Hello friends and cherished brothers and sisters. It is with joy that I write these short updates knowing that through them the Lord is knitting our hearts together in Love. We know that many of you are praying regularly for us, and I want you to be encouraged that your prayers are being heard in the throne room of God and that He is answering them speedily and mightily for which we are ever thankful and grateful to Him and to you. I wrote the other day about the sweet lady who brought us juice boxes and 15$. I’d like to finish that story today and share how later that same day the Lord broke our hearts not once but twice with His love and mercy.
After being visited and blessed with juice boxes and 15$ we decided to take the kids out to play and to splurge on them. It was raining very heavily that afternoon so we hit up the McDonalds down the street to let the kids stretch their legs and get out some energy at the play-center. What we didn’t know was that we were walking into a divine appointment. We hadn’t been there long when in walked a young couple with two kids. They took one look at us and said “Are you the family traveling around in the MotorHome”. “Yes” I replied, and to my utter joy and amazement they said “So are We!” Wow, now that is wild.
We soon learned their names were Chad and Tamara, that they had 3 children, and that some time back the Lord had begun to convict their hearts about being radical for Him. They had followed his leading and put their house up for sale, which sold in a day. They had sold their business and most of their stuff, and were now following the Lord on their own Journey of Faith wherever He might lead them, and they too were in Kansas City visiting IHOP and had heard of us from someone who we had met briefly a week earlier. We shared our story, they shared theirs and It blew my mind.
After a while we learned that they were parked at a friends place and they invited us to come over to shower and hang out for the rest of the evening. They told us that they would introduce us to another couple, Matt and Carol, who were staying with them, who had also just sold everything days before to pursue the call of God to start a House of Prayer at Keystone near Mount Rushmore. We were so stoked. As we sat around the table, sharing our lives and experiences, eating chocolate, and encouraging each other, I couldn’t help but wonder... What is the Lord doing on the earth right now. They even knew of others who, right now, were in the process of giving up everything and turning their lives upside down to follow the call of the Lord on their lives. As the night got late, and as the conversation around the table got deeper and deeper, Matt said something that I haven’t been able to get out of my head since. He described a vision or dream that he had had where the Lord showed him what he described as “A whole movement of nomadic, prophetic, apostolic, love sick followers of Jesus who would radically give up everything that this world holds dear to relentlessly pursue the glory of the Lord”. This has been burning in my heart and burning in my soul ever since that moment. I cant shake it. Something in my spirit resonates with his words and I somehow know that the Lord was speaking to us through Him.
I must also quickly mention that we met a very dear lady named Charlotte that night at Chad and Tamara’s who I will introduce you to in a later post because I must get on with the story of that day.
After bidding farewell to our new friends we returned home to find another surprise. As we pulled up to the MH we could see, through the heavy rain, bags and bags of stuff piled up outside the door waiting for us. Someone had anonymously left bags and bags of groceries for us. But not just groceries. They had left jugs of water, blankets, batteries, candy, coloring books, crayons, and toys for the kids. Praise the Lord. In the bag of toys we discovered the gift that would bring us to our knees in praise of our Lord. Our anonymous donor had bought children’s flashlights, you know the kind they sell on halloween for kids to help light their way along the streets, and they had bought 5 of them. Our kids were ecstatic. They love flashlights and have begged many many times for us to buy them their own flashlights, and now the Lord had given them flashlights and the exact amount we needed for our 5 children.
We are so humbled and blessed by the love and ongoing supernatural provision of our Lord and Savior that it brings me to tears. I have said right from the beginning that our God is a God who is Faithful. Not is only is He able, but it is His joy to meet all the needs of His children who walk in humble obedience to Him. Whatever being a radical follower of Jesus looks like for you, Do it. Don’t delay and don’t hold back, the time is short. At the very least, pray fervently for and support those in your circle who are following the call of the Lord on their lives and are seeking to advance His purposes on the earth. Join with us and together lets prove to this unbelieving world that Our God is Mighty to Save.
Thanks for Journeying with us,
The Schafer’s
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