Rachel Kerr Schneider is an author, speaker, media personality and faith-filled entrepreneur who has lived the journey of helping someone finish well. Her memoir, The Widow Chose Red? inspires others to face heartbreak with honesty, courage and hope.

Rachel blends story telling with practical tools that help people navigate loss and provide practical strategies for putting the 'I" back in Spirit.

Website:

http://Prosperity.com

Praise God for you, Rachel.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

Angel, I'm talking to you from Dallas, Texas.

Are you aware of Dallas?

I am.

I am.

You know, we've had the opportunity to drive through the 48 states and Canada twice.

So, and at Dallas, I had the opportunity to interview a ton of people at a co-working space, which name I cannot remember now, but I'll do my very best to get that by the end and see if you've been there at some point.

That's okay.

Did you enjoy your time while you're here?

Did you have some barbecue?

Did you buy some boots?

Get a hat?

See some lawn mowers?

I loved it.

So I do fish because I'm pescetarian, but my wife, I live through the meat that my wife eats here.

So she had buffalo for the first time, actually, when she was there.

Buffalo burger, I remember vividly.

And yeah, she enjoyed it.

Was it buffalo or bison?

Something around that arena.

But yeah, she loved it.

Oh, terrific.

Terrific.

Well, I'm glad we treated you well.

Dallas is beautiful.

Beautiful.

So were you originally from Dallas?

Or did you move eventually?

No, I got here.

I got here as quickly as I could, though.

I actually grew up in the deep South in Jackson, Mississippi.

I don't know if you drove through Mississippi on your 48 state tour.

But that's where I grew up.

And then I came here and finished college.

And that was where I met my husband.

I stayed here and, and worked.

And, and that's where this is where I met John.

So that's where our story started here in Dallas.

Yeah, tell me what was that like losing John?

You know, it's, it's interesting, because I've been a widow now.

John's been John's been in heaven for almost 15 years, it'll be in September.

And I, I miss him.

I miss him every day.

Grief is an interesting thing, because it never leaves you.

It just changes.

And I have found that, that in this period of my life with my boys now grown and out of the house and being successful.

You know, I look at john, I have a picture of him on my wall every day, I have the poem that was recited the dash, which was recited at his celebration of life.

And of course, I'm talking about him more because of the book.

And I have to tell you, Angel, he might be a little upset with me because he was such a private person.

And here I am just blasting our story out all over the place.

And I think he would probably be like, Did you really have to do that, Rachel, but I did because, because our our journey was so was so heartfelt.

And, and I knew while we were going through it that God was, we would be that I would be sharing it that I just didn't know when or exactly how.

But but losing him at 50, after being together for 24 years, and, and seeing this man who was in the prime of his life and enjoying his career and all that went along with that.

And knowing to the hardest part was he knew he was not going to be able to raise his boys, he would not see them grow into the lovely young men that they are today.

And, and I think that was the hardest.

That was the hardest part.

I had my time with him.

But they they they got shortchanged in in that regard.

And for that I am always Father's Day is just is always the hardest time, the hardest holiday for me.

And for my boys to I am releasing my second book, this is part of a trilogy angel.

And so the second book, we'll talk about the boys, the Bible and the battles because after john died, there was a whole nother journey that that we that we took in dealing with that, that childhood trauma of grief.

What are you seeing that's popping up consistently as a reminder that you're doing what you're supposed to be doing?

That's a great, that's a great question.

I think that I, I, I am that person, angel, I wish God would just hit me over the two by four with a, you know, and just say, Okay, Rachel, this is what I want you to do.

I think my my greatest fear is that I won't, I won't see what the next step is, because I get so caught up in myself.

And sometimes I get in his way, right?

We all do we get in his way.

And so for me, it's like yesterday, I spoke to a group of women.

And, you know, it comes so naturally for me to share my story and to share my faith.

And I think the message for me yesterday was hearing so many women come up to me and just sharing the simple, the simple things, the reminders about one of the things I talked about was just keeping the Sabbath holy.

God wants us to rest, angel.

Why do we have such a hard time resting?

We know it's good for us.

We know he created us to rest.

He created a day for rest.

I think at this point, in my humble opinion, he probably doesn't care if we do it on Sunday or Saturday or Wednesday or Tuesday, just do it.

And we've we now, you know, live in this world where we were busy as a badge and, and it doesn't get it's not getting us any closer to him.

And so I think for me, getting that affirmation yesterday that some of the messages that that I was telling the group, that was that's an affirmation.

I think that's how I think that's how God talks to me is when I have conversations.

And with people like you, where we're where I'm able to just to just tell the story and have that conversation.

Sometimes it's one on one sign.

Sometimes it's sometimes it's not.

Yeah, let's go back to that time.

How did your conversation with God begin?

Well, when when we got this diagnosis, I will tell you, I met him at a completely different place, right?

We always when life is going along swimmingly, we're all we're all pretty good with it.

And we thank him and we say, bless this.

And we're like, you know, he's a part of our life.

But when we get to a place where someone has told you, there is no treatment, there is nothing we can do.

Go, you know, get your affairs in order.

And that's the thing about ALS, Angel, is that this disease is over 150 years old.

And they still don't know what causes it.

There are some researchers that think they're closer to a cure.

But the bottom line is, is it's the diagnosis and the devastation is still the same as it was when I when we were given this news 17 years ago.

And I think when you get when you when you get to that place, my relationship with Jesus just completely he he's in the room all the time.

I was talking to him all the time, John would look over at me and say, Who are you talking to?

And I would say, I'm having a minute with Jesus over here.

He goes, about what I go?

Well, it's about you and a couple of other things that are going on.

I just I just need to I just need to let him know where my heart is.

And so for me, that the conversations had always been there since I was a child, my prayer life, my parents modeled that for me, I was in church all the time, I knew the stories, you know, I knew about law, I knew about grace, and I knew how to talk to Jesus.

But I think that really leaning in on him totally and completely, just changes the way that you that the way that you talk to him.

Do you think many of us have the challenge of approaching God from that perspective, where we're always needing a situation to occur, to then enter into the relationship, as opposed to simply approaching?

Oh, you know what, I answered the question while I was asking it.

So you know what, let me rephrase that question.

The Sabbath helps us reflect and understand that we can approach Jesus without having a need of him.

Is that accurate?

Absolutely.

And he designed that for us to be able to have that time with him.

And to also act, as you said, to reflect and to reset.

I mean, even Jesus rested, he took a time out, he needed it.

So I think that you're so right, because I think in the course of our everyday life, we forget to invite him into that.

And yet, I know that we think that we are, you know, it's like a lot of times, Angel, I'll make a decision, and then I'll go, Oh, okay, Lord, could you bless that and make that way easy for me?

And he's thinking, Rachel, could you have just brought me into that whole decision making process?

Because I've got the capacity, I've got the capacity to help you with anything, all the time, big or small.

And I've had discussions with people, Angel, who are like, oh, you know, he doesn't want to be involved in every detail of your life.

And I just choose to think differently, because he is who he is.

And he loves us like he does.

And he knows us like he does and created us like he did.

I believe that he wants to be a part of everything in our lives.

Something that caught my attention when I was preparing is you talk about putting the I back in spirit.

Could you expand on that for me, please?

Absolutely.

So that's kind of become like my trademark, because what I have found is that we seek once first point, we forget, Angel, that we've been gifted as believers.

We've been gifted with the Holy Spirit inside of us the gift of the Holy Spirit inside of us.

It has been left inside of us put inside of us to advocate to comfort to minister to be there for us.

We forget as individuals that that power resides in us.

So I want to remind people of that supernatural superpower that we have in the form of the Holy Spirit within us.

And the second thing is, is that I think because we forget that we have that we try to soothe our spirit in ways that are not helpful.

It may be through different behaviors, patterns of behavior.

And what we find is that those things that we thought would bring us comfort and joy do not because we've gone outside.

And the answer is inside.

And it's through sometimes taking that day of rest and having that time that we can nurture our spirit, calm our spirit, restore our spirit.

And spirit can exist without I.

There are two I's in it actually.

So it takes the two of us.

It takes us along with God to restore that and to ask that Holy Spirit within us to be stirred up and to fortify us in what really matters in our life.

And I think that sometimes, you know, I'm 63 years old now, I wish that I had kind of had someone talk to me like that earlier in my life.

Because I, you know, we get in these seasons of our life where we're so busy that sometimes we forget who we are and whose we are.

In all of your experiences, when did the understanding of prosperity come into your life as something that you've realized needed to not only be done by you or embarked upon, but also taught?

Well, here's the thing.

We've all, prosperity for the longest time was defined just as financial, right?

In terms of wealth, in terms of money, you were prosperous, right?

You had prosperity, you were enjoying prosperity.

When I talk about spirited prosperity, for me, a Holy Spirit is the spirit that I'm talking about and the prosperity that I think God wants for all of us is for us to be to experience prosperity in all parts of our life, mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually.

The financial piece, of course, but this is not about the prosperity gospel.

This is about a way of life.

This is about an attitude of prosperity that you maintain and that you seek and that you just hold a deep belief in because I do believe that we were created to be prosperous on so many other levels and not just financially.

When did it happen though?

When did your eyes open to that?

I think for me, it came when I realized that this life that I thought I was going to lead was going to look very, very different.

And I didn't know, John was the primary breadwinner.

I didn't know what the financial piece was going to look like.

I didn't know what the emotional piece, I really didn't know what the toll was going to be in terms of going through this experience.

But I did know that if I kept myself fortified with the spiritual side of it and with my relationship, I knew that God, I actually just leaned all in and said, okay, Lord, my life is yours.

I don't know how you're going to do this.

I don't know how I'm going to do this, but I know that you've got a plan.

Just help me in my unbelief.

Help me keep believing that you've got this, that you're holding me and you are not going to let me fall.

And in that moment, understanding that even though life might not continue to look like what I thought it would, different did not necessarily mean bad.

Hmm.

I would imagine it was very tough, wasn't it?

Yeah.

I think I was just in so much shock after John died, not in a bad way, but just realizing that that part of the journey was over, but not even realizing, Angel, what was still yet ahead.

And my oldest son's journey through addiction, my youngest son losing his best friend to fentanyl, I mean, these are things that were still yet to come.

So, you know, we are all going to be, life is going to surprise us, whether it's in good ways or bad ways.

And I think that us staying fortified in what really matters is so important to prepare us for what might be coming ahead.

Hmm.

If you're listening to this conversation five years from today and of course you would have heard the evolution of who you are, Rachel, where you lost John, you went through your son's being raised and the challenges that went with addiction to being someone that's actually speaking to others, encouraging others and motivating others today, what would you leave a message?

What would you leave as a message for future you?

I would continue to remind myself that even when you're happily ever after doesn't turn out the way that you wanted, when you live hopefully ever after with your belief in who God is, then you will have a life that is more abundant than you could ever realize in ways that you never imagined.

And I have found that to be true for myself and I will continue to remind myself and others about that because, you know, as I said, we're not done with the challenge.

There will always be challenges as long as we're here on this earth.

Is there any question that I could have asked that I didn't ask that would have helped you serve us better?

No, you covered some great things.

Very, very, very nice, Angel.

Really, you covered some great things.

Wonderful.

This has been a joy to hear that you've not only experienced what you have but you've decided to share with others, of course via voice, via your speaking, via your books.

Amazing audience links are in the show notes.

Rachel, this is a pleasure that I treasure.

In closing, is there anything else you'd like to share?

I'd just like to wish you Godspeed on your journey, Angel.

You and all of your listeners, I just pray that you will continue on your journey and that you will allow him to lead the way.

Rachel, a pleasure I treasure.

Thank you for being what is inspired by 12-Minute Converse.