YOU ARE PUSHING SOME BUTTONS I DON'T THINK I LIKE. HE LAUGHS AND TELLS ME THAT HE KNOWS Articles / Testimony Letters Date: May 29, 2002 - 05:51 AM I told him my precious daughter had been raped three times through the years from 7 to 16. One by a boy in this church..... An open letter to believers and non believers alike. ... my friend ... called from our old church and said she'd had a dream. In the dream Jesus spoke to her and said, "tell Linda, Jerry Gaffney, a visiting man of God, is at church and she needs to be there I was there that night. I brought my 21 year old daughter ... and her new baby with me. The baby had just been released from the hospital the Saturday before. She was 9 days old and had to be hospitalized for a few days for a non-breathing condition. The hospital released her with not the slightest idea why this happened. All this to say we wanted baby ... prayed for. After a wonderful, somewhat very different service, where this big man who is very loud and most definitely loves the Lord, spoke. He asked those who wanted prayer to come forward. It seemed everyone pressed to the front. We kind of hung in the back of the crowd, yet at times toward the middle. Jerry was praying for people left and right and seemed to by-pass us many times. But I was determined to get prayer - not for the baby, as I took her to Pastor Holland and some mighty women of God, and they'd already prayed for her. So I knew it was a done deal. Not for myself, Lord only knows I needed it, but for my daughter ... She needed a touch from the Lord. It seemed every time we got near Jerry. he'd go to someone else. So ... determined to get prayer for her baby, and I, determined to get prayer for ... kind of chased Jerry around. Well, now it seems that everyone in the church has had prayer but us. So we're watching Jerry, this man of God, praying with a man about half- way back in the church. I told [my daughter], okay let's stand here and we'll move when we see them finish praying then, I'm not afraid, I'll push in and corner him. [My daughter's] shy but she wants her baby touched by God, so she agrees. The man now looks as if he's done, so I go boldly up to Jerry and reach for his hand. Now my plan is to say hello, I'm ... blah, blah...here - my daughter - please, pray for her. I'll take the baby. WRONG - WRONG! I took his hand to shake it. Jerry looked in my eyes, said hello, took my hand in both of his and started to pray for me. I thought, "No! This isn't how I wrote the script," So I pulled my hand out of Jerry's and said, "No, no ,you don't understand. My name is ... and this is [my daughter] my beloved child; she needs prayer." [My daughter's] thinking, "No, my baby needs prayer." Jerry takes my hand again and nods at . "Hello," ... he says, I pulled my hand away, side-stepped him and said, "No..You don't understand. I've been a member of this church. I wandered away from the Lord", stammer, stammer, stammer... Jerry takes my hand again and says, "Come on, mom," and up front we walked. The whole time I'm telling him no--this isn't in the script. He starts praying for me. He says a lot of things and I'm still protesting. Now I'm telling him, YOU ARE PUSHING SOME BUTTONS I DON'T THINK I LIKE. HE LAUGHS AND TELLS ME THAT HE KNOWS. I'm kind of pulling back. He laughs and pulls too. Now he says, you are mad at someone, or people in this church. You've been hurt. He says, I don't mean right now, but before. Now, I recognize the Holy Spirit at work. I thought I'd been too bad and wandered too far away for the Holy Spirit to speak to me. Now, I'm crying and listening and not fighting any more. He said, "You are mad," I don't remember this part exactly. All I know is I asked if I could whisper something to him. He said yes. I told him my precious daughter had been raped three times through the years from 7 to 16. One by a boy in this church. Jerry was like angry (the good kind) and said we have to name them. Oh, I remember he talked first about anger unto death being on me, and bitterness and a bunch of ugly stuff. It was then I told him about the boys and how (God forgive me) I plotted their demise or death daily in my head. I wanted revenge. Anyway, Jerry said, we have to name them. Now, [my daughter] was there and I told him I couldn't give permission-- she'd have to. [My daughter] knows naught what Jerry and I are discussing. She's waiting patiently on the side of the platform for her baby to be prayed for. So now Jerry looks up and says, "[to my daughter], come here dear." A friend takes the baby. Jerry takes both of [my daughter's] hands tenderly into his -- looks down at her and says, "... mom's dealing with some anger here. Anger about what happened to you as a child." [She] glances at me, she starts to cry. Jerry tenderly says, "Look at me... I told mom we need to name these men -- here and now in prayer. It's up to you... Can we? Do we have your permission? Do you want to be free of these thoughts and (I think) dreams?" She starts crying now -- hard. She says yes. Jerry prays. She literally crumples into a heap. Jerry holds her up and prays as she begins to scream and cry out loud releasing all the pain stored up after all these years of pain. You see, we knew these boys well. She never told me or her dad. She was 17 when we found out. She was 7, 10 or 11, and 16 when these attacks happened. One of the boy's mother was her teacher at our Christian school -- our friends -- our dear friends. She kept it in to suffer alone, but Jesus didn't leave her. Anyway, [my daughter's] ministered to. I feel I'm fine. I move away crying now for my child. Well, Jerry sends women to pray for her and says to me "come here mom!" We pray. I'm set free from anger, bitterness and a bunch of other ugly stuff. I didn't realize that my vain imaginations could cause me so much grief and pain in my everyday life. Now I'm set free to worhip -- I'm set free to praise Him. I'm set free to rejoice before the throne. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Lord for the man of God who listens to and is led by the Holy Spirit. And a God who made a way for me to touch Him. Praise God. I know this is wordy, but Jerry said to write it like I told our (I'm back) church. So I did. [My daughter] and I rededicated our lives to Christ that night. The baby is fine "a month old tomorrow!" My husband and son rededicated their lives to Christ the next night. My oldest daugher....Jerry did three days and nights. My oldest son did Friday night and [my daughter's] Catholic husband accepted our Lord Jesus Christ Sunday morning. Praise God!! We have our oldest children's spouses and to go and our whole family will be saved. Praise God with Us He Is Worthy L. C. while at Covington Christian Fellowship Covington, WA Kevin Holland, Pastor This article comes from World's Largest Prayer Board Annointed.net News http://www.annointed.net/ The URL for this story is: http://www.annointed.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=97