Phil, thanks for the update on Gretchan. I will continue to pray for her,
and for you and Sandy.
Love,
Pat Ferguson
At 04:11 PM 10/15/2005, you wrote:
> This week, Gretchen made an appointment to pray with me. the
>first time is often difficult because few Christians in the Body of
>Christ have ever truly heard the voice of the Lord. Oh, they hear
>voices all right but they are often condescending, accusatory,
>demeaning, belittling, and couched in inflammatory terminology which
>creates doubt, fear, guilt, shame, or circular reasoning that always
>leads no where.
>
> After a few minutes, we isolated an emotion which allowed us to
>focus our prayers. It was the emotion of shame. As we prayed
>together about this shame, two memories suddenly came to mind. One
>was when she was at the Christian school, wearing a pink dress, and in
>kindergarten. The second memory was when she was 15 and had run away
>from home. She was working at a Burger King, where we eventually
>found her three months later, and she was pregnant with her first
>child. That's little Everett who is our oldest grandson. He's almost
>10 years old now.
>
> I started with the kindergarten memory. The shame was there as a
>result of a simple art project the class was working on. Gretchen
>said she apparently was doing something wrong because a little boy
>next to her tried innocently to show her what was wrong. suddenly,
>and without warning, she felt exposed, embarrassed, and ashamed. I
>focused our prayer on the shame and these other feelings. She said,
>"I'm not as good as the rest of the class." I recognized this as a
>lie from the Enemy, of course, right away but she did not; to her it
>felt genuine.
>
> As the Lord began to speak to her about different areas, she
>said, "I feel like I am making all of this up." This, too, is common
>because, even as Born Again Believers, we really aren't used to
>hearing the voice of the Lord speaking truth to us as much as we are
>the Enemy's.
>
> As 45 minutes passed, the Lord began to speak His truth which in
>turn brought healing into the memory. Yes, there was a lying spirit
>who had implanted the lies about herself into her little 5 year old
>mind. No, he didn't speak; he didn't need to. The lies she believed
>were evident. Do you think the Enemy plays fair? Of course not. He
>often preys on children who are unable to detect they are under
>demonic influence. The Lord did, on the other hand, show Gretchen
>where he was, that is, the lying spirit in the memory, before he was
>sent away, so she would understand she had not made these feelings up
>on her own.
>
> When the first memory was healed, we went to the second one. It
>was already healed and the shame in that second memory was already
>gone. This, too, is quite common when a lie is thematic, or
>repetitive, in nature. Sometimes a thematic lie is embedded hundreds
>of times over their life time.
>
> Gretchen felt, at first, that she could not be healed. Why? she
>had too many things in her life for the Holy Spirit to address. You
>can see the lie in that reasoning. Regardless, if she continues
>meeting with the Lord in prayer, He will continue his healing process
>in her life.
>
> Finally, after everything seemed renewed in her memory, she said
>the Lord walked up to a seat and sat down next to her. He had an art
>project, too, which she saw Him working on. He looked over and said
>to her, "I am going to fix your art project so it is right. If I can
>fix your art project for you, I can fix the rest of your life as
>well."
>
> Thanks for praying for Gretchen.
>
>Phil.
>
>Victory isn't something you have, it is something you are.
>www.SafePlaceFellowship.com
|