Gifts Opened and Shared: Along the Paths of Life

By Donald Spatafora

Using refreshingly simple words, the author reveals how God took the least likely and used him to touch the lives of many. For forty-nine years, he thought he was a Christian even though He had strayed down many paths. Some good. Some not so good. There was little fruit until 1987 when he took God off the "back burner." Jesus the good shepherd left the ninety-nine, came into his room, and gave him one more chance. However, this was not the end of trials for him and his family. But God never left him. After retirement, Don was content and enjoying his family. In 2013, he had finally obeyed God and written a book entitled Who, Me? You've Got to Be Kidding! Writing another book was the farthest thing from his mind until being convicted by God through the revealing of the meaning of a dream from thirty years earlier. This conviction led him to pick up his pen and begin writing again. Gifts Opened and Shared is a testimony of God's love and goodness. It reveals how a plain ordinary person whose love for God changed the lives of so many. Often called "the great storyteller," he has touched many people through his obedience to share his life experiences. Through the good and the bad, God saw him through it all. Hopefully, all of those reading this book will accept the challenge to listen, obey, and discover their gift or gifts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685264963

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Introduction

Chapter 1: Prayer, Grace, Love

Chapter 2: Salvation, Mercy, Love

Chapter 3: Community, Fellowship, Love

Chapter 4: Service and Love

Chapter 5: Forgiveness, Mercy, and Love

Chapter 6: Loyalty, Friendship, and Love

Chapter 7: Faith, Favor, and Love

Chapter 8: Healing, Hope, and Love

Chapter 9: Patience, Compassion, and Love

Chapter 10: Healing, Obedience, and Love

Chapter 11: Redemption and Love

Chapter 12: Humility, Communion, and Love

Conclusion

End note

Afterword

About the Author

cover.jpg

Gifts Opened and Shared

Along the Paths of Life

Donald Spatafora

ISBN 978-1-68526-495-6 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-68526-496-3 (Digital)

Copyright © 2022 Donald Spatafora

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

After writing my first book, WHO, ME? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING, I was repeatedly asked, When's the sequel coming out? Frankly, I had no intention of writing again. I thought I had answered God's call to write and that would be it. I was wrong.

So first, dear friends, it is with much love that I dedicate this book to all of you who have encouraged me to answer God's call to write once again.

Second, to my mother, Evelyn Brown Spatafora; my father, Thomas D. Spatafora; my mother-in-law, Ollie S. Colvin; my father-in-law, J. P. Colvin; my sister, Carole S. Webb; my granddaughter, Shannon R. LeVasseur; and my grandson, Morgan P. Lewis; all of whom are waiting for our glorious reunion in heaven.

And finally, to those friends and strangers God has put across my path and who have allowed me to share their story through the gift of testimonies that reveal God's gift of love to all.

Introduction

Life's journey is not always smooth and straight. Sometimes we experience a path that is anything but. Unexpected disappointments cause us to make wrong choices, and we are led down a path that sometimes leads us to self-destruct.

At times, our path is smooth, and by all appearances, we seem to have it all together. Everything we do seems to turn out good and to our advantage. We are only fooling ourselves.

My journey has been and continues to be full of ups and downs. There have been times when I have been taken so far out of my comfort zone that I know only God could have been holding me up and directing me.

My grandparents were full-blooded Italians who came to America in 1897. Granddaddy could not speak English, but my grandmother quickly put her foot down and made him learn. Together they raised five boys and three girls and built a successful grocery business. My dad followed in their footsteps in the grocery business; and I, in turn, followed in his footsteps in this venture also. This took me down many trails until I eventually changed courses and went to work for the City of Monroe. After retirement, I relocated to Texarkana, Texas, where God has directed me along many new paths.

I, as many of you reading this book, have strayed from the main path God has set before me and ventured down many side trails. Some of these have taken me away from God while others led me closer to Him. But He has always been there. We must be alert and listen to that small voice directing us back and keeping us on the right path.

This is the way, walk ye in it (Isa. 30:21).

When I first heard the Lord tell me He wanted me to lay hands on people for healing, I could hardly believe my ears. Surely, not me, Lord! I don't know how to do that. But I knew if He asked me to do something, He would always provide a way.

Not wanting to do anything in my own strength, I told God I would do whatever He wanted me to do, but He would have to show me exactly how He wanted it done. He told me He would always give me the right words each time because every situation is different and requires a different approach. However, He told me in every circumstance to remind them of testimonies from the Bible, testimonies others have shared or testimonies I have experienced. Obeying Him, I have always shared testimonies before praying for anyone. In fact, I do this so much, that a lot of my friends call me the great storyteller.

Sometime in 1990, not long after I had heart surgery, my wife had a dream. She said she saw me walk into a large room in the hospital. I was dressed in a suit and had a huge smile on my face. She saw two large men dressed in suits walking beside me as if they were my bodyguards. This room was filled with shelf after shelf of wrapped gifts adorned with beautiful bows. After I entered the room, she saw me reach up, get a gift, and unwrap it. This was a slow process in the beginning. As I unwrapped each gift, she said the process grew faster and faster. She never saw what was in any of the boxes. We had no idea what this dream meant.

We later shared the dream with different ones hoping they could reveal its meaning. Sadly, they had no idea what it meant either. Through the years, we would recall the dream but still could never decipher its meaning.

Twenty-eight years later, we were listening to a preacher on television. We heard him say, Testimonies are powerful gifts to be opened and shared before praying for others.

Wow! We both looked at each other and immediately knew the meaning of the dream. The gifts Ann saw me opening were the testimonies of those who I would later pray for. Slowly at first. Then, faster, and faster. And those big bodyguards were none other than His angels protecting me. Elated, we gave thanks to God for this revelation.

Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart (Ps. 119:111).

Each of our lives are testimonies; gifts to be shared with others. God does not want us to leave them sitting on a shelf unwrapped. He wants each of you reading this book to unwrap your gifts and share them with others just as I have done. You will be surprised at the number of people touched by them. Many lives may even be changed.

As you read these times when the power of prayer helped me and others, it is my hope you will receive an uplifting word that will speak to your heart and keep you on the right path as you share your gifts. Power is released through testimonies, and this book is my testimony to those reading it.

Before you go any further, let me be clear: there is nothing special about me.

I am an ordinary person listening to God and doing the things He tells me to do.

1

Prayer, Grace, Love

If we really stopped and thought about it, we would realize our whole life is a testimony, a story to be told; however, most of us do not see it as something anyone would be interested in, much less touched by it. I was no different—that is, until God came into my life and opened my eyes, letting me see how He had always been there, walking beside me, holding me up on each step of my journey. Before I relate some amazing testimonies on how God has worked through me in helping others, I need to give you a little background about myself and my wife.

God always puts someone in our lives to help shape us. That someone in my life was my Aunt Annie. I would sometimes stay with her for days at a time. She was always telling me different stories from the Bible. Thinking back, I recall a time when as a young boy of seven or eight, God's power was revealed to me. It was raining outside, and I really did want to go out and play. Just a few days prior, Aunt Annie had told me the story about Jesus being asleep in the boat when a storm came up. His disciples were afraid and woke Him up. Jesus just stretched out His arm and said, Peace be still, and the storm stopped.

At the time, I thought, How cool.

Now, here I was in the same situation. It was raining, and I really did want to go out and play. Hm…would this work for me? I stretched out my arm and said, Be still! Rain, stop!

Wow! To my surprise, it worked. The rain immediately stopped, and I went out to play. Even though I thought it was probably just a coincidence, I never forgot it.

Aunt Annie had always told me she really did hope I would marry a girl named Ann. I agreed that I would, thinking that should not be too hard to do. Aunt Annie always took me many places with her, shared Bible stories with me, and for hours upon end we listened to the radio together. After listening to the World War II reports on the radio, we would pray for the soldiers and ask God to restore peace to the world.

During this period of the 1940s, the world was not only troubled with war, but there was an outbreak of polio. Each week, the local newspaper would list the names of those who had contracted this disease. One day, Aunt Annie and I were reading the list and discovered two young local girls named Ann on the list. She said, Let's pray for these two named Ann. One of them may be your wife one day.

One of the girls lived down the street from me and the other one lived in West Monroe. I told Aunt Annie that we should probably pray for the one down the street because I could possibly meet her one day. There was, however, little chance of meeting anyone who lived in West Monroe. At the time, that seemed like so far away to me. But Aunt Annie promptly told me, No, we are going to pray for both of them. So we did.

As I grew older, I often thought about my times with Aunt Annie and her desire for me to marry a girl named Ann; however, I still had not met anyone by that name to which I was attracted that gave me that special feeling,

After high school, I attended Georgia Tech University for a while and then transferred to Louisiana Tech before ending up in my hometown at Northeast Louisiana University. By now, the Vietnam War had begun, and guys my age were being drafted. I decided to join the National Guard and was subsequently sent to Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Six months later, I returned home to work with my dad in the grocery business.

Still, no Ann. However, at various times, this one girl would repeatedly cross my path. I would think to myself, I sure would like to meet her. I asked a few people, but no one knew who she was. Each time I saw her, it would be in a different place and location in the city. Once there was an encounter at the bowling alley, and I thought I might discover who she was, but for various reasons, it did not happen. I did, however, tell my buddy, That is the girl I am going to marry.

He just smiled and said, You have to meet her first.

Finally, I got a break. I saw her at the Ouachita Parish Fair with a friend from high school. Calling this friend, the next day, I asked her, Who was the girl with you last night at the fair? She told me, and I asked for her phone number. Being the shy person that I was, it was the most difficult telephone call I have ever made. What if she said no? As it turns out, however, it was the best call I have ever made, as my elusive brunette accepted a date for the following night. We went out for the first time on November 9, 1960. Five months later, on April 8, 1961, we were married. By the way, her name is Ann.

One day after we had recently married, Ann and I were sitting at the kitchen table. We had been filling out forms for insurance coverage and had arrived at a section labeled previous illnesses. I was marking all my childhood maladies and noticed Ann had begun to hesitate in marking hers. She looked at me and said, Don, I have to tell you something about me that I've never told you. Reluctantly, she revealed to me that at the age of ten, she had polio. This was something she did not like to talk about