Out of the Fire
Betty Stewart
(Shared 'in person' at Vacation Church School)
When Paula asked for people to share their testimony, I felt that the Holy Spirit rested upon me and told me to tell this testimony. This happened quite some time ago. It happened right out there in the church yard. (Atherton Branch) It happened when we had our Christian School down here. We were having our graduation exercises. I'm sharing this because I want you to know that God is with us ALL THE TIME! We are never alone! He loves you, He loves me, and He loves everyone on the face of this earth.
Well, that day we were going to have a weiner roast and a marshmallow roast after the exercises, and I had told the people that I would start the fire. Someone else volunteered to bring down a container of fuel oil to use to start the fire. I went out while the program was going on to light the fire. I worked with it and it didn't seem to want to take ahold, so I went to the truck to get a 3-gallon container of wat I thought was fuel oil. Now fuel oil does not explode. I went back, and I can re-live this and I re-lived it over and over again. But as I began to pour the fuel oil, or what I thought was fuel oil, I saw the fire go up the stream and explode in my hand. Of couse I was bent over, had long hair that was hanging down, and I saw flames leaping out of my clothes. I saw this, but within a fraction, fraction, fraction of a second, I was no longer there. I was clear, clear, clear over here. (Approximately 15 feet away.) My shoes and a big ring of fire, they were over there. I was standing over here trembling and shaking and saying, "This is not possible! This couldn't have happened! My clothes aren't burned; my hair isn't singed or burned." I did have a burn on the end of my hand where I was holding the container of fuel.
I trembled and I shook, and I still do to this day. My mortal mind didn't want to believe that it was possible, that it could happen. My spiritual mind was saying, "Oh, God, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU that I was not burned terribly bad!" At the same time, I sensed (I did not see anybody) but I sensed that there was someone else there. I kept thinking, "Somebode else is going to come and tell me they saw this happen." So I went inside. The people had gone to the basement, and I told them, "I don't understand how it could happen because fuel oil doesn't explode." And this person said, "Oh my goodness! It wasn't fuel oil --- it was gasoline." Gasoline does explode!
This went on for weeks. Part of my mind said, "I must have been blown out of the fire and the fire was blown out." But you know, I could remember; once I was setting a fire and a leaf blew over and lit on my sleeve, burned through my sleeve, and burned my arm. And there I was, and I had seen flames. Then the next minute I was saying, "Oh God, thank you, thank you for the miracle. Thank you, thank you." But then my human mind said, "It must have blown itself out." This went on for quite some time; and then one day I got a letter from a missionary whom I did not know and he did not know that this had happened. He was down in Texas, and he sent me a letter and he said, "The Lord gave me a scripture for you." This scripture was Isaiah 43:2. As I got my Bible out, I read in the middle of that scripture, "You will walk through fire, and the fire shall not kindle upon you." Now that means the fire will not burn you. I burst out crying and said, "Oh God, thank you, thank you, thank you for this testimony because I will never EVER doubt again that You were there." Over the last year or so, I've read more about angels and their missions here. I have begun to feel very strongly that there was an angel standing there...whether it was my guardian angel or whether it was someone else, I do not know. But I believe that within the matter of a fraction of a second, I was snatched from that fire.
I want you all to know, that as you go through life, that God loves you very, very much. That's why you're here this week; to learn more about Him. He wants to be your very best friend. He doesn't want a fair-weather friend that always says, "Oh God, help me!", when we are in the midst of trouble. He wants you to go to Him and talk to Him all the time; when you are happy, when you are sad, when you need help, or when you are trying to help some one else. Always remember He is there --- He is ther for you and that He loves you, and that we need to be very, very thankful for this.
Betty Stewart
(Shared 'in person' at Vacation Church School)
When Paula asked for people to share their testimony, I felt that the Holy Spirit rested upon me and told me to tell this testimony. This happened quite some time ago. It happened right out there in the church yard. (Atherton Branch) It happened when we had our Christian School down here. We were having our graduation exercises. I'm sharing this because I want you to know that God is with us ALL THE TIME! We are never alone! He loves you, He loves me, and He loves everyone on the face of this earth.
Well, that day we were going to have a weiner roast and a marshmallow roast after the exercises, and I had told the people that I would start the fire. Someone else volunteered to bring down a container of fuel oil to use to start the fire. I went out while the program was going on to light the fire. I worked with it and it didn't seem to want to take ahold, so I went to the truck to get a 3-gallon container of wat I thought was fuel oil. Now fuel oil does not explode. I went back, and I can re-live this and I re-lived it over and over again. But as I began to pour the fuel oil, or what I thought was fuel oil, I saw the fire go up the stream and explode in my hand. Of couse I was bent over, had long hair that was hanging down, and I saw flames leaping out of my clothes. I saw this, but within a fraction, fraction, fraction of a second, I was no longer there. I was clear, clear, clear over here. (Approximately 15 feet away.) My shoes and a big ring of fire, they were over there. I was standing over here trembling and shaking and saying, "This is not possible! This couldn't have happened! My clothes aren't burned; my hair isn't singed or burned." I did have a burn on the end of my hand where I was holding the container of fuel.
I trembled and I shook, and I still do to this day. My mortal mind didn't want to believe that it was possible, that it could happen. My spiritual mind was saying, "Oh, God, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU that I was not burned terribly bad!" At the same time, I sensed (I did not see anybody) but I sensed that there was someone else there. I kept thinking, "Somebode else is going to come and tell me they saw this happen." So I went inside. The people had gone to the basement, and I told them, "I don't understand how it could happen because fuel oil doesn't explode." And this person said, "Oh my goodness! It wasn't fuel oil --- it was gasoline." Gasoline does explode!
This went on for weeks. Part of my mind said, "I must have been blown out of the fire and the fire was blown out." But you know, I could remember; once I was setting a fire and a leaf blew over and lit on my sleeve, burned through my sleeve, and burned my arm. And there I was, and I had seen flames. Then the next minute I was saying, "Oh God, thank you, thank you for the miracle. Thank you, thank you." But then my human mind said, "It must have blown itself out." This went on for quite some time; and then one day I got a letter from a missionary whom I did not know and he did not know that this had happened. He was down in Texas, and he sent me a letter and he said, "The Lord gave me a scripture for you." This scripture was Isaiah 43:2. As I got my Bible out, I read in the middle of that scripture, "You will walk through fire, and the fire shall not kindle upon you." Now that means the fire will not burn you. I burst out crying and said, "Oh God, thank you, thank you, thank you for this testimony because I will never EVER doubt again that You were there." Over the last year or so, I've read more about angels and their missions here. I have begun to feel very strongly that there was an angel standing there...whether it was my guardian angel or whether it was someone else, I do not know. But I believe that within the matter of a fraction of a second, I was snatched from that fire.
I want you all to know, that as you go through life, that God loves you very, very much. That's why you're here this week; to learn more about Him. He wants to be your very best friend. He doesn't want a fair-weather friend that always says, "Oh God, help me!", when we are in the midst of trouble. He wants you to go to Him and talk to Him all the time; when you are happy, when you are sad, when you need help, or when you are trying to help some one else. Always remember He is there --- He is ther for you and that He loves you, and that we need to be very, very thankful for this.