Phil,

I really like that. Thanks for sharing that with us.

Love,
Pat Ferguson


At 08:26 PM 12/2/04, you wrote:
>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