Category Archives: Jerusalem

April 6, 2014 · 7:42 am

Inside Israel

Once again, it’s time to hear from our sister in Jerusalem about what she is witnessing there as a believer in Yeshua. Put your prayer shawls on and pray for Israel and Sister J. Now here she is …

Blessings, dear sisters and brothers. May you be blessed and may The Lord Yeshua h’Meshiach be glorified and blessed.

Would you believe…PASSOVER ALREADY?

It happens very suddenly every year. One morning everyone is cleaning. The stores are getting a good scrubbing down. Buckets and a huge assortment of cleaning items take front and center stage in the shops on the sale aisles. Lines are longer and everyone’s shopping basket seems full of soaps and scrubbing items in all shapes and sizes.

I look at my calendar, still more then 2 and a half weeks away. None the less, as I look for my husband’s cereal, I see that it has already been quarantined and assigned to the “hometz zone” (leaven, not kosher for Pesach – Passover). It sits forlorn in a back aisle, joined by all sorts of other items that you might suspect had leprosy. They are not freshly dusted like every other item in the store. Taking their places, all shiny and dusted are rows of matzo, matzo meal, “kosher for Passover” cookies, cakes, candies, gefilte fish, horse radish, and on and on the rows spread.

The price wars begin. Chicken on sale for 4.90 shekels a kilo (usually 30), but tomatoes (a local staple) jump from shekel and a half a kilo to 9.80. I keep walking. The aisle is full of men and women like me who are wondering, “So what is kosher for Passover THIS year?” Yes, it does change from year to year according to what the rabbis decide.

And little wonder.

When I arrived at work on Thursday, I asked my boss how the lecture that he attended the previous night at the synagogue went. “Oh, it was VERY interesting,” he told me enthusiastically. “We discussed the nature of hometz.”

Now, according to MY (perhaps unlearned) reading of the Bible, “hometz” is leaven…period. Being a simple housewife, it seems to me that leaven is something that you ADD to a food to MAKE IT RISE. That is not the definition according to different streams of Judaism. Many people define ANYTHING that can be MADE to rise as “hometz,” which then includes rice, corn, flour, beans, etc. The list grows l-o-n-g and gives way to much philosophical discussion.

My boss continued, “So, if water added to flour causes it to rise, WHAT IF someone drops some flour into the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee – our main drinking water reservoir in the country), does the Kinneret become “hometz” and we can not drink the water?”

I stared at him. Not biting my tongue soon enough I said, “When a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise? This kind of philosophical questions drove me crazy when I was a kid!” NOT a constructive thing to say to a man who considered this a serious question of religion.

I thought of Yeshua’s statement that “they strain at a gnat and swallow a camel,” remembering that these same wise men have deemed baking soda as kosher for Passover. How THAT works I will never understand! I am NOT saying that I know more then the rabbis. Many pearls of wisdom have been shared by these often very learned men. But standing with Yeshua we ask to see through HIS Eyes and to let this mind be in us which is in Him. I often grieve at how the traditions of men and the reasoning of men can divert from the beauty of His Way.

AT ANY RATE, tradition aside for a moment, Passover IS the most important date on our calendar. The more that I read through the Bible, the more I am struck with the fact that the Passover appears to be the pivotal event from Genesis through Revelation. I say Genesis because the SEED of the Exodus was already planted in the days of Joseph or even Abraham. I say Revelation because it IS the full revelation of Yeshua and His ultimate reign in all of the heavens and earth, that is the goal. Christ, our Passover, Messiah, The Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world. The Blood of the spotless Lamb that liberates ALL slaves and sets the captives free and delivers us from the angel of death himself.

And from Genesis to Revelation we are commanded to REMEMBER.

It has really taken me all of these years to begin to see the beautiful golden thread that weaves together command after command to REMEMBER The Hand that brought us OUT to bring us IN. I am just beginning to see it and yet even in this small beginning, it has become too BIG to describe and I find myself wordless.

If you have never done a word study of Passover, I encourage you to grab a concordance or a computer concordance and simply read ALL of the verses, praying first for The Holy Spirit to begin to open to you the magnitude of what The Lord did, is doing and will do. He uses this one event as a lesson and an example of Who He is and His plan for each of us on both the personal level and all the way to His world plan.

I have been asking Him to open my understanding so that when I sit down at the seder table, some of the awe of what He is telling us to re-tell and re-member will overwhelm me and help me be re-newed in my first love.

One of the things that I have been thinking about this week is how Passover is replete with separation. Separation by Blood, by Cloud and Pillar of Fire, by leaven, and by law. Separated “from” and separated “to.”

Ok. This is “portion 1” and may it make you hungry to dig. I am hoping to share more of the traditions as they are carried out here in Jerusalem: what I observe; see with my eyes and hear with my ears and WISH you could smell with your noses, but I must stop for now.

In the midst of all of this, have you heard what is going on with the peace process here? It is for me a crucial area of prayer: Lord help us! May He overrule the plans of men. May He LAUGH at them.

Thank you for letting me share a glimpse into a way of life that has remained much unchanged for 3,000 years or more. I must go, but send you MUCH love,

Your sis, J

4 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, Gifts of the Spirit, Israel, Jerusalem, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, spiritual warfare

Tagged as Christianity, Church, Gifts of the Spirit, Israel, Jerusalem, Kingdom of God, Prophecy, Spiritual warfare

March 30, 2014 · 8:14 am

Inside Israel

Greetings for His glory on Shushan PURIM,

Well, even though He is not mentioned once in the book of Esther, none the less it IS all about God. And I realized from an interesting comment that not everyone knows about Purim, a subject I have been writing about for years. Some of you are new and that is a joy.

For Jews, Esther is part of our history book and reminds us of the days during dispersion. And by comparison, it reminds us ALSO to rejoice that we are now free in our homeland, the land of promise.

It seems to me that EVERYTHING that The Lord does, He does to cause us to REMEMBER Who He is, what He has done for us, and what He requires of us. We have proven that we don’t have very long memories and our commitments are not always as deep as we wish, right?

Esther is not a difficult Old Testament book to understand and the queen is well known for her famous response of, “If I perish, I perish…” to her uncle Mordachai’s statement:

“Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:13-16.

It is the one book in the Bible where God’s Name is not used and yet He is evident on each page. I love the pause between chapters 5 and 6. Chapter 6 begins with the simple statement:

“That night the king could not sleep.” And we know from that moment on, every thing changed. At the petition of His children, God invades the plans of men.

At the time (around 500 B.C.), there was anti-Semitism against the Jewish population of Persia, much the same as it has been throughout history.

What is interesting about Haman is that he was an Agagite. Fear grips my soul whenever I think of King Saul, the compromising, weak king who became the enemy of David and the enemy of God through his fears, disobedience and half obedience. It was Saul who was told to destroy the Amalekites, but who spared King Agag. Just as Abraham’s side track into the flesh resulted in an Ishmael, the results of which continue to play out today, so we see Haman the Agagite rising up with a hatred shown so clearly in Esther 3:8,9:

Then Haman said to KingAhasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed… “

I don’t need to read the book for you or to tell you the story, but to translate it and be your eyes and ears as to how it is followed TODAY in the land of Israel, particularly Jerusalem. The descendents of Esther who would NOT BE ALIVE TODAY (including me) but for the INTERVENTION OF GOD, over and over again, to show His faithfulness to the unthankful, His faithfulness to His eternal promises and the purpose to make His Name known and be glorified and KNOWN among His children, and to a lost and dying world. How GOOD He is.

So, it is written in chapter 9 of Esther:

18 But the Jews who were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day, as well as on the fourteenth; and on the fifteenth of the month they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 19 Therefore the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled towns celebrated the fourteenth day of the month of Adarwith gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and for sending presents to oneanother. 20 And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews, near and far, who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, 21 to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, 22 as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor. 23 So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them, 24 because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to annihilate them, and had cast Pur (that is, the lot), to consume them and destroy them; 25 but when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that this wicked plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 So they called these days Purim, after the name Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had happened to them, 27 the Jews established and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants and all who would join them, that without fail they should celebrate these two days every year, according to the written instructions and according to the prescribed time, 28 that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants.”

And so it is celebrated today.

In the time of Aviv (Spring) on the 14th and 15th day of the Hebrew month of Adar, it is celebrated with a contagious joy, the giving of gift baskets, parades, the wearing of costumes, and the custom among the ultra orthodox men of drinking until they can not recognize their friend from their enemy. All of this comes from the idea that the opposite happened of what was intended and worked out for the good of the Jews.

The book of Esther (Magillet Esther) is read freely by everyone all over the country in gatherings, and noisemakers (greggors) and even fire crackers are set off in a racket at every mention of the name of Haman during the reading. What a belegan! You might scratch your head to think of a night in an orthodox synagogue when the most religious of men become drunk and the children are encouraged to set off fire crackers and make a racket during the service, but this is all part of the custom and rejoicing. And yes, baskets of goodies are given to one and all.

It is a time to bring a treat to the guard at the market door or to the bus driver and to wish them “Purim sa’maech” or Happy Purim. There are fun parties, particularly for the children, with special songs and foods. In Israel, a large Purim is celebrated on the first day but in walled cities, such as Jerusalem, we celebrate the second day which means that today is Purim here for us. It is fun to see all of the little Queen Esthers out on the street, dressed as small beaming brides bringing baskets to loved ones.

May we always be reminded to lift our voices, and our lives to Him in THANKSGIVING for His great deliverance from the death penalty of sin. May we choose like Esther…”if I perish, I perish.” May there be nights that we just can’t sleep and instead grab hold of some key Truth that was buried to us before that night. And may we be just who we are meant to be, doing His will, even if it is faithfully cleaning bathrooms, “for such a time as this.”

God bless each of you. Thank you for your patience, grace and love.

Lovingly,

your sis J

6 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, Gifts of the Spirit, Israel, Jerusalem, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prophecy, spiritual warfare

Tagged as Christianity, Church, Gifts of the Spirit, Israel, Jerusalem, Kingdom of God, Prophecy, Spiritual warfare

March 23, 2014 · 8:48 am

Inside Israel

Once again, it’s time to hear from our sister in Jerusalem about what she is witnessing there as a believer in Yeshua. Put your prayer shawls on and pray for Israel and Sister J. Now here she is …

Blessings from quiet Jerusalem on a beautiful shabat in springtime. May The Lord Yeshua be blessed and glorified and may you be blessed and edified. Together may we be encouraged deeper, deeper into Him.

A couple of weeks ago, as my husband and I were out for our Shabat walk in the mountains surrounding Jerusalem, we had to laugh with joy at the wonder of the spring carpet of nearly microscopic flowers. This isn’t the first time that I’ve seen them, nor is it the first place. The first time I saw them was back in 1975 in California in the large horse pasture in front of our so-called cabin. I was so knew in knowing Him, but His tender voice called me to join Him outside for a walk.

As we walked that very early spring morning, I felt Him tell me to look down. So I did. I could barely discern the tiny white flowers. I got down on my knees to look, and there before me was a literal carpet of these itty bitty white flowers stretching as far as my eye could see. When I stood up, it all looked green again, but now I was aware of the flowers so that my eyes could pick them out. I worshipped Him for His beauty.

Later that evening, around sunset, He seemed to call me outside again and repeat the walk, so I went. Again I felt Him tell me to look down. As I did this time I saw a different carpet, for the evening, there were tiny diamonds of purple in the grass. They looked the same and they were just as abundant, but as different as, well, sunrise and sunset. As I worshipped Him for such beauty and thought about how billions of flowers are hidden from human eyes, blooming in remote corners of the earth for a day or an hour or even a minute, I felt that I heard His Voice speaking to me. He said, “You are on your path and someday you will meet The Artist Who created all of this.”

I’m sorry that I can’t capture for you the true wonder of the moment, but such a shiver of anticipation and longing went through me. I recall that day whenever I see again the tiny hidden joyful wonders.

This past Monday I stood outside of work waiting for someone. I looked up. My mouth dropped open and my heart leapt for flying over my head were the migrating storks coming from Africa. Now, if you haven’t seen them, these storks are BIG. They darkened the sky as they flew over. I’ve had the great privilege of living near and often seeing great flights of the California Condor, bald eagles in huge number, the migration of the trumpeter swans, snow geese, and others, but you can only see them when you look up.

I called to a young woman passing by, telling her excitedly, “Look, look up,” but she had her iPhone stuck in her ears and couldn’t hear me. She missed it.

And that got me praying and thinking as I stood there waiting, about how we have to have eyes to see and ears to hear or we miss it in the Spirit as well as the flesh. I thought, “There He is when I look down, and there He is when I look up.” I began to meditate on His ABSOLUTE FAITHFULNESS when I look at WHO is behind it all. All around me are His Fingerprints and my faith received the boost that I had been praying for. But OF COURSE He already is in the future, which my brain knows, but perhaps it is only me who finds themselves of little faith.

Israel is one of the world’s centers for bird watching, by the way. Situated in the fertile crescent, at the corner of Africa, Europe and the Orient, the bird migrations are wonderful. The country has cultivated areas to make it both safe and inviting to God’s creatures as they carry out their mysterious pattern. There is just so much of His character illustrated in the creatures, but I guess, in all creation and particularly in man, all are created in His Image.

Now, THAT is the lesson that I have found so hard to learn.

When I left NYC in my late teens, early twenties, it was because I never LIKED people, and NYC was FULL of them. Noisy, demanding PEOPLE. They didn’t understand me and I didn’t understand them and that was that. I am pretty sure that I told you that very shortly after I was saved, while living in the same house with the horse pasture I mentioned above, a difficult thing had happened. I went running up the mountain behind my house and pressed into Him until I was worshipping Him and enjoying the stillness of the trees and the beauty that seemed to worship all around me. I said to Him, “Oh it is so wonderful. I will just stay in the woods and worship You with all of nature.”

He answered me with a sad tinge in His Voice, calling me by name, “I did not die for the trees.”

And I knew that He was not going to allow me to live in remote areas forever and it scared me. However in His mercy, He allowed me so many years of learning in those hot houses that He has, undisturbed by noise and the demands of hustle and bustle.

In this new apartment I am finding that I have to finally face this battle with my flesh once and for all.

I think that is why that above faith lesson was so critical for me just now. My CONFESSION can be right on and I DO believe what I confess, but my EMOTIONS have been in utter rebellion. I grump to The Lord that I want the leeks and garlic of Egypt . It gives me the shivers just to think of it that way.

I ride the noisy uncomfortable train, the bus, work in a high demand noisy doctor’s office, ride the noisy bus and train again and then come home. And at home, there is MORE noise and people shouting in front of my apartment and yet you are telling me to PRAY for them and, even worse, to LOVE them and I DON’T.

Oh I can love and pray for people in nice small portions, bouquets’ of people, but ALL OF THESE? HELP!

And He is. Slowly slowly I am going out on to our “merepesset” (balcony) and praying for all of the people below me. I WANT to love them as He loves them and see each one as an individual. I WANT to care about their eternity. And I WANT to pray for them in earnest and with His passion. He IS faithful.

So, those are my observations for today. ..and some confessions. God bless and keep you close to Him for His glory and the furtherance of His kingdom.

Lovingly,

your sis in Jerusalem J

5 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Gifts of the Spirit, grace, Israel, Jerusalem, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, spiritual warfare

Tagged as Christianity, Gifts of the Spirit, Israel, Jerusalem, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, Spiritual warfare

March 16, 2014 · 8:12 am

Inside Israel

Blessings to you with love, dear sisters and brothers. May you be encouraged and blessed, and may The Lord of Glory be blessed and glorified.

The bus was leaking this morning, the morning of the fast of Esther. No, it wasn’t leaking gas, as our apartment was earlier this week, but water. No again, not from the radiator. I contemplated opening my umbrella, but as everyone else was being very stoic about this, I decided that I would be too. True, the rain was not as heavy INSIDE of the bus as it was outside, and I was blessed that this morning my seat was not wet, as it had been yesterday. Thank God for the rain! Even if the weather shift causes the rain to fall in torrential buckets for several days at a time rather then being scattered more evenly throughout the winter and spring, the water is a blessing and we are thankful.

And the storms are DRAMATIC to say the least.

Today is the fast of Esther. Purim is rapidly approaching when Jews everywhere celebrate survival, as a people, against all odds. Although Purim specifically celebrates our survival at the time of Esther, it is symbolic of the ancient and ongoing battle, but the means are still the same today. There are always some raised up “for such a time as this.”

The book of Esther will be read in synagogues, homes, on the bus, and really wherever people gather together, and festive activities will follow. Around the country, Purim begins this year on Saturday night through Sunday, but in Jerusalem (the walled city), Purim is Sunday night through Monday. Our shops have been filled with costumes as people, especially children, dress up…traditionally as Queen Esther and Mordachai. However, sadly, more and more super heroes and monsters are replacing the Biblical heroes.

Baskets full of tasty morsels are given out (mishloach manoat – sent portions) as gifts, baskets with sweets, humantasin – or oznaim haman (a 3 pointed filled cookie graphically called “Haman’s ears”), small bottles of wine or grape juice and the like. It is not my favorite holiday because I see it as having veered away from the focus of God’s great deliverance to a Halloween type party, and that is sad. But on the fast day I think of Esther being called “for such a time as this,” and each of us being called in our own place and purpose. Who was she?

I had the great and undeserved privilege last July to share with a large international group of praying ladies, and the topic was “for such a time as this.” As I prayed through my preparation, I was so struck by God’s timing. He said: “And it shall happen in the last days…” and “the time drew near…” and “The time is not yet…” and “As the time approached…” and “The time is very near…” and “As you see the time approaching… and “AND IT CAME TO PASS…” and many other exhortations.

I think again of the weather outside. It is very cold, much colder then we would normally expect at this time of year, nevertheless, the trees are bursting forth with new leaves, as are the flowers, and the spring birds have arrived and built their nests. They do not consider the weather. They KNOW THEIR TIME.

I was reading Matthew 24 again this morning in my regular reading. I am so thankful for this “roadmap chapter” that lays out so clearly: “Then…” and “Then…” and “When you see this…” I find His landmarks very clear. I don’t know what the fuss is sometimes between those who wrestle with prophecy because He told us.

And again I think of Esther. She found herself where she found herself “for such a time as this.” She was given a choice and could have let God raise someone else up. After all, she began as an orphan, became a queen, but she did not choose this path herself. She let God choose and she walked it out. I suspect that she would have walked as faithfully as an unknown servant.

Today I know that is what I want: to let God choose the path and then to faithfully walk it out, looking unto Yeshua, The Author and Finisher of my faith. I have no faith of my own; it is all His.

And in the midst of the path I find sisters and brothers with encouragement for me. Friends come from afar and oh how they strengthen my hands. May I strengthen theirs. His wonderful body in action.

Today in Israel I watch the seasons. There were 70 or more rockets fired at Israel last night from Gaza. British Prime Minister Cameron, visiting Israel, dazzled our Knesset yesterday with such supportive words, very unusual from a European leader or any leader. Yet as I listened to his speech, I heard him calling clearly for the return to the indefensible 1967 borders and division of Jerusalem. I read God’s Word and see that if we obey the world we disobey God. How will it play out? How will we walk in the midst? Will our eyes behold terrible things and if they do, how will we stand? More agonizing situations in Ukraine, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, we loose track sometimes of all of the problems.

And my bus leaks.

There is humor in watching the rain fall inside of the bus. May we all find our full strength in Him to keep walking, faithfully, wherever He puts us and may it be ALL for HIS glory alone.

Thanks for letting me share. Blessing and peace in His Presence to each of you.

Lovingly,

your sis J

2 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Israel, Jerusalem, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, spiritual warfare

Tagged as Christianity, Church, Gifts of the Spirit, Israel, Jerusalem, Kingdom of God, Prophecy, Spiritual warfare

March 9, 2014 · 8:54 am

Inside Israel

Greetings with love from the city, which bares His fingerprints. May Yeshua be glorified and blessed and may you be blessed and encouraged in all of His best for you.

In the midst of everything, my husband gave me a most wonderful gift of a singing canary. I have always loved animals and have had a number of canaries, but never a red one, like this one. The Middle Eastern canaries are red and this one sings the most beautiful song.

Since we have our Grandson’s aggressive cat, I decided our bird needed a stronger home than the one he had at first. I purchased one and was carrying it home on the train, draped in a plastic bag. It was late afternoon and everyone looked weary and bedraggled. A small tired looking pregnant woman from Ethiopia stood by me and spied the cage as I protected it from bumps and knocks. She smiled a happy smile. “Oh! Is there a bird in there? Can I see?”

I smiled back. “No. I’m afraid that he is at home but he has such a beautiful song that I wanted him to have a good home.”

She clapped. Another young woman piped in: “Oh how wonderful! To have a bird sing in your apartment!” She too began smiling. Soon all of the people around me were happy and talking, enjoying just the THOUGHT of God’s creatures.

And that is how my Israel is…people TALK to each other. Strangers don’t remain strangers. Everyone joins into conversations, discussions, gives opinions, and it just always seems like family.

Today, I watched a young Haradi man talking to a soldier and asking about what it was like being a soldier and soon they were embracing and were friends. I remember being so touched by the young female soldier who got on the bus and passed out large bags of candy a number of years ago. “Celebrate with me! It is my 18^th birthday today.” she announced and everyone happily shared her candy to the cries of “Mazel Tov! Mazel Tov!”

Another will say, “Please hold my baby while I go and pay the driver,” and yet another will pass his money forward and ask someone to pay the driver for him. The accurate change coming back hand to hand in the same manner. Some of these things I see less these days as we moved from bus service to “smart cards” trains. However the same helpful heart is there as those of us more technically challenged try to figure out all of the right buttons to push.

This attitude that I find unique to Israel carried over into my work today. Esther is what we call here a mez’ken’ah…sort of poor thing, which means she is mentally disturbed. During the 16 or more years, I have worked for this doctor, I pass her almost daily as she walks the neighborhood streets, sometimes with a large dog. She is perhaps what we used to call retarded as well as psychotic, but she is harmless and approaches people for money or advice or just to talk and share something on her mind that usually isn’t coherent. Everyone talks to her and gives her what she may need. What seems different here is that no one appears embarrassed to be talking to her or to any other needy person.

For the past two weeks she has become more and more needy and out of it. She has begun coming into our office and demanding things, going to the bathroom and asking for meds, things she has never done before because she is not our patient. Over the past week she has come in daily and been more and more disruptive. We have discussed it as she appeared to be entering a crisis.

Today the crisis point hit and we needed to call the police and this is where the beauty of the mercy of it all touched me. She was stuck in the bathroom, unable to get herself dressed, with the door wide open. I couldn’t help her myself so another patient and the doctor helped. We sat her down and tried to adjust her to a comfortable position to await the police and to comfort her fears. A team of four of the most compassionate police appeared. They gently talked with her, so patiently. This poor lady was filthy and disheveled but she is a person and everyone tried to help her, patients as well as the police and all of us.

It was finally decided to call an ambulance. She was swollen and her pulse was rapid. She wasn’t well. I listened as an even more compassionate and volunteer ambulance worker calmed her and asked her questions in a way that finally produced some answers, like her name and an address. Later, another patient who lives in the area filled in some details. She is 63 but it turns out that there are FOUR unmarried siblings who all live together in an apartment that must have been left to them by their parents. The neighbor said they are all like that and that there is one brother worse off then she is, who only leaves the house to go to the hospital, so social workers must look after them. Esther. I put her name on my prayer list, but the incident stayed in my mind.

This morning, on my way to the IFI prayer meeting, I was in the elevator with a policeman (sho’tair in Hebrew) and turned to him (Israeli style) and told him enough of the story to be able to say, “Thank you for the kindness and compassion that your people show to the poor ones.”

He was so thankful to receive the encouragement. It continued later on when I gave the same encouragement to one of our patients. She AND her husband are police officers, and her face got so soft as I thanked her as well. Personal touches, they can do so much. And here, where I live, where I am so often unable to share HIS NAME and HIS TESTIMONY, I can share a touch IN His Name and pray that it prepares soil, breaks up fallow ground, and softens it, so that it will one day produce fruit 100 fold.

And so our Prime Minister has been to America. As far as we can see, it APPEARS that he was able to stand firm. However, none of us know what is happening behind the scenes. While he was there, we saw the dramatic capture of the Iranian arms ship bound for Gaza. It was the smoothest operation that I have witnessed since living here and the whole nation was encouraged. It could have been a scene in a 007 movie. The film clips are playing again and again in our media. The weapons on board, so well hidden, would have enabled Hamas in Gaza to reach every part of the country.

I hear over and over again: “Now the world will U-N-D-E-R-S-T-A-N-D!” I sigh and think, “No. They won’t. Not at all.”

And I remember the Keren A vessel captured a number of years ago, also loaded with weapons. The world seemed ANGRY at us for capturing it. Already Iran is denying all involvement with these weapons and the media is claiming that the timing was just too well set. This world is upside down. Its problems won’t be solved by man’s efforts.

But we can encourage one another to walk steadily in His Light, in the Light that we have. I want to thank you all for being such an encouragement to me. It’s such a big plan and we have such a small part, but oh, to see His glory and be able to bring just some glory to His Name. What a privilege!

It will be Shabat soon and I must prepare dinner. My husband, who is VERY weary, just made reservations to hopefully go to California and meet our new Granddaughter and to be with all of our Grandchildren and children from 23 April to 12 May. He has not been feeling well and we hope he will be able to go. Thank you for your prayers for him and for all of our family as they are brought to mind.

God bless and strengthen each of you in Him.

Lovingly,

your sis J

2 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, Gifts of the Spirit, Israel, Jerusalem, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, spiritual warfare

Tagged as Christianity, Church, Israel, Jerusalem, Kingdom of God, Prophecy, Spiritual warfare

March 2, 2014 · 9:04 am

Inside Israel

Greetings from “shut-down” Jerusalem, dear sisters and brothers. May The Lord be blessed and glorified and may you be blessed and encouraged.

A strong south wind blew throughout the night. The name given to that wind, which comes off of the desert is Sharav. It often fills the air with yellow sand and intense dry heat. Sometimes a “mud-like rain” is mixed with it. Today the wind blows cold dry air and then later it changes to hot dry air. It always brings with it a strange atmosphere and the air is always thick. That is very appropriate today.

At approximately noon today, the lite rail stopped working until 8 p.m. this evening. Schools sent the children home early and many shops did not open. What caused this to happen today? This is how one of the local websites announced it:

Jerusalem Under Siege: Mass Haredi Protests Set to Begin. Hundreds of thousands of protesters, blockades throughout the city, and no school — these are all of the challenges that stand before the Israeli Police because of the huge Haredi protests against the draft law going into effect on Sunday. The heads of the Haredi communities have called on the hundreds of thousands of followers to join in the protests.

It is very complicated.

In the past I have tried to explain some of the differences between the many different streams of Judaism. I have compared it to Christianity with its different denominations, different streams within each denomination, and then differences from one pastor’s teaching to another. It can be very frustrating when an Israeli Jew will say, “Well the CHRISTIANS believe…” and then goes on to quote a Greek Orthodox, or Catholic Priest or a Mormon. So it is with Judaism, and today a “million man march” is scheduled to take place shutting down our already stressful city.

Now a little history, theology and speculation are in order:

There has always been a religious sector of Judaism, which does not engage in physical conflicts, but instead in prayer and study of the Torah. This group in the past has enjoyed state subsidies. But over the last few years the number of students or scholars has swollen and this life style has become a financial burden for our society. There has been much arguing and debate and mudslinging – mostly by the left. It finally was decided that there must be a quota of how many are really called to be set apart in this way. Therefore the rest must perform some form of national service.

This was being slowly introduced, but the left decided that it wasn’t enough. This sector of government recently added the pressure of jail time for those who don’t show up for draft and also mandatory combat army instead of the option of national service. The status quo has held through the years and, contrary to what some say, many religious people DO go to the army and then join the work force.

The rock met the hard place and rather then progress and results, we have a stand off. As I said, it is a VERY complicated issue. But as I sit in my front row seat at our apartment, thousands of Haredi people (they are distinguished by their black and white clothing, men in tall hats with side curls and beards, etc.) make their way to the center of the city. A verse of scripture crosses my mind:

For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Romans 10:2

I remember Ofer exhorting us last night to pray for the Haredi that if they are now zealous WITHOUT knowledge, what will they be when their eyes are open. Perhaps you will also take this opportunity to – first and foremost pray for Haredim to come to HIM. (This is the background that my son in law is from…and so I pray for him and for his family).

There is need for prayer so that this does not turn violent, nor harden the two sides even more extremely into wider positions…AND…for a just and righteous solution. Surely God has His plans and they are always best for all. I just went out on my ‘merepeset’ (balcony) to pray and the scene below me was powerful. Thousands upon thousands of orderly families, small children with name tags and phone numbers on them, quietly but determinedly swiftly walking, some singing and dancing, 10, 20, 50 abreast toward the center of town. They also look like an army. Check out ynet news for possible updates here.

It is all a part of, if not a significant expression of, the spiritual intensity of the season.

If you are reading this letter, then you already KNOW that Israel is not just another country. You have understood that God owns the deed to this land and that He takes very seriously what happens to His possession, the place where He chose to put His Name, the place where He described and marked out the boundaries and borders.

Our Prime Minister is scheduled to leave today for the US where he will meet with President Obama on Thursday. Obama is also scheduled to meet the Palestinian leader, Machmude Abbas, in the coming weeks. I don’t know how many of you are aware of the intensity of this current peace process, which is being pushed upon us, but I do think that most of you are aware of the implications. I fear for America if she continues along this path of dividing Israel. I ask for prayer for Prime Minister Netanyahu that he will stand firm in the face of humanly unbearable world pressure, particularly to divide Jerusalem.

Our Prime Minister seems to stand alone in his opinion of the threat Israel faces from Iran and has continually angered the international community by bringing it up again and again and again. Then there is the Syrian war on our northern border, with Hezbollah stationed in Lebanon. There has been a steady increase in the number of missiles landing in Israeli borders and vigilance is necessary and high. Egypt, on our southern border, remains unstable and now Ukraine is also in turmoil. We have many Israelis with ties to both Ukraine and Russia.

As I said, “Tensions are high.”

It is a GOOD TIME to be fixed in The Lord, standing firm on The Rock and looking away unto Yeshua. Please pray for the church in your own country as well as for the situations here. Although many of the churches in the west understand what’s going on, many do NOT. May His discernment be our rear guard and our present filter on all that we hear and think.

God bless you and encourage you. I send much love.

Your sis,

4 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, Gifts of the Spirit, Israel, Jerusalem, Kingdom of God, Prayer, spiritual warfare

Tagged as Christianity, Church, Israel, Jerusalem, Prophecy, Spiritual warfare

February 23, 2014 · 8:22 am

Inside Israel

Beloved sisters and brothers in Yeshua, I greet you in The precious Name of our Lord, may He be blessed and glorified, and may you be blessed today.

Well…where would I begin. I have missed all of you in this season of personal change and challenge. Nothing has been comfortable for me, but I strive to rest in the new realities of my life. This is NOT an attempt to sound spiritually squeaky clean, because I am NOT. But I do want to be transparent as I try to share what is going on, since many of you have been praying for us and I so thank you for your prayers.

In other times of my life, it seemed easier to blend His Life in me with the daily situations. Oh, I am NOT saying life was easy by any means because we all have our mountains. But my surroundings always gave me a corner of comfort for myself. I have been so blessed to live in such beautiful regions where it was peaceful and there were beautiful things to look at. I have always had a chair with my Bible beside it, which added to the peace. Ah, the seasons of life! How GOOD He was to give me such blessings, and how GOOD He is to take it away now.

As I write this, there is the piercing scream of a shop alarm going off. It has been going for over an hour across the street from us. Although it is Shabat, on this main road the din of traffic is only drowned out by the loud groups of people enjoying the sunshine, children playing, and teens blaring music.

We were blessed by the young people from my fellowship (kehila) who came to help my husband paint while I visited our children in America. This past Shabat, one of them, Tsaki, said to me, “I really loved your new apartment when I stood out on the merepeset(sort of balcony). It is RIGHT in the middle of everything and you can pray for the whole city. I choked! Tsaki and his family live in a beautiful, quiet, rural yeshuv (village).

I answered in my head, “Well I have plenty of opportunity to pray for the whole city as I ride the packed trains and buses to my stressful job every day.”Thank God, the words did not come out of my mouth. But his words burned their way into my heart adding another “nail in a sure place.”

I walked out onto my merepeset later on and looked down. There were 3 young guys getting drunk. Across the railroad tracks was the newly widowed neighbor, standing, lost in his grief. “Yes Lord,” I answered. “Make me willing to embrace all of this change that I didn’t want, that isn’t comfortable. Give me a new heart to pray for all of these LOUD people. Heal me, Lord, from this tremendous aversion to noise.”

Noise! I told you that I was born in New York soon after the end of WW2. I remember listening to radio dramas from that time period, maybe I was 6 years old. I had 2 favorites: Flash Gordon was one, but the other was Sergant Preston of the Yukon with his dog King. It began with a wolf howl and the sound of the wind and for a space of time it drowned out the noise of the city for me. I determined that SOMEDAY I would escape the noise and live where I could hear the wind and the wolf howls.

I don’t know how old I was when my Mom traded her trusty carpet sweeper in for a modern noisy vacuum cleaner, but that was life changing for me. Even as a teenager I would put my hands over my ears and scream at the top of my lungs because the noise grated on my nerves so badly. If I were growing up today there would definitely have been a label for me. My extreme aversion to noise directed my feet OUT of the city to the Northwest as soon as I was old enough to leave.

So you see, The Lord has been so good to me with His dealings. Slowly, slowly molding and changing me toward HIS will and Image as I could bare it. “But Lord! I STILL can’t bare it!” I grumble.

“MY grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness,” He answers gently.

And you HAVE to have a sense of humor.

“Bare fruit for the kingdom,” He says.

The ceilings in 3 rooms leaked badly at first. Now there is only one place that leaks and that’s when our upstairs neighbor flushes her toilet. We finally hooked up the washing machine to do a MUCH needed load of wash and the washer was apparently broken in our moving. My computer crashed. (Thank GOD for a sis who hears from The Lord who GAVE me this laptop while on my trip.) Speaking of laundry: the clothes line is out the back window, but I’m short and can’t reach it. When the washer DOES work, it will have to go in the bathroom and empty into the tub. The kitchen is the tiniest I have ever had, but it is convenient to turn around from the sink to the stove or frig without taking a step. But there is no place to put 40 years worth of active cooking ware or even 2 plates. Then the drains backed up and the door lock broke while my husband was outside in his breakfast clothes with the dog and a cup of coffee.

I am VERY set in my ways. Who knew? HE did. Thank You Lord!

“Change” was the flash word for Mr. Obama and change he has wrought. The middle, far and near east are a broil with anarchy and blood in the streets. The piece…uh…peace negotiations are bringing us dangerously close to the edges of God’s Patience and His Plan. And in the midst of it, God, the Lord God Almighty, The Eternal I AM, The Way, The Truth, The Light, The Word, The Door ,The Shepherd, The Baby, The Lion, and The Lamb who went to the cross for me, has taken time out to change me, and it ain’t pretty. But it is GOOD.

It is comforting to know that although the changes going on in the flesh are bringing bloody manifestations of the kingdoms of darkness and the flesh, that The Patient King of the eternal kingdom IS building His kingdom and if He is working so much in me, I have no doubt that many of you are also under His anvil.

I stood at the crowded train station last week grimacing at the thought of the sardine can ride I was facing. They had just announced yet another “hefetz ha’shood” (unidentified package that would require bomb squad disposal) and after about a 20 minute wait, the train would be a nightmare when it came. As I watched the people mulling around, 2 young pigeons caught my eye. In the midst of it all, the young male bird was trying awkwardly to court the young female who wanted none of his attention. They hurried and scurried here and there in and out of the crowds of oblivious people, dancing about as unconcerned by the people as the people were about them. Two kingdoms (in this case birds and people) side by side in an odd dance. My “word” (in this case a phrase) from The Lord to meditate on this year is: “Look away unto Yeshua.”

I had become distracted by the world and now He is weaning me.

So, thank you for your prayers, but don’t pity me because it’s just my flesh which is suffering. It will continue to suffer until it is dead…that old dead to self but alive to Him is my goal. To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable to His death, the pearl of great price.

It is time to leave for kehila. Hopefully I will not soon write another self centered letter like this one, but I do thank you for your prayers.

May His grace and peace be evident in each of us and may HIS kingdom be enlarged. I send you deep deep love.

Lovingly,

your sis J

Inside Israel

In this New Year, according to the Gregorian calendar, I greet you in the Love of Yeshua. I pray that this will be the year each of us is changed into His image for His glory. May HE be blessed and glorified, and may you be blessed, beloved friends.

There has been a letter literally burning in my heart. Sorry to sound so dramatic, but that is exactly how it feels. It developed through a moment of standing before Him and asking, “What does it mean to be a witness of the things that You have called me to be a witness to?”

I was shocked at how quickly the answer came, but it came on so many levels at one time that I pray I can translate it into an understandable communication. And on top of that, I will start with the end, or at least the part, which is working itself out today.

Today, here in Israel, in the Fertile Crescent, in the Middle East, I am a witness to change that is occurring so rapidly there is no time to catch my breath. There is no room here to be a frog, slowly boiled to death as the heat rises. Why? Because the flame is on high. No history lessons now, no TIME for them, but here’s a witness’ view of today.

I heard the sirens a short time ago as US Sec of State Kerry headed out of Jerusalem toward Ramala, ending the second talk with our Prime Minister of this 10th round of secret peace discussions. And they ARE secret. Although different ones claim to have a leak or a source, anyone familiar with the history, area, and people taking part in the discussions knows these are just guesses or smoke screens, and not accurate reports.

And, brothers and sisters, it is scary. Not for God, of course because He KNOWS the outcome, and to an extent, so do we. Many in the body are saying we are at “this moment now” or “that one,” but even we DON’T know what the path we are taking LOOKS like. It is NOT a path that we have been down before and HIS WORD − “a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path” − shines just far enough ahead so we can see the next step. Just as HE said, “NO man knows the time or the hour,” so it is, there are many things that NO man knows.

We do know this: We know that the Syrian war HAS spilled into Lebanon. We know that ALL of the countries, which experienced Western intervention for overthrowing their rulers, are in bloody chaos and instability. We know that when Egypt wrested itself from the brink of becoming another Gaza after the Moslem Brotherhood took power, that the upside down world condemned them. We know that our ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who has been in a deep coma since 2006 after suffering a massive stroke following his disastrous removal of Israelis from Gaza is right now at the door of death, the last of the early heroes of our modern state.

We know that as a result of the unusual massive snow storm that impacted our entire nation, food prices have skyrocketed – particularly the vegetables (an Israeli staple), but almost everything you look at – pushing many over the edge into poverty and hunger. We know that daily terrorist attacks are increasing again. We know that men are shaking in their shoes at the changes happening here. And we KNOW that men have no answers. Not for the weather extremes nor for the political extremes, nor for the despair that grips the souls of men.

And in the midst of all of this, I asked, “To WHAT exactly am I a witness?” The answer came: “To ME and to the FAITHFULNESS OF MY WORD!”

Scripture after scripture poured into my poor brain, and I understood what He meant. HE chose Israel to be an inheritance (Jer. 51:19), HE established the plan (Levit. 20:24), set the boundaries and borders (Deut. 32:8), judged and chastened a disobedient son, (the book of Jeremiah), BECAUSE HE IS FAITHFUL. HE is still going to carry out HIS plan and purposes in, for, and to this country/nation/people, IN SPITE of our stiff necks, IN SPITE of the world’s opinions and rules, and IN SPITE of our own interpretations of what HE said.

So I want to “re-witness” or perhaps proclaim again, loudly, what I am seeing. HE drew these borders for this land. HE laid claim to this land and said that NO ONE could divide it because it is HIS. HE judges this land and its people. HE has been calling this people from the four corners of the earth to the land that HE gave to them more then 5,000 years ago. HE sent His Son to fulfill HIS Word, His promise, and His plan. HE sent HIM to this land that is His and He said that He would be coming BACK here again to this land: Israel.

HE blinded the people here and HE will soon open their eyes. THIS is what I am witness to. I am a witness of the fact that EVERYTHING HE has said, intended and promised concerning this land and this people is coming to pass before my eyes, and sometimes I feel as if I need to shout it. NOT to YOU my DEAR friends. To myself! To the Church! To the world! To Israel!

But I REJOICE with you because you KNOW already, that HE IS FAITHFUL AND HE WILL FULFILL HIS ENTIRE WORD and we must be careful to walk HIS ways.

I said I would begin at the end, and so I will also bring the end of a great and precious promise we are to stand on, before I close this letter:

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

AMEN! MAY HE BE BLESSED AND GLORIFIED! And may we walk humbly before Him and one another!

If you have time, start at the beginning:

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that would not see
    and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”

9 And David says,

“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
    and bend their backs forever.”

Gentiles Grafted In

11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation

25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
    he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my covenant with them
    when I take away their sins.”

28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they arebeloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans Chapter 11, ESV)

But scripture out of context never gives the whole picture, just as events out of context can never give the full story. We must walk through it all with His Spirit because we can’t possibly see clearly without Him.

I have been happy to hear many have begun the New Year reading through the entire Bible in order, in context, from Genesis 1:1 and Matthew 1:1. This is my habit, too. I am so thankful He established it in me. I encourage each of you who have begun, not to be discouraged if you fall behind. You are not in a race, so if it takes two or even three years, may you persevere, and then begin again.

Your sister in Jerusalem,

3 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Church, Israel, Jerusalem, Kingdom of God, Prophecy

Tagged as Christianity, Church, Israel, Jerusalem, Kingdom of God, Prophecy

December 29, 2013 · 8:46 am

Inside Israel

Pre-Celebration snow mop-up.

Oh may The Lord BLESS you as you prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior Yeshua h’meshiach, Jesus Christ, The Light so humbly coming into this dark world and in His great mercy, we know Him and are part of His body. How overwhelming. May the wonder of it all be NEW and full of worshipful wonder to each of us this year and may He find that we have made room for Him.

Blessings to you and may He be blessed and glorified.

Could someone PLEASE tell me how potatoes, hanging in a basket at room temperature can freeze and turn stinky, while the chicken and fish in the freezer can thaw? Because that is JUST what happened in my kitchen, during the 3 days we were without electricity.

Things are beginning to function again. We got a phone line again today, a full week after the storm. *[scratch that one…no phone line again]* Yesterday was the first day that I was finally able to get to work, walking gingerly on the ice and climbing over trees and dirty snow mounds. The geography of this small but powerful city was starkly demonstrated in this blizzard by the delineation line between the east side of the mountain and the west side (we being on the west side). The east side, which faces the eastern deserts, had substantially less snow and damage with just 1 ft or 1/3 meter and we had about 3 feet or a full meter. It felt odd to take the train and bus to work in the morning and passing from a disaster zones into pastoral winter scenes.

My husband and I are still pretty tough, but some people suffered greatly from this storm which is the worst in Jerusalem for the last 150 years. Yesterday an elderly man collapsed downtown and was rushed to the hospital where he died of hypothermia. Although we have received much teasing about being Alaskans and this being a piece of cake for us, I explain to people that in Alaska we had wood burning stoves for heat AND cooking, kerosene lamps, insulated homes and very warm clothing, including furs. We were both prepared for and expecting this kind of weather.

One of our patients, who just passed his 100 year birthday, was without electricity for 3 days but some people took him and his helper in and they were treated royally. Another elderly man looked at me with misty eyes and put it much into perspective when he said, “What was HARD was 1948! Now THAT was hard!”

He began to tell me about his life, being born here in Jerusalem some 80 years ago (as were his parents, grandparents, and ALL of his generations back). He lived on Kibbutz Ramat Rachel when the modern state of Israel was re-established and all of the surrounding Arab countries declared war. At the same time the British were forbidding the Jews to have weapons. He told me about the few living on the Kibbutz and how they fought for their lives against the infamous Jordanian Legion. He said, “THEN we were starving, freezing and hopeless. But if it weren’t for our miracle we would all be dead.” Yes, that put it into perspective all right.

Just as I was about to leave work today a man stopped by for prescriptions and asked how we had fared. When I first met this man some 16 years ago, my boss told me he held the sad record of being the longest Israeli prisoner of war that had been in captivity and come out alive. He had been held in Lebanon I believe, for seven years and severely tortured and is one of the most positive people I have ever met, always cheerful. Again things fall into perspective.

The day before the blizzard I made notes to write to you about winter clothes as I think that I have a unique perspective in this area, too. In the summer people from different ethnic backgrounds wear different clothing, but it pretty well blends in. In the winter, however, I enjoy the colorful display of diversity that is represented on the bus and train. The rich assortment of countries that have given up their captive children of Israel through aliyah, have their handiwork displayed like a lovely bouquet. I see the intricately woven and designed sweaters and jackets from the regions around Kazakhstan and skin and fur hats and boots that I know are Siberian as we had similar ones in Alaska. There are beautiful rich Scandinavian knits and rich British wools. There are Ethiopian fringed shawls and Moroccan and Yemenite designs pulled out of old trunks as people seek to bundle themselves up in whatever way possible. What a beautiful exhibit of God’s work, a sign emblazed proclaiming, even singing: “I SAID THAT I WOULD BRING THEM BACK FROM THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH AND I HAVE BECAUSE I AM FAITHFUL.” Somehow it reminds me of the scripture in Exodus 12:35, 36 –

“Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. 36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

We bring some of the beauty of the places to where we were driven. Perhaps I’m carrying this too far, but it is what I was thinking about as I sat on the train tracing the designs with my eyes bedecking the elderly woman across from me. I give thanks for the toasty clothes I am wearing, given to me as gifts from the body. I pray that I may be clothed in items representing The Kingdom that I am part of, His heavenly kingdom, not representing this earth but with the clothes of a pilgrim.

Perspective is what we get when we look unto Jesus, Yeshua. Then it ALL falls into perspective. What a gift this Christmas season can be, if we put it ALL in His perspective. May we give Him a greater gift of pure incense…prayer…at this time. May we seek Him and to glorify Him with all that we give, and to all whom we serve, and in all that we do.

Before I close and go to bed, I want to share a very special secret with you. Thank you for those of you who prayed for me to know His will and do it. It is a secret from my children. But after MUCH wrestling and prayer, I have taken a leap of faith and bought an airline ticket to go to the Bay Area of California to see our children and grandchildren. It has been 8 years since I have left the country and 1.5 years since I have seen the kids (except for little Ana who was with us for a month this summer by herself). My ticket has me leaving Israel on 15 Jan and returning 27-28 Jan.

I APPRECIATE PRAYER FOR THE MANY THINGS INVOLVED. And especially for our younger daughter who is dated to bring forth her firstborn 8 Jan and for my husband who will be here alone in the middle of winter. For our older daughter who plans to be our younger daughter’s doula. For safety traveling. FOR SALVATION FOR THOSE NOT WALKING IN HIM. Thank you so much for caring when you all have your own families and needs. I hope to write again before Christmas, so I will just ask Him to bless you all and draw you near in your preparations.

Lovingly,

your sis J

1 Comment

Filed under Christianity, Church, Israel, Jerusalem, Prayer, Prophecy

Tagged as Christianity, Church, Israel, Jerusalem, Kingdom of God

December 22, 2013 · 7:45 am

Inside Israel

Grateful blessings as the season chosen to celebrate the birth of Hope and Light and Truth is approaching. May you each be blessed and may THE LORD of all be glorified and blessed. Oh, may He be SEEN!

Well, we joined the experience that many of you have suffered with extreme climate changes – God’s Hand calling people to attention, in my opinion. Jerusalem (and most of the country) has been shut down in a state of acute emergency. We were blessed with electricity this morning at 4:22 AM after 3 days of cold and darkness, but The Lord was with us and the country had a smaller number of deaths then could well have been expected in such a storm. Thank You Lord! There are still those experiencing distress so we remain praying for them.

I wrote to you at the very beginning of the storm. It continued unabated for 4 days, totally paralyzing not only this city, but the entire country. Where it wasn’t snow, it was floods. Weather records were smashed. For us, in a city where two inches (5 cm) of snow is enough to halt the city, the approximately 3 ft (about a meter) brought about serious emergency.

By Thursday night our lights went out for the last time. 8 huge trees fell across the power lines on our street alone, crushing several cars, roofs and windows. We had 3 medium size ones down around our apartment, one crushing part of the roof in our front room causing a leak. The huge Jerusalem Convention Center was opened to take in the stranded or those suffering from cold temperatures. But soon even police and emergency vehicles were finding it impossible to get around in order to find and bring people there.

Now, I survived the NYC blizzard of 1948 in which my Father almost died. (I don’t remember much, having been only 2 but there are photos of me being handed out the window.) I survived (and enjoyed, because I was young and knew no better) some powerful hurricanes during the 1950s and 1960s. I have experienced baseball sized hail in Oklahoma, been around tornadoes (although not actually in the center of one), have been evacuated from the forest through a tunnel of fire by police during a huge California forest fire.

Then, there was 20 years in Alaska, with weather I can not adequately describe. Cold of -40, winds topping 100 mph, ice, snow, typhoons, earthquakes, and even a couple of volcanoes. Indeed, when the big blackout of the 1960 happened in NYC, I determined I would NOT be stuck in a city again where you depend upon public services, even for water. But here I was stuck again.

My 80+ year old neighbor just said to me, “I don’t know HOW I did fine in all of those Siberian winters and can’t even get down the street in this one…”

Jerusalem is not built for this sort of weather. This is a mountain in a desert. I have explained before that our houses are made of stone to keep them relatively cool during the long hot summers. They are generally not insulated with just thin pane glass windows. As electricity became more popular, people began to depend upon it for heat, cooking, and everything else. So when it went down, the three issues facing many many thousands of people was cold, darkness and hunger.

My husband and I are relatively well prepared. We have gas on top of our stove so we could cook soup. We have tons of blankets and hot water bottles, and know how to wear a hat and gloves in the house. We even were blessed by our kerosene heater last year, although we did not have enough kerosene.

Now for the good part.

Door to door people were saying: “How are you in there?” “Can you use some soup? Candles? Is anyone sick? Do you have enough blankets? Are there children there?” Our neighbors are Holocaust survivors and I heard knocks on their door all day.

I dug out my battery operated radio, stashed with our emergency supplies set aside for times of war. All English language broadcasts were cancelled. It was only in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and Amharic (Ethiopian). Personal messages were being sent: “I’m stuck between Kibbutz______ and road #______. Can someone come and rescue me?” “Magan David Adom (our Red Cross) has delivered 70 babies so far.” “We hear that the entire town of Tsfat is without electricity and there is a school full of children with no food and cold.” “The army and home front command will be going door to door.”

We went outside to walk around several times to see what was happening, joining throngs of house bound people checking on one another. Everyone we passed said the same thing, “Do you need any help? We have soup and you can join us.” We added our offer to people, “We would be happy to share soup and we have a kerosene heater and spare blankets and food if you need.”

Although it was shabat yesterday, the chief rabbis gave their blessing for the emergency crews to continue working and all day yesterday. We were impressed by the dedication of the electric crews that came to assess our neighborhood. They brought chain saws and cut up the trees. Then they brought snow plows to clear a path and dozers to push abandoned cars out of the way. With driving snow and strong winds, the men climbed the poles and patiently restrung the electric lines.

At about 7 PM, after shabat had gone out, there was a knock on our door. A man with a bag of candles asked if we were in need of candles. “I have 4 that I can give you,” he told me. “Thank you but we do have enough candles. Keep them for someone without.”

He moved on. About an hour later there was another knock on the door. Five strong, bright, soldiers, faces FULL of compassion, wearing yellow vests appeared. “Shalom! How are you doing? What do you need? How many are in here?” I told him that there were just two of us older folks and we were ok.

“Can you use some blankets? Light? Is anyone feeling ill? We have hot soup.” I was so deeply touched by them. “We have enough, except I hesitated and they jumped with willingness at my hesitation. “Except bread. We are running out and I can’t bake any without the oven.”

Big smiles. “BREAD! Get a loaf of bread! Can you use two?”

They were so kind and eager to help. How I longed to be joining them in checking on and helping people but I found that my aging knees were not allowing me to be part of the solution this time. I did not want to become part of the problem. Before they left they said, “Oh! Give them a couple of emergency warmers.”

THAT sounded good! I received two very innocent looking small white gauze envelopes, about the size of the palm of a hand that were very warm. I brought them in and thought they were like those self warming hand warmers that we used in Alaska, but these were different. Although they LOOKED flimsy, believe me, they WEREN’T. I definitely want to know what these things are. They are STILL hot and I mean HOT. As tiny as they are they warm the entire body.

Hmm! Wonder if they are radioactive. :-\ They warmed our bed, piled high with blankets (AND our dog and cat) better then the hot water bottles. At 4:22 AM, it happened and the lights went on, just as we came to the end of the kerosene we had been rationing (2 hours heat, 4 hours no heat)

Again, I think of those in surrounding countries with great hardship due to this storm on top of war and civil strife. I personally know several of you with loved ones severely impacted by the recent huge tornadoes in Illinois and Indiana. I have relatives in Eastern America still trying to recover from last year’s devastating storm there and many Pilipino friends whose relatives were devastated in the Philippine typhoon.

In my last email I shared the verse from Psalm 119:105 – “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path.”

It is funny how that verse served me through this entire time – and I spent much time in The Word, as much as my eyes would allow me. Last week I had found the old Maranantha song by that name on the web, and I have been singing it ever since. It brought warmth to me in the dark and cold that His Word is INDEED, the Light, the lamp to light our way – and it warmed my heart. We had no phone service, no internet, no postal service, no bus, train, car and my dreaded nightmare of not being able to communicate with my children.

But there I had His Light…His Word…and I knew that my children also have His Word…and He Alone is our eternal connection. Greater then snow and stronger then natural disasters – He IS The orchestrator of all events. So I found my greatest challenge personally was just to remain at peace and be KIND in the midst.

My boss just called to make sure I was coming to work tomorrow. So I must give it a try. As we approach the Christmas season and remembering well the frenzy of it, I join with you in prayer that God, Who sent His only begotten Son, Yeshua h’meshiach, Jesus Christ, will be glorified through each of us, this year. May we be found of Him in His peace, doing His will for His glory.