Kid's Good News
Vol 1-issue 41             Nov/28 /2002

Contents:

Bible Story
Story time
This Week's Riddle #37
Answer of Riddle #36 and Winner
Change of Email Addresses

Bible Story:
Severe Famine

Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.  And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.  So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, "Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed."  Then Joseph said, "Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone."  So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.

When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands.  Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may live and not die, that the land may not be desolate."  Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh's.  And as for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end.  Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands. 

Then Joseph said to the people, "Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.  And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones."  So they said, "You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants."  And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, except for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh's.

Story time....

O Jesus, Son of Maryam, heal me - 15 

Till this time you have read that, Gulshan Fatima was paralyzed at her left side when she was only 6 months old. Her mother died when she was an infant. Her father loved her so much that he took her to England for treatment but when they heard the disappointing words of doctor, "it has no cure", their hearts broke down. Her father encouraged her and said, "We will go to Mecca and knock the door of Allah, and he will heal you." So they went to Mecca and visited Ka'aba - the house of Allah. Even she kissed the cubical shape of ka'aba but to their utter despair nothing happened. To avoid her father's troubled look, she kept her face down. Then they visited Safa and Marva from where they bought Zamzam water. She bathed with that water but nothing happened. She and her father returned home heart broken. Next blow for her was, her beloved father's death!! But while she was so disturbed, she heard a low, gentle voice telling her to read about Jesus in Quran Sura Maryam. She started reading Urdu Quran and started praying, "O Jesus, Son of Maryam, heal me!! Three years later her prayers were answered with a marvelous vision of Jesus. Jesus personally came and healed her. From the very first day, she realized the growing opposition from her relatives and acquaintance. Three weeks later she got a Bible. While reading the Bible she discovered the amazing fact that the Lord's Prayer, which was taught by Jesus to her in her vision, was found in the Bible word by word. Later she realized that baptism was necessary according to the Bible, so she took baptism and she was given the new name Gulshan Esther. She was rejected by her family members. Then she heard that her sister was dying. She went to see her but by that time she was dead. But God had told her that her sister will not die but will live. The miracle happened exactly. She came back to life after 14 hours. But when Gulshan returned to her school, she found that she had no job any longer. She returned to her sister's home but soon Anis's husband told her to get out of his house. So Gulshan went to Rawalpindi as advised by Anis but she was trapped.... She spent few months in Jail and seven women of her room turned to God and repented from their sins. She went to spend time with her brother Alim Shah but it was devastating as her brother tried to kill her with his hand gun but she escaped miraculously... She left her brother's home and stayed with one Christian family from where she searched for job. After long search she got one job as reporter in a magazine company. But she lost that job also and was devastated.
*******

On 30th December's morning when Gulshan was reading a book, Mrs. Neelam said, "You have a visitor." She looked in surprise and saw Mr. Gill an elder from the Church at Foreman Christian College. He gave her the invitation of Rev. Arthur of Methodist Church saying, "Rev. Arthur invites you to preach on New Year service. Preach the message of your choice." She wasn't prepared for this invitation as she thought of the influential people of Foreman Christian College and she thought, "How can I stand before them and preach?" She was about to say no but she remembered the words of Jesus spoken to her on the night of her healing, "Go and preach among my people."

When Jesus gave her this commission at that time she was not ready to preach but her hard way of life had taught her many lessons. She had learned over the time that if number of factors fit together, it can be taken as a green light from God like some new door opening and in line with the prophecy or word given, and inward peace that will assure that the taken action is right.

She told him, "I will come, but how can I reach there from this house?" Mr Gill told her that she could stay with him in his house at Wadat Colony that was near to the college. Next day Mr. Gill came to take her to his house. She was gripped with fear but she knelt down and prayed to Jesus, "It is four years now when I saw you, how I will tell about you and how I am going to describe you?" In those moments she heard the small, still voice, "My Spirit will be with you." Her heart was filled with joy.

Of course she had never faced such a crowd in her whole life where doctors, teachers, professionals, nurses and highly qualified people attended the meeting. But she felt a great power, which gave her boldness to face such a crowd. She spoke of the grace of God who healed her and also her sufferings. People listened to every word carefully with attention. Many came to meet her later on and told her, "It was powerful"... "they did not even know how the time went by."... Women had tears in their eyes and they gave their address. She also got some offerings. She thought about the new turn of her life with amazement and longed that her brothers would hear about this too.

This event opened new doors of preaching for her. She was invited to take regular women's meeting in the Church at Foreman Christian College. Many Churches invited her to preach and they met her expenses. She left her teaching job in Mr. Yusuf's house and came into full time ministry of evangelism. In the month of April and May she lived with some friends in Canal Park.

She was invited in Women's summer camp at Mubarik in Murree which was 8,000 feet above sea level at the foothill of Himalayas. It was a hill station and holiday home for many wealthy families. It was two and half-hour journey from Rawalpindi by bus. Gulshan was invited as main speaker for that women's camp for one week. Mrs. Hadayat and Gulshan had planned to leave on Friday morning at 4 O'clock. She was excited to have her first train journey in her life. But on Thursday morning around 10 O'clock her sister Samina's son came and invited her saying, "Mother wants you to be a guest in marriage which would take place on Saturday. But as she had to go for the women's meeting she told Mahmood that she would not be able to attend his marriage. Further she explained that as all the relatives were against her because of her belief she did not want to be of trouble in his wedding. And also she had to go for the meeting.

Mahmood left with a bad feeling but he returned again by 2 pm. He gave the message of his mother that she will not allow for him getting married until he brings Gulshan in. He had tears in his eyes. Gulshan suggested that she can take advice of Mr. and Mrs. Hadayat whether she could attend his marriage and leave his home in time to catch the connecting bus from Rawalpindi to Murree on Sunday morning. Mahmood's face brightened. Mr. and Mrs. Hidayat said, "it would be a witness for your family so you should go." They looked into maps and found out that there was a bus from Badami Bagh, Lahore to Rawalpindi at 12 midnight on Saturday which would take her in time to catch the Murree bus early morning so that she could speak at Sunday afternoon.

Her nephew promised to come and pick her up for wedding next day. The wedding was a disaster for her. Many turned their back and thought that it was a great offence for them. Some were in the mood of Jihad. So she could not find time to talk to her sisters Samina and Anis. Many asked, "Why do you believe in Jesus as the Son of God?" She had her Bible but she spoke the words which came on her lips with boldness. She knew that it might be her last chance to speak about Jesus. So she spoke to every person who showed the slightest interest. As time passed on she did not even find time to eat or drink. One by one her opponents went away saying, "She is mad, leave her alone... she is not related to her, don't speak to her.." Safdar Shah did not come to the wedding because he heard that Gulshan was attending and Alim Shah stayed with the male guests who did not come to meet her.

Suddenly she noticed that it was already 11 pm. She heard a voice saying to her, "You are going to witness in Murree Tomorrow and you are still here." She rushed to her sister's room asked if anybody could drop her to Badami Bagh? But Samina's car was used by other guests and Anis was busy with her in-laws. When she told the other relatives they spoke to her, "We do not want to pollute our car, ask your Jesus to take you." Samina asked her to stay at night and leave in the morning. Her advice was quite sensible as it was not good for a woman to stand alone in the streets. But she felt an urgency to leave that place. She slipped without saying goodbye to anybody and stood by the roadside. She walked nervously under the mulberry tree and prayed, "Lord, you have made me holy, please take care of me and help me to reach the bus station in time. I am all in your hands." When she finished her prayer, tears were streaming on her face and she felt the thick presence of God around her and she felt safe.

Then she heard the sound of the engine of a motorcycle faraway coming nearer. Then she saw headlight and when it came near she could see a hooded rickshaw. She prayed that he may stop for her and waved her hand. Rickshaw came near her and stopped. She said, "Can you take me to Badami Bagh as soon as possible so that I could catch the bus to Rawalpindi?" She could not see his face as he had some kind of hood but he nodded and she got in without thinking anything whether he was a villain or wrong person who can take advantage of her situation. She felt that road and trees were passing very quickly and when she reached Badami Bagh her watch showed that fifteen miles were covered in just five minutes. The rickshaw driver without a word took her luggage and put it in Watan Transportation bus for Rawalpindi. He was well built and wore a strange long robe of dull brown color. She thought he might be a Pathan.

He put her luggage under a seat near front and was about to walk away without asking for Rickshaw fare. When Gulshan stopped him to ask how much she has to pay, he half turned and said, "God has sent me to help you, go in peace. Then he rolled back his sleeves where she could see a name written with golden letters Patrus (Peter). She tried to see his face but saw only his brilliant eyes. Her eyes welled up with tears, she wiped away her tears and when she looked again, he was vanished without taking any money.

She took her seat and found that she was the only woman alone in that bus without a burkha. She reached Rawalpindi at 4:45 in the morning. Then she took another bus for Murree. It was a slow journey through winding twisted, narrow and dangerous hill road. She reached Murree by 11 AM. And that week turned for her to be an extraordinary week. She ministered hurting women and God's healing power moved and healed their lives. This opened many larger doors for her to preach in big conferences and big meetings. She went through out the whole of Pakistan preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and praying for sick and suffering.

Her eldest sister Anis Bibi who accepted Jesus and lived a secret Christian life because of the pressure of her family died on 14th March 1977. Gulshan was with her in the last moments of her life comforting her.

For many years Gulshan lived with friends but finally believers raised some money and purchased a home for her. She lived in that home with her two adopted daughters, one son and their grandfather. Today she is a powerful preacher who preaches among those who are behind the veil of Islam.

  This week's Riddle #37

When they heard that "King of the Jews" is born they came to see him
from east.  Who were they?

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