Praises

In reference to Jeremy and Jen Knapp, we want to thank you all for praying. I and a few friends left last night after seeing her and Jeremy, and they were both very encouraged. At that point in time, Jen was only being given 50% oxygen from the machine, and her oxygen levels with that were at 98%! This means that she was breathing pretty well on her own. She was sitting up in bed, drinking fluids, smiling, and looking pretty good. She had eaten half a nutrient shake earlier that day and so she had also gotten some nourishment. She will still need to be in the hospital for a few more days at least until the inflammation in her lungs decreases and she can breath completely on her own.

We want to say thank you for going to the Father for all of us and for your specific and heartfelt prayers. They made a difference! There were multiple stories and little “miracles” that I could tell you. But I think the biggest one was this: Jeremy sat us all down in the waiting room and said, “We need to have a time of thanksgiving to God for what he has done.” We all were giving praise to God and honoring him for his powerful working. The amazing thing was this: at the time that we were giving praise, she was still not completely healed. But God gave us a peace and a confidence in his loving care and in faith we were thanking him for his complete healing when complete healing had not even happened yet… she is still in ICU. I was so thankful because Jeremy’s faith and our faith in God was strengthened so much so that we were able to thank him by faith and not by sight.

We would ask that you too go to the Father and thank him for his powerful working in the life of Jen and in the lives of all of us. We sent up thousands of petitions and requests to our God; let’s give him just as much praise, and even more! He is worthy of our praise. He is a good God, and he did and is answering our prayers. Let’s let him hear praise from all the voices who asked him to help.

Praise be to God alone,
Jason

Urgent Prayer

We have called upon you all before, and we are calling upon you again. We have an urgent prayer request that we would ask you to be in prayer about:

Jen Knapp, my younger brother Jeremy’s wife, at this point in time, is in ICU in a hospital in Missouri. She is in critical condition. What started out as a kidney infection a few days ago has really taken a turn for the worse and she is now faced with the possibility of lung failure. What complicates the issue is that she is about 7 months along in her first pregnancy and so treatment is difficult. As of 9:00 this morning, she was finally sleeping for the first time in almost 2 days. My brother’s prayer request is that as she sleeps in the next 3 to 4 hours, that God would miraculously cause her lungs to improve instead of continuing on this road to lung failure. I would add that you also pray for my brother, that God would grant him peace, wisdom, and comfort as he watches his young wife and unborn child go through this painful situation.

Thank you for your prayers, they do work! You are a large body of believers and we have seen God work mighty miracles through your prayers. Thank you and keep praying.

In Christ,
Jason

Clay Pots ~ Happy 2nd Birthday

Growth

Many of you have asked what is going on with the Tobo church since we have been state side. The Tobo church is 2 years old this month. Jason was able to meet with two of our mission’s Church Planting Consultants (2 men who have “been there and done that” and know more than us!). They had both just returned from visiting our co-workers (the Mankins and Williamsons) and the Tobo church this past fall… they were there to do an “evaluation” of sorts on how things were progressing with the church. 25 pages into the write-up on the evaluation, Jason looked up and said to me how encouraged he was by it. Now I found that pretty strange, seeing that the numbers have drastically dropped, our co-workers are still dealing with the same problems, the opposition against the church is still there, and lethargy seems to be the attitude of the day. But yet Jason is encouraged. He spoke to me of the different soils into which the seed had been planted. Some did indeed take root, but the cares of this world choked out God’s truth and they are no longer hungry for the word. And yet some…well 16 or so, from what we have heard, are staying and growing and maturing. It is painfully slow growth and not always obvious to our eyes, but it is happening. Also, the consultants communicated with Jason that they were very encouraged. Again I was flabbergasted. Why were they encouraged? Because they said they saw how strong of a foothold Satan has among the Tobo people, and yet there is a maturing church in a terribly dark place. It is nothing short of a miracle! There is one tiny church among 7,000 people who are opposed to it. Wow, I guess that is encouragement!

Where there was darkness there is now a ray of light; where there was death, there now is life.

Keep Praying!
His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, Malachi & The Tobo Church

Clay Pots ~ Faith

Wow, I cannot believe that it has been this long since we last wrote a letter. I guess the holidays just really flew by. It was a special Christmas time for us as we were able to see almost every family member on both sides of our extended families. So we were at a lot of family get-togethers, and we had a great time. We rejoice in that we were able to be home and enjoy this Christmas (and a white one at that) with so many loved ones. We hope that you had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends as well.

God has been particularly faithful to our family. Over this past year, we continue to see his provision almost daily in our lives. We are thanking God for his continual financial provision through all of you. Not only has God continued our support at the level where it was, but he has blessed us above and beyond that. We are here in the states and are able to see the financial stress some of you are going through… the job losses and such, and we are that much more grateful for your faithfulness. I cannot tell you how many gas cards we have received as gifts this year; it has been such a blessing to see God provide for this basic necessity. So we praise him for that, and want to thank all of you for your continued financial support for us.

God has also been faithful to heal our souls and refresh our spirits. God has taught us innumerable things on this furlough… things about himself and his faithfulness and graciousness towards us as undeserving humans who are constantly failing; things about how important the family and the body of Christ are to him; things about faith and trust and resting in our Heavenly Father. In our last letter, I mentioned some things about Joshua. Another story from Joshua which really encouraged me lately was the story of where the Israelites crossed the Jordan River. The priests had to put their feet in the water before it would part. There was an element of risk involved in that act of faith and obedience. But what struck me was the fact that all faith and obedience, if it is truly that, has an element of risk involved. What if my faith and subsequent obedience fails? What if I step in the water and it does not part? What will that say about God’s character? Could I get injured? Did God really say that? But that is what walking by faith and not by sight is all about, isn’t it? “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Yes, there is an element of risk, but that is what makes living by faith so exciting… we get to see God work where no human power or ability could. Jesus said that we are to go and make disciples of every nation. Obeying that command by faith has an element of risk to it. What if no one listens? What if I get rejected? How will God provide for me to be able to accomplish this command?

I guess what really encouraged me through this story was that it brought me back to the character of God. He is trustworthy and faithful and he will do what he said he would do. Has God ever failed me? Never. He will part the waters. He will cause that depression to cease. He will save some from every corner of the world. He will provide where he guides. He will never reject or forsake those who are his own. Knowing this about my Father assures me that my faith is not a risk at all, when my faith is in Him.

May you be encouraged in the Greatness and Faithfulness of our God. And may you step out in faith where it looks like an impossible situation.

Have a joyous and fruitful new year,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp