Phil!

Something happened after I read this testimony!  At first I didn't like the
fact that you
aren't like your cousins or other people anymore; I, for myself, would want
to be like the rest of my peers, hanging out with them.  So I asked the Lord
if I
was missing something.  Then it came to me:  All Christians are like Him!
That puts us on equal footing, whether we are sighted, blind, hearing, deaf,
able-bodied, paralyzed, mentally handicapped, emotionally ill, or
brain-damaged.  Praise
the Lord!

Sharon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2005 9:45 PM
Subject: Testimony


> Healed In Thirty Seconds Or Less
>
>
> By Phil Scovell
>
>
>
>
>      One would not think a blind person, after more than 40 years
> of total blindness, would not have anything they had not adjusted
> to after all the training and teaching by schools for the blind
> and rehabilitation centers.  In fact, such programs do their best
> to program a person not to feel blind, not to act blind, and
> certainly not to think blind.  It is silly, of course, because you
> end up doing something nearly every day which reminds you of your
> blindness.  You stub your toe, bump your head, trip over your
> children's, or grandchildren's, tricycle, bicycle, scateboard,
> motorcycle, or step on a sleeping cat or dog in the living room.
> You can drop a screw and hunt for it for an hour, only to discover
> you are sitting on it.  You misplace your hat, put on one each of
> two different shoes or boots or socks, or be rubbing your false
> eye in church and it accidentally pops out.  You can climb into
> the backseat of your car, which you personally paid for, that your
> 16 year old son is now driving and suddenly feel depressed without
> understanding why.  You can be attempting to cross the street with
> a cane or a guide dog and feel the bus swish by just as you step
> into the street when the light has turned green for you and red
> for it.  You can get up early, shower and shave, get dressed in
> your Sunday-go-to-meetin clothes and sit for two hours, waiting
> for a promised ride for church which never arrives.  Every blind
> person I know could write a book on such events which can easily
> remind us that we are blind.  Some agencies and organizations
> attempt to try and make you forget that you are blind or even to
> suggest your blindness is just a physical inconvenience for which
> there are always methods that can be successfully used to
> circumvent the nuisance of being blind.  The real truth is, you
> never forget because you are always constantly reminded many times
> a day.
>
> Our home based church Sunday meeting was over and everyone left to
> go find some lunch.  I walked into our bedroom and began to change
> clothes.  As I was hanging up my pants and shirt, an old familiar
> memory flashed into my mind.  This memory was related to my
> blindness because it happened shortly after I had lost my sight at
> 11 years of age.  I thought nothing of this memory as I stood
> placing the hangers on the rod because I had seen the memory
> hundreds and hundreds of times throughout my life.  It never
> bothered me because I had become acclimated, as I had been taught,
> just to let it go and not to focus on it.  So each time this
> memory flashed on to my mental screen, as it were, I quickly
> dismissed it as unimportant.
>
>      Turning, I closed the closet door and walked to the other
> side of the bedroom where my other clothes lay and began putting
> them on.  The memory was still in my mind but fading fast because
> I attributed no importance to it.
>
>      Suddenly I stopped.  I intensified the memory until it was a
> solid picture in my mind.  I knew, since this memory was
> repetitive and it wasn't a particular happy memory by any stretch
> of the imagination, there had to be something in this memory the
> Lord wanted to heal for me.
>
>      Putting on my clothes, I left the bedroom and walked directly
> to my office on the other side of our home.
>
>      Seated behind my desk, I focused on the memory once again.  I
> began to pray.  I pray a little different than one might think in
> these particular situations.  I never say a word; I just let my
> thoughts become God's.
>
>      Shortly after losing my sight, my mom and I went down to
> Kansas to see her family.  Nearly all of her 11 brothers and
> sisters and their families lived in Kansas.
>
>      I always enjoyed seeing all of my cousins and this time, we
> spent the night with Uncle Gerald and Aunt Burness; Aunt B we
> called her as kids.  The unusual thing about this family is that
> my aunt and uncle had 5 girls and no boys.  My younger sister,
> Ruth and I, plugged right into the middle of the age groups
> represented by this family.  This visit was different, however,
> because I was now blind.  Yet, all went well, at first, until late
> that first night.
>
>      We all dragged out blankets and pillows to sleep all together
> in the living room.  This was a common practice when we all got
> together because we all liked to talk and giggle, tell scary
> stories, and generally drive our parents crazy.
>
>      It was growing late but we were far from tired.  My mom and
> her sister were seated at the kitchen table visiting softly as
> they occasionally tossed a watchful eye over to the pillow fight
> that had erupted.
>
>      I had my head under my blanket and was being beat to death by
> 6 pajama clad girls when suddenly, a corner of a pillow struck my
> blanket directly where one of my blind eyes was.  It hurt but not
> as much as I cried.  Everybody went dead still.  They were
> probably thinking, "Oh, no.  We hurt Phil and he's blind now."
>
>      I was thinking, "I'm not really hurt but I am blind now, and
> that really hurts."
>
>      Finally, Aunt B said she was sorry and soon all was forgotten
> and we resumed our pillow fight.
>
>      None of my girl cousins, as I called them, ever knew it, but
> I really loved them all very much.  I had three sisters of my own
> so I was used to being around girls but there seemed something
> special about having so many girl cousins and I had a bunch.  We
> all played well together and we always had fun.  I really did love
> them, as I said, but this was back in the days when such things
> were never ever mentioned.
>
>      As I sat at my desk, thinking about this harmless childhood
> memory, I said, "Lord, there's nothing wrong with this memory."
>
>      "How did you feel?" I heard the Holy Spirit say quietly into
> my thoughts."
>
>      "I felt blind," I replied quickly and honestly.  You see, at
> the moment that pillow hit me in the eye, I realized, not for the
> first time, that I was now blind.  Therefore, I was different.
>
>      The Holy Spirit gently said, "Yes, and how did you really
> feel?"
>
>      I thought for perhaps two seconds and then a smile creased my
> face.  I said confidently, because I saw the lie, "I'm not like my
> cousins any more."  I knew why, of course, and so did the Holy
> Spirit, because I was blind.  That, however, was not the lie.  The
> lie was I was no longer like my cousins.
>
>      Before I could allow my thoughts to barely touch on what
> Jesus wanted me to know about this, I heard His voice, "No, you
> are not like them any longer; you are like me."
>
>      This was not a major place of woundedness or so it would
> appear on the surface.  Every lie we believe is, however, exactly
> that; major.  Why?  Because it hinders our spiritual intimate
> relationship with the Lord.  The moment Jesus said I was like Him
> now, I felt the instant relief.  The lie was gone and the memory
> no longer contained any pain.  I could now actually feel the love
> I had for my cousins which I had never recognized before.
>
>      The title of this testimony is how long my prayer, my
> exchanged thoughts for God's, lasted.  You, too, can be healed
> from emotional pain and woundedness that quickly.
>
> Phil C Sharp
> The Coil Of The snake
> A Free Online E-Novel
> www.SafePlaceFellowship.com
>
>