  Before
I went to sleep, I had been planning what I could share for children's
story that would be a blessing to the children at church. I prayed for the
Lord to help me. I had the story of the duck that God had sent while
I was trying to do art for all the Bible lessons of truths basic to our
salvation. I had the story ready on power point pictures but the church
service would be such a busy one with the Christmas program. I wanted to
leave the children with the hope that when ever they wanted to do
something for Jesus, He could provide the tools they needed. His tools
were presents that could last for a very long time. They are the best
Christmas gifts possible. I wondered what would be the best thing for all
the children who thought they were "too old" to come forward for
the special children's story. After they pass age 10 or 11 few ever come
forward thinking the stories are for younger kids. These are the things I
was praying about. |
  In
the night I dreamed I was handing out presents. I had wrapped up several
CDs with the duck story and a few other stories on it. Each story was
complete with pictures and text. When I awoke, I liked the idea. My
husband bought a nice microphone and I recorded myself telling 7
stories. I also made a few with just wave format for boom box CD
players. The children just loved these gifts. Some parents and
grandparents wanted these for when children came to visiting them. I
was happy to give away something that could be a blessing to others. I
praise God for this idea. The children were thrilled to get their story
CD.
True Story of dream in December 2002 |
| Curious about the duck story? Well, here it is, off the free CD gift I gave out.. |
|
|
  The
children loved feeding the ducks. |
 I
was trying to draw pictures to illustrate a set of Bible studies for young
children. Artists I had found wanted many dollars for each sketch and the
total would run up to 10,000 dollars.
I wanted a complete set of these studies for my own children and had such a strong determination to complete the set. I prayed and asked God to place His hand on mine. Since He was the artist, I would let Him direct me. One night the lesson I was working on was heaven. I wanted children to imagine having fun in the water of life feeding ducks. The duck looked too sick to live in heaven. I was so discouraged. |
| I felt like trashing my pictures and giving up. I decided to go to sleep. |
   The next morning in my swimming pool was a duck. She had
clipped wings. I wondered how she managed to get passed the dogs. She was
enjoying our pool. I took 3 rolls of pictures of her. Then the children
got up and fed her bread. |
  The
duck was not afraid of the children |
 |
 She
won her way into our hearts. |
 She
learned to tap on the window for what she wanted. |
 She
stayed 3 months while the lessons were being made. The snow came and she
would go flying from the pump house and skid across the pool. She was
puzzled that the water was frozen.
The day the lessons were completed, she was gone. |
 The
lessons were printed and translated into Russian. Attempts were made
to print in Russia but it could not be done. We printed and transported
the 1,000 lesson sets in the large format weighing 2,000 pounds. God
provided a way to reach HIS hungry children waiting for our meetings in
Perm Russia. We went in other times to Russian speaking areas with
more lessons, as did other missionaries. |
  Pavel
was a rowdy teenager who came to meetings. |
  He
lit matches and threw them into the audience behind him. Many wanted to
throw him out but we gave him jobs and he liked being trusted. He became
so helpful. |
  Pavel
began to sing all the Scripture songs. His heart was changed. |
 Stories
of God's love melted his heart |
 Pavel
enjoyed the sanctuary booth for the feast of tabernacles. He imagined
himself in heaven. |
  He
drew a picture of the sanctuary. |
 Caught
in the hail storm.
The children were amazed how God sent a hail storm the second I said "hail" while telling of the plagues of Egypt. When the Russian translator also said hail in their language a second burst of thunder and hail was sent. |
 Pavel
dedicated his life to Jesus. |
 God
had Pavel in mind when He sent the ducks and encouraged me to keep making
the Bible lessons. God knew of millions of others around the world who
also would study and give their hearts to HIM.
|
| You can find many more stories on my Web
sites:
larom.org illustratedbible.com illustratedbible.org illustratedbible.net Advent3d.com |
God's
Duck