The Hand Print Of God


By Phil Scovell






     He called and asked if I had any time to pray.  My
appointment had canceled for that evening so I said yes.  We set a
time and he came to my office.  We had prayed together before so
it wasn't new to him.

     As we talked, he explained how he had been very discouraged
due to recent surgery on his broken foot.  Financially, he seemed
to be having a hard time but his business was going well and
improving week by week.  In short, there was just a lot of
discouragement going on in his life.

     The first thing we started with was guilt.  As difficult as
this may seem for those who don't care that much for pets of any
kind, this man had recently watched his African Gray parrot die as
he held her.  She had been swinging upside down from the top of
her cage and suddenly fell.  Instead of landing on her feet, she
landed on her back at the bottom of the tall cage.  She apparently
broke her back because she could no longer move her lower body and
legs.  He and his wife had carried the bird to his mother's home
and she made several phone calls trying to find an animal clinic
that worked with birds.  It was well after midnight so she made
little progress.  Phone call after phone call passed.  Finally one
was found but it was some distance away.  As they were driving to
the animal clinic, his bird died in his hands.

     As I said, we started with guilt, as we prayed, because
somehow, and for some reason, he felt guilt associated with the
death of his pet.  His emotions were locked down tight.  It must
have been, as we prayed together, at least 30 minutes before he
felt anything or said anything.

     He suddenly said, "I'm see myself sitting up in my crib."  We
prayed around that and several minutes passed.  Nothing happened.
Eventually he said, "I see Jesus standing at my crib with his hand
on the crib."  We prayed more about this but nothing occurred.

     I finally prayed and ask the Lord if this memory was
connected with another memory.  The man almost immediately began
crying and  said, "Jesus is helping me carry and bury my bird."
He had told me that he and his wife had returned home, after the
bird had died, and he had dug a hole in their backyard and buried
her there.  I felt tears stinging the corners of my own eyes
because I, to, own an African Gray Parrot and I had become very
attached to him.  they become very unusual pets because of their
long life of 50 to 80 years and their intelligence which is about
that of a four year old when they are fully grown.  some African
Gray Parrots have nearly reached a vocabulary of a thousand words.

     Although the Lord took this man to other areas and healed
them, I am focusing on this area simply because it is unusual.  We
often forget how attached some people become to their pets.  They
fill a void that is often there and unknown until the pet is
gone.

     Although this man cried when the Lord began healing him of
the sorrow and grief he felt, I don't want you to get the idea the
man was soft or weak.  He owned his own business at his current 24
years of age.  He had his third degree black belt in Karate and
had also been a marshal arts instructor.  He had competed in
dozens of Karate tournaments and achieve multiple trophies.  He
loved riding his motorcycle and he and his wife were raising two
adopted children at the time this happened.  He was nearly 6 feet
tall and weighed about 250 pounds.  He still cried when God
touched his heart.

     After the prayer session, he told me something you might find
unusual.  He said, after Jesus helped him carry his little pet
out to be buried in the backyard, Jesus placed his hand over the
little grave.  It left the imprint of his hand in the dirt.  After
our prayer session, he went to the little bird's grave and
although no fingerprints  could be seen, there was a definite
imprint of a man's palm over the small grave.

     I understood this man's feelings, as I said, but not just
because I, too, owned an African Gray Parrot.  I understood his
feelings of loss and grief and confusion because he is my youngest
son.

     It is time we discover Jesus is truly the only one who cares.
If you cannot feel this because of grief and sorrow you are
facing, call me.  Let Jesus show you how He cares more for all the
birds on the planet than anyone but He cares even more for you
when you are sad.

Has He Ever Crossed Your Mind?
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