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