The Bumps On The Road
I wish one of us five kids on one bike would have seen that bump sign before we started down the hill. But no one saw it. If just one of us had seen it, I wouldn't be wearing this lump on my forehead today.
Back then, I was five
years old and extra short for my age. I was in the basket up front. The impact to my head was so hard that doctors discovered it caused a bone to grow abnormally above my right eye. With that bad news came another shocker. The x-ray also showed a brain tumor. I was sent to a brain specialist at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA.
Mercy Hospital is a Catholic Hospital. My mother got all the nuns and priests praying for me. All I can tell you is the
morning of my tumor surgery, my mother came into my hospital room excited. She said, "Bill, they just took another set of x-rays to make sure they know how to take the tumor out, but they can't find it. It's gone!"
I learned early in life to never tell God who He can or can't use to bless us. There are hearts hungry to be used in every church and denomination, and we will need each other in the days to come. The first blow to that tumor came two years
earlier when my mother began to tell everybody, "This is my little preacher!"
Years later, the Lord showed me the effect of her spoken words over my life..."This is my little preacher!" ate the tumor alive. Satan figured that tumor would steal God's purpose for my life. Later, they did surgery to scrape away as much bone as they could, but it still marks my forehead to this day... as I preach.
Have you ever
wished that you could go back to a particular day in your life and live it over? That would be the one day for me. I would have done anything but take a bike ride. As I am getting older, however, with wisdom from the school of hard knocks (pun intended). I have learned to think differently. I don't think I would change a thing. For God blessed the bump in the road that led me straight to Jesus when I was five years old.
Looking back, it wasn't the easy
road that blessed my life. It was the bumpy road that blessed me.
Dear Friends,
I believe the Lord has given my wife and I a message together of what we experienced in that ICU room on Christmas Day. I call it our "Intense Crucible University" where I believe we learned more in three days than many years in higher education. I believe many are
going through this kind of fiery ordeal and our message will encourage them as the Lord leads us to share it in our travels. Ministry Update:
Treasures Retreat - Philemon Ministry by Pastor Antione Payne from Grace Beyond The Walls from Baltimore, Maryland - Retreat is being held in Frederick, Maryland at an undisclosed location. Feburary 9th - 11th. This is a gathering of those treasures who are now out of prison. I am honored to be invited to minister that weekend as they also will minister to me. I plan to give my book,
I Heard Heaven Proclaim, to every former inmate approximately 50 in attendance. This book includes, "The Prisons Hold God's Treasures," that has changed many prisoners' lives across the nation as they see themselves as God sees them. Please pray for this special gathering. My first book, "I Heard Heaven Proclaim," has stood the test of time. Foreworded
by Jane Hansen Hoyt and endorsed by Dutch Sheets, Chuck Pierce, James Goll and Bob Sorge. It reads like a prophetic devotional. ( This book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. ) Donations: If you wish to donate to our ministry you can do so below.
For a tax receipt: Click Here To Donate Online.
or send a check to:
Blowing The Shofar
Ministry
132 East North Ave.
Hagerstown, Maryland 21740 |
|
|
|
|
|
