karl's Envelope Story

One night I dreamed that somebody sent us $1,200 in an anonymous envelope through the mail. It was one of those dreams that when you wake up - you need a few moments to decide if it really happened to you.

Let me back up…

In the summer of 2009, as we continued praying about moving to South Africa, our pastor and parents advised us to go visit.

This was great in theory.

Neither one of us had stepped foot on the continent of Africa before. A trip would let me check out the medical care and Down syndrome services for Emme. I could visit with the All Nations group and see the townships where we would work. Again, a nice idea.

One problem.

We weren’t sure we could afford $1,200 on a short trip to Africa – it seemed like a lot of money for a week long jaunt over the ocean.

However, this didn’t stop me from checking out ticket prices online. $1200 for one round trip ticket from Omaha to Cape Town. I hoped the prices would go down and checked every day. $1200… $1200… $1200...

Which brings us back to the dream.

I woke up that morning and, with building confidence, waited for the mail to come. I thought “Hey, God used dreams all throughout the Bible, why not now?”

I ran down to get the mail and….. nothing there. No anonymous letter - no money for a flight to Africa. Crazy dream!

I decided to confess to Julie my disappointment.

She looked at me like, “Wow – he wants to go so badly, he’s even dreaming about it now.” She smiled sympathetically and said, “Well, honey, I’m sure it’s in the mail.”

A bit discouraged, I wondered if it was wise to move our family of four with two small girls to South Africa - without ever having been there. God had opened so many doors, and the dream seemed so real, but you can’t argue with reality. Can you?

The next day, as I sat answering email, Julie opened the mail while eating her cereal. I will never forget how she walked over to me with her eyes wide open. Speechless, she handed me an envelope with no return address. In it the letter read…

“The Lord told me I was supposed to send this to you and Julie. I had heard about your potential plans for Africa and the need for an exploratory trip. Please use this for that trip.

Our family is excited for what God has in store for you.

God bless!”

Oh yeah, it included twelve $100 dollar bills. Yes, $1200 in cash was in that anonymous envelope.

I know what many of you are thinking. “Man, I wish God would send me $1,200 dollars. We need this or we need that.” Well, perhaps God will, because I know He can.

But that’s not the point.

The point is that God’s provision is amazing. And He uses His people to accomplish His purposes.

I don’t think He fed the thousands in John chapter 6 because if they didn’t eat they would starve. He didn’t give me the money because it’s a neat story and there was no other way to get me to Africa. I think He gave it to show me that in all things God can take the credit. It really has nothing to do with me.

His promises are always hold true.

This is why I moved my family to Africa - to share with others the Real Hope of Jesus and His promises.