I like this version.  Good job!

Vicki

----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 16, 2005 2:53 PM
Subject: [ECHURCH-USA] Jennifer's New Life


> Here is the latest version of what I wrote about Jennifer's passing and
what
> the Lord said to me about it.
>
> I Tried To Die
>
>
>                          By Phil Scovell
>
>
>
>
>      I met George a year and a half ago.  He had taken his gun up
> into the hills near his home in Oklahoma one day to end his life.
> He was a born again Christian but the depression and anxiety
> attacks just were no longer bearable.  As he sat and tried to
> generate enough courage to pull the trigger, his mind tried to
> understand how he had gotten to this point.  After a few minutes,
> he told the Lord that he just refused to believe that the God of
> the universe, the Creator of all things, didn't have an answer for
> what he was suffering.  He told the Lord he would try finding the
> answer one more time and went home.
>
>      sitting in front of his computer, he typed in a search
> command.  My website came up and my phone rang soon thereafter.
>
>      George and I have been buddies now for the last 18 months.
> We have prayed together, laughed together, discussed and studied
> the Scriptures together, and even cried together.  You see, his 23
> year old daughter was soon to die.
>
>      From 3 months of age, they were told that their daughter had
> cystic fibrosis.  She did fairly well until she turned 20 years of
> age.  Then, her relationship with the Lord began to spiritually
> decline and so did her physical body.
>
>      For the last time in her young life, she was transported to
> the hospital 110 miles from her home.  Her mother and father
> stayed with her every minute of the nearly 6 months which
> followed.  They watched her life slowly ebb away, as she struggled
> for breath, while at the same time, doing everything in their
> power, including believing and speaking life in the name of Jesus,
> in order to see her healed.  She died.
>
>      A couple of days before Jennifer's death, I was praying for
> her and her family.  I remember saying to the Lord at that time,
> "Lord, I am 53 years old.  Jennifer is only 23 years old.  I'll
> gladly exchange my 53 years for her 23 years.  Let her live,
> Father, and take my life in exchange for her's."  I was not
> joking; I meant every word I said.
>
>      Then I heard His voice.  "You don't need to give your life
> for her's.  I already have."
>
>      Did this make her death any easier for me?  How about her
> parents?  Of course not.  It was truth, however, and truth sets us
> free according to John 8:32, and that is why Jennifer went to
> Heaven.  You see, Jesus does not need us to save anyone; He wants
> us to live with Him as the Lord of our life.   Our responsibility
> is to live, that is, live in Him so He can live in us and in those
> whom have called upon His name to be born again.
>
>      During the week following her death, I was thinking about my
> offer and what the Lord had said to me that He had already given
> His life for her's.  In my offer, I had requested two things if I
> were to give my life for Jennifer's.  First, the Lord would have
> to heal her and give her a long life.  Secondly, she would have to
> live for God throughout the balance of her life on earth.  Once
> again, I heard the Holy Spirit speaking.  "You have parameters and
> limitations but Jesus made no such requests when He died.  He gave
> his life willingly, while at the same time, knowing that many
> would come to Him to be born again but then would live their own
> life their own way."
>
>      I was greatly humbled by what I heard in my spirit.  It was
> true.  Jesus did give Himself for us and made no deals.  He knew
> some would receive Him as Savior for the forgiveness of their sins
> but not claim Him as the Lord of their life.  Yet he died and was
> bodily resurrected, regardless and irrespective of what we would
> do with His Lordship.
>
>      So in honor of a young woman's life, I ask you, are you
> saved?  Are you born again?  Are your sins forgiven?  Are you
> going to meat my young friend, Jennifer, who is walking with the
> Lord in Heaven now?  Have you submitted yourself to the Lord Jesus
> Christ, confessing you are a sinner and cannot save yourself, and
> asking Him to be your Savior?  If so, Has He become the Lord of
> your life and of every situation you face?  Do you even know how
> to allow Him to be the Lord of your life?  If not, call me and
> let's talk.
>
> Phil C Sharp
> The Coil Of The snake
> A Free Online E-Novel
> www.SafePlaceFellowship.com
>