Month: November 2012

Homesick

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In today’s world, I believe I am an oddity. It was not odd one hundred years ago for a person to live their whole life in a close parameter of their place of birth but it is much more unusual in our day and age, yet I live within 40 miles of my birth place and always have. I have traveled over much of the United States in my life and have seen beautiful vistas and lovely places! A few years back I spent a couple of weeks in Germany, a beautiful country. Recently had  the blessing of spending ten days in Israel and seeing a bit of Vienna in the travel process. I have enjoyed seeing many beautiful sights but have never felt a pull or drawing to any place other than the area in which I grew up! Though there is a beautiful world out there to explore, the only place that has ever felt like home and held my heart was Georgia and the hope of my Heavenly home to come.

This recent trip was different. I have had a life-long desire to see Israel and this fall the desire became a reality. I have spent years longing to see the land of the Bible, where Jesus walked, the land of Abraham, Moses; to get an idea of the culture and land where men and women of great faith resided. I was not prepared for the depth of emotion or the great love for this land that the trip would stir within me. I missed my family and longed to see them and share this experience with them; I was not prepared for the depth of desire to remain there or the pull to return again.

I have searched my heart to attempt to answer the mystery of why this journey had such an unexpected effect on me. I have discussed it at length with my husband who also feels this same magnetism. We have many theories of what contributes to the tugging at our heart but no tangible conclusion. Perhaps it is one of life’s mysteries that we are not meant to understand or possibly we haven’t processed fully what we have experienced. Could it be that the timing is just not right for us to understand? Could it have to do with God choosing Jerusalem as His chosen city or that a land a little smaller than our state of Florida seems to catch the world’s attention and many countries attempt to determine what they do about Israel? Is it the convergence of many faiths in close proximity, the hospitality and acceptance of the people? Maybe it isn’t really important to understand or define, maybe the point is more about experiencing the land, the people, and God in the land! Maybe the real treasure is more than walking where Jesus, the Disciples and Patriarchs walked and experiencing the Bible in the actual land of Promise. Could it be more than  learning about the our Savior and His Jewish roots and seeing the Word of God in a whole new light? Perhaps it is seeing a people group who has been scattered world-wide come back together in the nation God promised them and watch prophecy fulfilled before our eyes… I am betting it is all of this and so much more. It was a life changing and a trip of a lifetime and the only thing I can say for sure is that I highly recommend the trip and I hope to return at least a few more times if the Lord wills and should He tarry in His return!! It is a trip that taken for the right reason and with great guides will most assuredly change your life forever!!!

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ImageNovember 16, 2012

Shalom,

It is with many emotions today that I leave Israel.  I am  flooded with gratitude to God  for this incredible opportunity! I have  missed our family very much and I  am grateful to be very close to seeing them again but also I am  overwhelmed with the desire to extend my stay in this land. I never imagined I would feel so at home here, be hit with such a depth of desire to stay here, nor did I realize the tears that I would shed because it was time to go!  What an exceptional group of people we have been blessed to travel with! Not only those from our Lifegate family, but also those who traveled from around the states to be with us and those who planned and executed our trip, especially our excellent driver. No one can maneuver a bus like Ami does.  It has been amazing to experience the Holy Land with such knowledgable and passionate guides. Huge gratitude to both Marc and Ilan!! The insight and understanding you brought to us was priceless. It is as Moshe  said when he spoke with us in his shop, ” None come to Israel unless it is by God’s hand.”  I am sure now more than ever, the longing to come here that I have carried for all these years was God given. I also believe the it was His perfect plan that this was the proper time for us to go. I don’t know that I will ever be able to fully express my gratitude for the ability to take this trip nor my perceptions in the land, but I will surely attempt to give it my best effort over time and it will forever change my understanding when I read God’s Word.  I can not wait to return.  Not only  have I left a large portion of my heart in Israel, I will forever carry a love for  Israel and it’s people in my heart!! As my wonderful friend Don says, ” This will change your life forever!”

November 20, 2012

The above was written at the airport last Friday. By the time we landed stateside, the attacks on Israel had escalated and continue to increase. This is a country surrounded but those who want to see it destroyed! Despite constant attacks, they use restraint in their defenses and as a rule only strike back when there are Israelis injured or killed.  This is a beautiful land with beautiful and diverse citizens who dwell together in peace. The attacks are coming at the hands of terrorist groups that want to see Israel and the Jewish people destroyed, please join me in praying for the peace of Jerusalem, Israel, and it’s people!

Psalm 122:5-7. Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:  “May those who love you prosper; 7 may there be peace within your walls, prosperity within your fortresses.”

My Quick Journey through the Biblical Land of Dan

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November 10, 2012

 
Shalom! You don’t have to go far into the park until you see and hear rushing waters from the spring @ Dan. Mid-way we reach the strongest and fastest rushing water, the roar is louder than the roar of the ocean. These are living waters, here it is very different from both the desert and the wilderness areas that we have visited, this is a lush area full of life. It is very much like a sub- tropical area covered with lush green vegetation. We are asked to listen and absorb the sound and in absolute silence, we did. I will never forget the intensity of the sound, the absolute beauty of the surroundings. It is in this area that David wrote:
 
PSALM 42-LONGING FOR GOD
 
1 As a deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for You, God.
2 I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
while all day long people say to me,
“Where is your God?”
4 I remember this as I pour out my heart:
how I walked with many,
leading the festive procession to the house of God,
with joyful and thankful shouts.
 
5 Why am I so depressed?
Why this turmoil within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him,
my Savior and my God.
6 I[a] am deeply depressed;
therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan
and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls;
all Your breakers and Your billows have swept over me.
8 The Lord will send His faithful love by day;
His song will be with me in the night—
a prayer to the God of my life.
 
9 I will say to God, my rock,
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why must I go about in sorrow
because of the enemy’s oppression?”
10 My adversaries taunt me,
as if crushing my bones,
while all day long they say to me,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why am I so depressed?
Why this turmoil within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him,
my Savior and my God.
 
 David was at a crucial time of life when he was desperate for God. He was struggling to hear from God, seemingly depressed and maybe even despairing. 
 
How interesting to come here on this day, the day I buried my Mom (16 years ago) It was a great reminder how God hears and answers us. He hears the cries of His beloved, not only does God hear His children but He is moved by our cries. He will answer. It may not be the answer we want to hear, but God is faithful and He is with us always, in the darkest of times as well as the joyful times! He hears us and He answers our cries! It was a great reminder of how He heard my cries on that day that now seems so long ago and many days that followed. We may not get the answer we want to hear, but we can be assured that He answers and because His ways are higher than ours His answers are for our good, no our best! Only in Him, through Jesus can we find the life sustaining living waters that we all need to grow and flourish like a well-watered garden! It is in Him alone that we can find abundant life, satisfaction and the greatest love ever known.  Is He for us, yes! Can we trust Him, absolutely! Will we still have difficult times, almost assuredly…but in the end, with faith, obedience and our cooperation we will become more than conquerors in Christ who has exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond all we can ask or imagine planned for those who choose to walk with Him thru this life.