Dear Phil,
I do like that very much.
I also believe in what you said here.
Thanks much.
Blessings,
Pat Ferguson
At 05:35 PM 5/17/2009, you wrote:
>Unconnected Linked Memories
>
>
>By Phil Scovell
>
>
>
>I have at least three enfant memories of which only one was
>confirmed by my mother. I won't recollect all three memories except
>for the one related to the topic of linked memories which are
>seemingly unconnected.
>
>I was literally an enfant when this first of three memories
>occurred. I told my mother about it many years ago, before she
>passed away, but she had no memory of it herself so she couldn't
>confirm the reality of the memory I had.
>
>The memory was when I must have been about two or three months of
>age. It is a snapshot type picture, that is, a single frame with no
>other things involved except myself, the room, and the crib I was
>in. I was in the basement of a church. No, I have no idea how I
>know this but when I see the memory in my thoughts even yet today, I
>know I am in the basement of a church. There is some sunlight still
>coming through the windows but it is nearly sundown because I
>remember the light was turning to dusk. I also somehow knew it was
>in a church, a small country church, or a church in a small town,
>where my father was preaching. He often drove 50 to 60 miles on
>Sunday mornings, or evenings, to country churches without pastors
>and preached, at sometimes, every Sunday for several months until
>the church was able to afford a full time pastor. On Sunday
>evenings, sometimes morning services, too, the family went with
>him. In this case, as I said, I could tell by the light slanting
>through the basement windows, evening was fast approaching. It was
>also warm so I new it was summer type weather outside. I wasn't
>hot, or uncomfortable, but it felt just right to me. I was lying on
>my back. A baby bottle was lying on top of me but the nipple had
>slipped out of my mouth. I was alone but I was aware someone wasn't
>far away, my mother perhaps, or some lady in the church watching me
>while mom played the piano for the service upstairs or while she
>sang a duet with my father.
>No, neither one of them could sing very well and mom had a high
>squeaky voice but I learned a long time ago, it didn't make any
>difference in smaller churches such as we attended when dad was
>preaching. Normally nobody could play the piano or sing very well
>in the church anyhow. Dad could play the harmonica very well,
>however, and as kids, we used to always beg him into playing at home
>because, Corky, my fox terrier dog, hated the sound of that
>instrument. He would howl, bark, and carry on something terrible
>when dad began to play. The piano never bothered Corky but boy did
>he hate the harmonica. So, back to my memory.
>
>As I said, I was the only person in the memory event. The most
>memorable part of the actual memory picture, however, was the safety
>I felt. No fear, no worry, and absolutely nothing frightened me
>about being alone. I just felt perfectly content.
>There is no more, nor less, to this memory. That was it; plain and
>simple. So, what does such a memory have to do with anything?
>
>First, let me tell you that I heard, on Focus on the Family, many
>years ago, Doctor Dobson, and two guest child psychologists, on the
>radio. They had written a book and recorded some tapes about this
>very issue of tiny children, even babies, having memories. My mom
>actually heard the program and ordered the tapes for me because she
>knew of my enfant memories.
>Doctor Dobson actually confessed that he, too, had a few of
>incredibly early enfant memories so I guess I'm not so crazy after
>all. The child psychologists affirmed that children with very early
>memories of this nature are generally highly creative people.
>
> In English class during my senior year of high school, we
> had been given a reading assignment. I had met with my teacher at
> least once because I had given her one of my short stories and she
> wanted to talk to me about it. She was one, of two, high school
> English teachers that strongly suggested, as a 17 year old high
> school student, to consider becoming a professional writer. I
> thought they both were joking at the time.
>
> In this lady's English class, after we had conducted the
> reading literature assignment, which had some poetry we were
> required to read, she was asking student's opinion about the
> poetry. I generally am not a fan of most poetry, especially the
> classical type, but one of the poems caught my interest. I still
> have it on my computer to this day.
>Believe it or not, it was written by the husband, Percy Shelley,
>whose wife wrote Frankenstein, Mary Shelly, in the early 1800's. If
>you wish to read "The Cloud, click on the link at the bottom of this
>article. By the way, the only classic I read in high school that I
>truly liked was Frankenstein and not because it was scary, like I
>figured from seeing the movie, but because of the immensity of
>Christian truism the story carried. I only read it once, it was too
>boring to read more than once, but I remember it well.
>
> During the class discussion, of which I rarely
> participated, when the topic of the poem by
>Shelley called The Cloud came up, most students who replied, said
>they didn't like the poem at all. I raised my hand, to the
>teacher's amazement, and when she acknowledged me, I told her the
>poem was one of the best I had ever read and that I rarely cared for
>old poetry of any type back then. She then asked me why, along with
>some other related questions, and then she paused and said, "You
>know something, Phil. Knowing you as I do, I'm not at all surprised
>you like The Cloud by Shelley because you are an abstract
>thinker." I knew it was a compliment but it was years later before
>I understood what she meant.
>
>My so-called abstract thinking, as it were, according to my long ago
>English teacher, turns out to be a spiritual asset once the Lord
>called me to be an intercessor years ago in 1985 when I was about 33
>years young. It has been in recent years, about the time I turned
>50 years of age, before I had a spiritual understanding of the
>abstract thinking concept. In prayer sessions, I find myself
>thinking in ways that assists the person in thinking about
>possibilities on unraveling confusing and confounding memories,
>concepts, dreams, and personal experiences. No, it isn't a skill, a
>learned technique, or spiritual, or mystical, methodology I obtained
>by being smart. That's something I ain't, smart, that is. I'm just
>a common old western boy, more farmish than city sophisticated, who
>wears a cowboy hat and cowboy boots, no horse yet, and lives a
>basically simple life. I'm not rich, highly educated, I only have a
>3-year Bible seminary degree in theology, so I can't even qualify as
>a Bible scholar, theologian, a Scriptural expert, or certainly I am
>no Bible answer man. If labeled anything, I'm just a layman who
>thinks Jesus is the only thing worth talking about overall. So, now
>let me return to the topic of unconnected memories which are linked
>to show you how Jesus can heal things we cannot even comprehend.
>
>The second memory is older, that is, I was a young man in my
>earliest of twenties. It isn't important to describe the second
>memory in detail but it is related to confusion, rejection, and even
>anger and resentment. It occurred, as is so often the case, just by
>an experience was forced old wounds to the surface which I didn't
>even know at the time I had. Now, in my late fifties, and after
>literally decades of perpetual recollections of the second memory, a
>connection between the two, totally unrelated memories was made by
>the Holy Spirit. It isn't as complicated as you might think. In
>fact, it is so simple; you'll wonder why I didn't psychologically
>make the connection of the two memories myself.
>I didn't, because I couldn't, and only the Holy Spirit could by
>making the connection between two wounded areas of my life.
>Besides, it was spiritual in nature, and not psychological, in the
>first place. The first memory I described, had no pain or
>woundedness associated with it at all. In fact, it is a good and
>pleasant and comforting memory, and whenever it surfaces, even to
>this day, I have a pleasant, fuzzy, warm and secure feeling
>associated with the enfant memory. So how could two totally
>different memories, one good and one spiritually injurious, be
>linked, or associated, when it comes to being healed? Good question
>and here is the answer.
>
>During the literally years the second, unpleasant, and painful,
>memory surfaced in my thoughts and emotions, I continually, and this
>is an automatic thing, that is, I don't have to practice it, it just
>happens because of what I know prayer to be, focused on the memory
>event and spiritually examined all the emotional painful elements of
>the memory as I tried hearing God's voice related to the pain. As
>already mentioned, I felt some emotional pain, rejection,
>resentment, anger, loneliness, that's one I hadn't mentioned yet,
>and just plain frustration. I attributed the whole thing to my
>youthfulness, I think I was just 19 at the time, in fact, I know I
>was just 19 at the time now that I think about it, and figured it
>meant nothing. Nothing, that is, until I was in my fifties.
>Then it really started appearing frequently in my thoughts and
>emotions and the more it did, the more spiritually frustrated I
>became. Why? Because, the truth of the memory was not
>forthcoming. I often gave up trying to figure it out and just
>turned it over to the Lord to some day show me. Fortunately, he finally did.
>
>As I have said for many years, painful memories, and wounded
>experiences from confusion and personal uncertainty are used by the
>Enemy to keep us spiritually unbalanced in many various
>ways. Additionally, some areas of woundedness will not, and cannot,
>be healed until other areas are first spiritually repaired by the
>Holy Spirit. This is not to make you a better person, that is, the
>more inner healing we experience is designed to make us a better
>person or even a better Christian; it is designed to make us more
>identified with Christ. This is, quite simply, Lordship
>salvation. People will, and do, confuse it with being a better,
>more spiritual, and Godly, Christian. It is no such thing and the
>one who thinks so, is trapped by pride, legalism, and perpetual
>works salvation in order to maintain a stable, so thought, Christian
>relationship with God through Christ. Nothing could be further from
>the truth of God's Word. Plus, such Christian, so called, behavior
>never works in the long run, regardless how hard we try.
>
>In recent weeks, as I consider the second memory that continually
>was surfacing in my mind and emotions, I simply could not see the
>problem. Oh, sure. Lots of things were wrong in the memory but it
>had nothing to do with the present.
>
> When I was praying recently, the enfant memory of the baby
> being in the basement alone, immediately popped to the surface of
> my mind. This confused me even more because, no matter how I
> viewed the memories which I associated in later adult life, I
> simply could not find a comparison to this first memory except it
> related directly to the enfant in the basement. In one, I felt
> safe and secure and content. In the other, I was frustrated,
> rejected, and totally confused about my Christian identity. So
> where was the comparison? Upon asking the Lord that very question,
> the Holy Spirit finally showed me. The only connection between the
> two memories was based upon the first memory and the feelings I had
> of safety, security, and contentment. Jesus then showed me that He
> was in both memories and how I felt was how He wanted me to feel in
> the second. The Enemy, on the other hand, clouded the second
> memory with doubt and fear and confusion and thus the presence of
> the Lord wasn't detected. Now, through prayer, the connection was
> made and I could feel Jesus in both places. Thus, two totally
> unrelated memories were, in fact, linked and the second could not
> be healed without the revelation of the Holy Spirit imparting the
> truth found in the first memory.
>What was that truth again? It was Jesus being in both places at the
>same time. That's right; twenty years apart. He was there. By the
>way, this immediately healed dozens of other similar memories along
>the same lines over decades of time. Why, because the Lord
>continually, although I examined many other similar memories, always
>took me back to this one place when I was just 19 years of
>age. Once again, I saw how certain wounded areas of our life can
>only be healed when we allow Jesus to heal only in His way and in His time.
>
>Isn't this a difficult way to live? On the contrary; it is the
>easiest Christian life one could possibly ever experience. No, of
>course, it doesn't mean life becomes easier, less stressful, and
>minus heart ache, worries, and concerns. It means that Jesus
>becomes more and more the Lord of your life; your entire life.
>One thing many people with whom I pray tell me, "I didn't realize
>Jesus was clear back there in my childhood." Most confess at this
>point, "How could that be? I wasn't even a Christian until I was 25
>or 30 years old." Regardless of what you believe, I personally,
>along with many others with whom I've prayed, have seen, and
>experienced, Jesus clear back to our birth; some, as in my case,
>still in the womb. Yes, I know it sounds weird but I don't care
>what you believe; I know Jesus for whom He is in my life and He was
>at my birth and showed me why. Read, "I Born happy," on my website
>and you'll understand the particulars of that birthing experience.
>
>I can confirm three amazingly distinct experiences in my life the
>form the beliefs I have to this very day. My salvation, of course,
>when I was just five years of age, the experiences in, "I Flew Kites
>With Jesus," on my website, and the one I just mentioned; "I Born
>Happy," which is also on my website as previously mentioned. You
>are welcome to believe, or disbelieve, whatever you like but I know
>Jesus personally in a way I never dreamed was possible. I again
>stress, this is automatic, that is, in my spirit where the Holy
>Spirit dwells, and I never have to work at being a better, more
>successful, Godly Christian. Jesus has done all of that for me
>already. All I am required to do is walk with Him in
>holiness. Wait just a minute. Don't I still sin? Of course, but
>First John 1:9 still works just as quickly and easily and smoothly
>today s it did when John wrote it, or did you overlook that eternal
>promise in God's Word. The general problem is, however, we haven't
>been healed enough to believe the truth and Jesus said it was the
>truth that would set us free. He wasn't just talking about
>salvation because He confirmed to His disciples that He was sending
>the Holy Spirit to assist us in our every day life.
>
>Now, when are you going to allow Jesus to heal you? Are you
>striving to become perfect? Is you goal to be Spirit filled, maybe
>speak with other tongues, achieve a spiritual status in the church
>as a Godly man or woman, and maybe even witness, or perform, a
>miracle or two before you die or before the Lord returns? Good
>luck. In the mean time, I'm living my Christian life as each day
>unfolds and letting Jesus be the Lord of all my life. It is a lot
>less work that way. If you prefer performance based Christianity,
>then God bless you. I'm just not that good of a Christian mimic.
>
>www.safeplacefellowship.com/articles/THE-CLOUD.HTM
>
>You Are Afraid Of Demons Because Of The Lies You Believe;
>They Are Afraid Of You Because Of The Truth You Believe.
>www.SafePlaceFellowship.com
|