That is so awesome.  Thanks for sharing all of it with us.

Vicki



----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 7:26 PM
Subject: Testimony


> Jesus Gave Me an Orange Matchbox Car
>
> By Trent Scovell
>
>      I was seated at the computer desk starting to do the monthly
> bills, as I do each pay day. Before I started writing checks, I
> logged on to our bank account to check on a couple of things.
> After logging on, I noticed a couple of items in the register that
> I was disappointed to find. Quickly the challenges my wife and I
> face with our finances began swarming around my head, and I felt a
> sense of helplessness come over me. The usual thoughts about
> making ends meet each month ran through my head: what can we cut
> out here, and how can we not cut it so close every month. I called
> my wife on her cell phone as she drove to work to talk to her
> about it. As the discussion ended, I hung up the phone feeling the
> weight of utter helplessness and powerlessness settle over me.
>
>      After a couple of hours of letting myself get beat up through
> the depression brought on by these feelings, I decided to spend
> some time praying. I sat in the rocking chair in our living room,
> and I began by asking the Lord to expand any feelings of hurt or
> pain that I was feeling while I was pondering our finances. At
> first I wasn't getting anything, so I decided to call to attention
> any unclean spirits that may be hindering the process and turn
> them over to the Lord. After I spoke these words, I immediately
> began to hear from the Lord. As I focused on thinking about the
> finances, I heard and felt the words helpless and powerless echo
> in my mind, and I began to identify that those were the feelings
> associated with what I was thinking about our finances. I
> immediately began to ask the Lord where these feelings came from.
> After a couple of minutes, the Lord took me back to a memory about
> a house we lived in when I was very young. Specifically, He took
> me to the day we moved out of that house.
>
>      During the time we lived there, I occasionally played with a
> boy that lived in a town home behind us. He was maybe 13 or 14 at
> the time. One day, for some reason, we buried several Matchbox
> cars in the dirt behind his building. I don't know how long they
> had been buried there, but for some reason on the day we were
> moving, I remembered I had left them buried behind his house. I
> remember insisting to my dad and mom that I had to go look for
> them. We were just about to leave the house for good that day, so
> I had this heightened sense of urgency in finding them. I went in
> the backyard and hopped the fence. I found the spot where the cars
> were buried, but I didn't have anything to dig up the dirt, except
> my little fingers. After digging at the hard dirt for a few
> minutes, I became upset. I had only found two of the cars, and I
> knew that there were several more buried in the general area. I
> went from upset to distraught. I remember sitting on my knees
> crying, my finger nails full of dirt from digging.
>
>      As I was recalling all of this in my mind, I began to ask the
> Lord what He wanted me to see, or hear, or feel in this memory. He
> then showed me a very distinct thought that I had while I was
> sitting there crying. As I was sitting there crying, I thought
> about going to get my mom and dad to enlist their help in my
> search, but my next thought was that it would not be worth asking
> them for help, because I believed they could not help me because
> of their blindness. The thought was recognizable to me in a
> behavioral sort of way, rather than as an independent thought. I
> honestly cant say that I have recognized this thought for what it
> was since that day, because it literally became a part of my
> behavior. It was not merely a thought after that day, but a part
> of me. As soon as I relived that thought, the Lord began sweeping
> me over other memories throughout my life that contained the same
> thought, healing me a long the way. I then began to ask Him what
> else He wanted me to see. I knew we weren't done yet, but I
> suddenly felt some sort of blockage, like I was having trouble
> focusing on what I had already seen, and finding what was next.
> Then I noticed a sort of background noise in my mind. I remembered
> experiencing this noise the first time I prayed with my dad, and I
> remembered what he did about it. So, I called the strongman and
> all of those under his authority to the attention of the true Lord
> Jesus Christ, and I told him to stand in silence. The noise
> stopped immediately. Then I felt the Lord prompting me to ask the
> strong man who he was, and why he thought he had a right to be in
> the memory. I asked him twice. The second time I told him I would
> turn him and all those under his authority over to the true Lord
> Jesus Christ if he didn't respond. Well, he didn't, so I did. I
> immediately felt that he and the handful of others with him were
> gone. Then I felt the Lord prompting me to ask Him why the
> strongman would not identify himself. So, I did. The Lord told me
> the strongman could not speak because he himself was literally
> helplessness and powerlessness. For several moments I pondered
> that revelation while enjoying the sense of relief in hearing from
> the Lord. Then I again realized there was something else the Lord
> wanted to do. So I asked Him what else there was. I told Him
> things still did not feel right. Then I realized that in addition
> to the thought about my dad and mom, I also had been told by
> helplessness and powerlessness that the Lord did not want me to
> have the cars because He didn't care about such an insignificant
> matter. I then remembered there was one car in particular that I
> really wanted, but never found. It was a bright orange Matchbox
> car. Then I asked the Lord what He wanted me to know about that
> thought. As I finished that sentence in my mind, I began to see
> the Lord Jesus Christ squatting down in front of me, as I sat on
> my knees on the sidewalk. He was glowing, and His left hand was
> outstretched to me with his fingers half bent, sticking up into
> the air; the back of His hand facing the ground. In His fingertips
> sat a bright, orange Matchbox car. He had a smile on His face, as
> if He was so pleased to be able to give me that car. I began to
> cry, but I couldn't help but chuckle either because that memory
> became full of joy. The feeling that the Lord didn't want me to
> have that car was gone. As I half cried and half rejoiced at the
> site of the Lord handing me that car, I realized the Lord was
> showing me that the car represented many gifts He has given me in
> my life. The gifts are from Him, so they are His, and He is
> pleased to give them to me.
>
>      Soon after this prayer time with the Lord, I went to my
> computer and began typing an email to my dad detailing what had
> happened. By the time I finished, I decided I would rather call
> him on the phone to tell him. After we spoke, the Lord reminded me
> of something my sister had written to me in a recent letter. She
> had encouraged me to read Psalm 37, commenting on the
> wonderfulness of the passage. Thinking the Lord brought this to my
> mind for a reason, I grabbed the Bible and flipped to Psalm 37. As
> I began reading, I thought, Lord, I've read this passage numerous
> times; I cant think of anything here that's relevant to what you
> just revealed to me. Just then, I hit verse four: Delight yourself
> also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
> A smile grew on my face. I've heard that verse probably hundreds
> of times, but I had not remembered it was in Psalm 37. Now I
> remember, and now I know that sometimes the desires of your heart
> may be as simple as a bright, orange Matchbox car that in the hand
> of Jesus Christ represents nothing short of every gift that He has
> for you.
>
> Trenton A. Scovell
> 12/1/2004
>
> I Flew Kites With Jesus
> www.SafePlaceFellowship.com