Amen Sharon!  Galatians 3:26-29!  Kathy


At 11:45 PM 4/18/2005, you wrote:
>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
> >
> >