnout from a pastoral ministry and his wife's third miscarriage. One night he was sitting at the piano playing a song he didn't recognize. He realized the Lord was giving him this song, “The Anchor Holds,” as His message of hope. It has been so for me as well.

Music has always been important to Denise and me, so this song joins several others in expressing our hearts. The song “Broken Together” has held deep meaning for us over the past few years. We've realized that all of us are broken individuals and that the only way to go on in any realm of life is to do so broken together. Now that song has taken on new meaning as we've experienced my physical brokenness together. Denise tells me our son Ben sang “He Will Hold Me Fast” to me one of the first weekends when I was in the hospital. Truly, God has been holding us, and we trust He will continue to do so. From the time the carabiner broke and I rode my rope to the ground until now, He has been holding us fast.

After having a few days to settle in at home, I began to be concerned about the medical bills we will eventually owe. At the time I still didn't know whether I would have coverage from Medicaid. My application was pending. We had received bills amounting to nearly $500k from the various doctors and facilities who had cared for me thus far, plus the expectation of continued therapy and doctors' appointments without any income for the foreseeable future. I was concerned that if I received Medicaid they would later take my assets as repayment for my medical bills. Denise told me to talk to a man from the financial office at the hospital because he had better news for us than that. When I spoke with him, he asked me for my net income from 2017, and after hearing it, he said right away, “Your hospital bill will be cut by 80%.” That doesn't include any of the doctors, but his guess is that we will only owe about $70k when all is said and done, maybe less.

Around the same time, we found out I'm approved to receive Medicaid. Then I learned within another day or two that the discount for the doctors' bills went from $70k to $17k, plus the $70k of hospital facility bills after the discount the financial officer told me about, which brings our total medical bills under $100k. Even if somehow I didn't have Medicaid, our secondary medical reimbursement program will be able to cover that amount. Suddenly, all the burden I'd been feeling the weight of regarding our unmanageable medical bills was lifted.

“My God will fill your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 4:19).