TESTIMONY OF THE 2 HOLSTERS

Those of us who have been involved, to any extent, with the teachings coming forth from the "faith preachers" know that, according to their teaching, you must "seed" into the Kingdom in order to receive a "harvest." Well, I, personally, have many reservations about that teaching, but perhaps the reservations surround the concern of the motive for giving. Human beings are very, if not totally, SELF-focused until they have truly been regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. And in the yet unregenerate state, the possibility certainly exists for this teaching to become a "give-to-get" method of trying to operate a spiritual principle with fleshly motives. In this scenario, I see it as an attempt to manipulate God.

But on a particular day, I saw one of the more graphic examples of what I believe must surely be a manifestation of the Godly side of this teaching. Recently one of our grandsons, Jared, was visiting in our home. He and my husband had gone on a fun "shopping spree." Their major purchases were: BB guns and pellet guns. They were setting up targets in our backyard and Roger was teaching Jared some of the basics of proper gun handling [i.e., don’t point it at the neighbor’s cat, windows, car, etc.].

Roger had found a leather holster that have been designed to hold a carpenter’s tool, but worked equally well for this new pellet gun of Jared’s. So, Roger made Jared a present of the holster. That gift was given more than two weeks ago.

Today, a friend and his family are in the process of moving to Florida. In the sorting of things to take, versus things to leave behind, they brought a load of "stuff" over to us…with the loving hope that these things would bless us. And bless us, they surely did. In amongst all of the things that were deposited for our use, were two [2] of these leather holsters.

I’ve always heard that if you are in need of beans, you must plant beans in order to receive beans in abundance. Certainly in the gardening realm, you don’t receive corn when you plant beans. Well, this was a living testimony of the reality of that teaching… Roger planted 1 holster and received 2 in return. I’ve also always heard that you seldom receive the "harvest" from the one who is the receiver of the planting. Certainly in this situation, that was true. In fact, it was from such an unexpected source, that you just know it had to be God.

God seems to always be working to bless all of His children simultaneously. And, I certainly was not left out of this "harvest." Among all of the things that were "passed on" from our Florida-bound friends were three white wire-coated-with-plastic, vegetable bins. They were stackable…just the perfect size for the potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions I store in my pantry. I had no containers for this type of storage and had received no liberty to purchase them. Another friend was moving - also to Florida - and had even committed to give me his storage bins because Roger had mentioned the need, but here they have arrived and from a most unexpected source.

You may ask if I ever "planted" vegetable bins and the answer is definitely "yes". My Mom and my favorite cousin passed away the same year and I was able to pass on all of their kitchen utensils and other equipment to friends in need. It was a great blessing to be able to be a channel of blessing to others.

Things are wonderful and can be a real blessing, but there is a trap in holding onto the things in your hands. The real joy is the liberty or releasing something; when you hear a need spoken. Be a blessing to someone today… remember: you’re just a vessel God wants to work through. He wants to bless His children, but He wants to use your hands and feet to do it!