The last blog we wrote was in March, so time for a new one! We went from Portugal through Spain, France, and Belgium back to the Netherlands again. We stayed there for a couple of weeks. We had time to meet family and friends, also to visit our dentist and we brought our motorhome to the garage for maintenance. We had a lovely week with my parents (Marianne) to celebrate their 70th birthdays. We are thankful to be able to spend time with our loved ones. We also found out (again) that being back in the Netherlands is not equal to “having a time of rest”. We always think that, but it is not true. In fact, the appointments pile up when we try to see everyone in a short time. No complaining, just a fact and learning point for us: we can’t see everyone.
The Lord is good to us! Amen! My prayer in the Netherlands was “Lord, send us somewhere where we can help and serve for a longer time”. We don’t want to search for opportunities, we always want that the Lord Himself reveal to us where we should go. He can speak through thoughts, people, visions, whispers and in many more ways. When the end of our time in the Netherlands came near, I started searching because we still had nothing for a longer period. I couldn’t find much, and the one which I found didn’t respond to my email. So we moved from the Netherlands not knowing where the Lord wanted to use us. We learned to trust Him and that we need to make a move so that He can work through us. Never wait until everything is crystal clear, because then you become passive and actually it is more hard to move. We learned that when we take a first step, things will become more clear. The question is always if we trust the Lord in that kind of way that we want to leave everything for an uncertain future? The future in this world is not clear, but God is our certainty!
In August ’22 we went to Bremen for 1 night to join a house church there. Also another family went there, they live 1,5h from Bremen. Jeffrey spoke to them for 5 minutes, they said: You are always welcome. In March ’23 we got the question if we could drive to Hannover to meet someone for discipleship. We agreed because we didn’t had other plans yet. We remembered the family we met at the house church in Bremen, they live close (still 50 minutes) by Hannover. One message and it was OK to come. They had enough place to host us with our motorhome. We went there beginning of June ’23 and we are still there. It is middle July ’23 now. We see every time that the Lord has divine appointments. He knew already that we will be here longer and what we could to do here. While we thought we stay here just one week to help the person from Hannover, it turned out we aren’t here just for the person from Hannover but for the family where we stay and their house church. We have fellowship, joined their house church, built each other up, organized together a fire day for more Holy Spirit fire (with bouncing castle for the kids, see picture) and so on.
After a few weeks of staying here, I asked the Lord why we are not moving. And then He reminded me of my prayer “Lord, send us somewhere where we can help and serve for a longer time”. God is so good! He hears every prayer!
Jeffrey and I prayed when we stayed here for a few weeks “Lord, we can do more, show us what we can do”. We got both a vision of people we should help in their needs. Turns out that those persons just prayed a few days before “Lord, send us people because we are in a mess! We need help!”. For them it was a blessing to see that the Lord heard the prayer because He was sending us to them, without us knowing about their prayer. We drove there with our little car, with our motorhome still in the same place. That little car is a big blessing to us as well.
In the time we were there, we also celebrated the birthday of Maura (8) and Jeffrey (36). We had lovely days together with the family where we are staying, and we praise God for His goodness in our lives. We got to know so many people and most of them are really a blessing. With other reborn Christians, we can sharpen each other and seek the will of the Lord. The topic last months for us is to be humble and surrender all. Being humble can be hard for the flesh, but it is good and necessary to learn. Surrender all, is something we love to preach. We thought we surrendered all almost 2 years ago when we laid down our old life. But we found out we still have something to surrender. Let this be an encouragement: when you find out you still keep control in some things, it is never to late to give them all over and to surrender yourself. Don’t be hard to yourself, give yourself space to grow. That is the advice we want to give you. Go into your room, close the door, and ask the Lord to reveal to you which things you still keep in control. Which things you should surrender and you didn’t till now. You can’t serve God when you still hold on things which are not from Him.
We will leave this place in two weeks, to join a YWAM Family Camp. We prayed together with our kids for more kids to play with. In that time a few times YWAM Family Camp came to our attention and we had contact with the organization if there was still place for our family to join. There was a place (the last) and how God organized everything, we know He reserved a place for us to be there. We are curious what this week will bring! The kids are excited because they will have their own kids program in the morning and hope to make some friends. We love it too to go to the “mommy and daddy” class and grow in the Kingdom of God! Next to this, there is enough family time. We really look forward to this.
With love,
The Draaijer family
One response
Very inspiring! I get the feeling that your ministry is also one that builds the faith of the Christian Community. It’s not exactly the same, but similar in spirit, to what George Muller did. He decided to help orphan children and build orphanages without asking anyone for money. This was his way of showing the world that we have a living God and He will provide for His children. Your journey is similar in that you’ve left your home and are travelling where God leads you. It’s a step of faith and it’s amazing to see how God does lead and guide you where you can be a blessing!
We pray for you daily! Keep going for God! ❤️