Phil, thanks for the update on Gretchan. I will continue to pray for her,
and for you and Sandy.

Love,
Pat Ferguson


At 04:11 PM 10/15/2005, you wrote:
>      This week, Gretchen made an appointment to pray with me.  the
>first time is often difficult because few Christians in the Body of
>Christ have ever truly heard the voice of the Lord.  Oh, they hear
>voices all right but they are often condescending, accusatory,
>demeaning, belittling, and couched in inflammatory terminology which
>creates doubt, fear, guilt, shame, or circular reasoning that always
>leads no where.
>
>      After a few minutes, we isolated an emotion which allowed us to
>focus our prayers.  It was the emotion of shame.  As we prayed
>together about this shame, two memories suddenly came to mind.  One
>was when she was at the Christian school, wearing a pink dress, and in
>kindergarten.  The second memory was when she was 15 and had run away
>from home.  She was working at a Burger King, where we eventually
>found her three months later, and she was pregnant with her first
>child.  That's little Everett who is our oldest grandson.  He's almost
>10 years old now.
>
>      I started with the kindergarten memory.  The shame was there as a
>result of a simple art project the class was working on.  Gretchen
>said she apparently was doing something wrong because a little boy
>next to her tried innocently to show her what was wrong.  suddenly,
>and without warning, she felt exposed, embarrassed, and ashamed.  I
>focused our prayer on the shame and these other feelings.  She said,
>"I'm not as good as the rest of the class."  I recognized this as a
>lie from the Enemy, of course, right away but she did not; to her it
>felt genuine.
>
>      As the Lord began to speak to her about different areas, she
>said, "I feel like I am making all of this up."  This, too, is common
>because, even as Born Again Believers, we really aren't used to
>hearing the voice of the Lord speaking truth to us as much as we are
>the Enemy's.
>
>      As 45 minutes passed, the Lord began to speak His truth which in
>turn brought healing into the memory.  Yes, there was a lying spirit
>who had implanted the lies about herself into her little 5 year old
>mind.  No, he didn't speak; he didn't need to.  The lies she believed
>were evident.  Do you think the Enemy plays fair?  Of course not.  He
>often preys on children who are unable to detect they are under
>demonic influence.  The Lord did, on the other hand, show Gretchen
>where he was, that is, the lying spirit in the memory, before he was
>sent away, so she would understand she had not made these feelings up
>on her own.
>
>      When the first memory was healed, we went to the second one.  It
>was already healed and the shame in that second memory was already
>gone.  This, too, is quite common when a lie is thematic, or
>repetitive, in nature.  Sometimes a thematic lie is embedded hundreds
>of times over their life time.
>
>      Gretchen felt, at first, that she could not be healed.  Why?  she
>had too many things in her life for the Holy Spirit to address.  You
>can see the lie in that reasoning.  Regardless, if she continues
>meeting with the Lord in prayer, He will continue his healing process
>in her life.
>
>      Finally, after everything seemed renewed in her memory, she said
>the Lord walked up to a seat and sat down next to her.  He had an art
>project, too, which she saw Him working on.  He looked over and said
>to her, "I am going to fix your art project so it is right.  If I can
>fix your art project for you, I can fix the rest of your life as
>well."
>
>      Thanks for praying for Gretchen.
>
>Phil.
>
>Victory isn't something you have, it is something you are.
>www.SafePlaceFellowship.com