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 multiplied to you dear brothers and sisters, where in Him we abound!
All glory and honor to The King of kings and The Lord of lords…Wh knows all of our griefs and even bore them for us that we might rejoice in hope with Him. He does all things well.
Although SOMETIMES we may not feel that way.
At noon today, a car slowly went down the boulevard in front of our apartment. Over a loud speaker a Rabbi was chanting the mourner’s prayer and encouraging everyone to come to the cemetery not too far away from here where the 4 victims of the French kosher market attack were all being buried. Their coffins had arrived from France early this morning. Mercifully, it was a sunny day, with freezing rain forecasted for tomorrow. The sun gave an illusion of some warmth, although in actuality it held little.
For the remaining Holocaust survivors, the times that have been leading up to these events are taking place regularly, and often, are not reported. My husband, a hairdresser, cut the hair of a Holocaust survivor today who shared her feelings and her story with him. Her father sent her family to America from Germany during the war. He told them: “Don’t worry so much. I am more German the Jewish. Nothing will happen to me.”
That was the last that they saw of him before he went to the gas chambers. She said that so many deluded themselves in the same way. She then said that she hears the very same things now from Jews in America, France, England etc. “Why can’t they see what is happening?” she asked my husband.
“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. (Jeremiah 16:16)
When we were in Alaska, the fishers showed up and found us. They did not tell us to go to Israel, but they confirmed what we already knew, what He had been preparing our hearts for YEARS, and what His Word had confirmed to us over and over again.
We resisted: ‘Us?? Why Us? Is this what You mean or are we understanding it wrongly?”
In two days, on the 15th of this month, it will be 40 years since I fully intended to end my life and instead found LIFE by meeting The Lord of LIFE. It was not long after, only a couple of months or so, that He told me that He had made me Jewish for a reason and that someday I would be living in Jerusalem. This was the LAST thing that I wanted to hear.
I had spent YEARS running away from being Jewish. I didn’t WANT to live in Jerusalem. I had a native Alaskan husband and there was NO way that I was going to tell HIM what to do. I didn’t argue. I just said, “Oh no! Well, if that is You, You will have to do it.”
He had confirmed it to me in His Word when I was alone in the back of a pick-up truck. I hid it in my heart. SEVENTEEN YEARS LATER, He told my husband, instead of me.
In the meantime, He brought fishers and planted seeds. My husband listened to them, but I listened less. I figured if He parted the Red Sea (actually it is the Sea of REEDS or Reed Sea in Hebrew), He would just do it in His good time. And it would be a long time in the future. Ha!
But now He is sending the hunters and it’s neither funny nor relaxed. Our girls are not home anymore. My sister and niece and other relatives, though few, are also not stirring. Instead of seeing the waters heating up, they are defending Islam – the religion of peace.
But the hunters are here now, and it really is time to pray and to obey.
I, for one, can tell you that it is NOT EASY. I understand why my sisters and brothers after the flesh struggle with the idea of leaving everything behind and making aliyah (moving to Israel). EVEN those who are younger then we were when we came, EVEN those who may know some Hebrew, or have family or friends here. The West is comfortable. Israel is not.
Giving up everything that you know, your foundations, your language, to go into the unknown seems scary to some and downright foolhardy to others. When we made aliyah, I had never been here before and my husband, (Alaska Native, and not Jewish) only as a tourist for 3 weeks. We were nearly 50, had no security, didn’t know the language, were lightly acquainted with one person here. None of my relatives were here and our youngest was just about to turn 13. BUT THE LORD REALLY HAD SPOKEN.
We sold everything and bought tickets. VERY few people understood. Some were nasty. Several suggested that if we came as missionaries, they might consider helping with some support. One missionary, who was a friend of mine, a sister whose kids were friends with mine, chastened me sore and told me that we were NOT in HIS will, that we DIDN’T know what we were doing and that our family would be destroyed. Most people, not knowing that it was fully my Husband’s decision, blamed me for telling him what to do.
No, it wasn’t easy nor has it been easy, but we have NO DOUBT that we are in His will and we cry out to others to follow. The hunters are here and the time is shorter then it was 20 years ago. I do not mean to be dramatic, but it is necessary to say.
Our Prime Minister has been bold to the disdain of many, making us the mockery of the nations while he speaks out truth without shame, with boldness, consistently. But the world is not listening.
But you are listening. You are HIS children and as I meditated in His Word this morning I felt urged in my heart to say how MUCH The Lord LOVES you.
That is not a platitude but I had a glimpse into that love this morning. The battle that rages in the hearts of His children and I felt urged: ‘Tell them I LOVE them.”
Yes, I am NOT a prophet but I know Him as you do and He really wants you to know that IN YOUR STRUGGLES, HE REALLY LOVES YOU!
Argh! It is time to get dinner on the table and I must stop writing.
It is cold, cold, cold here. The rocks are radiating cold. We are told that it is the coldest winter on record. Hot water bottles, hats and gloves accompany us to bed. It is hard to get up in the morning and face the air. I went downtown to try to find a warmer hat as the ones that I made, ddidn’t LOOK good. (vanity!) Most of the women’s shops that sell hats are run by olim from France.
I was struck by the deep sense of mourning. “Tsurot tovot,” each one said to me as I left. This means: may your troubles be good ones.
With the announcement that the 4 young men killed in Paris would all be buried here, the community began to prepare to attend. Special public transportation would bring people to the cemetery, no private vehicles. Yes, it is one big family. While the citizens of France and the world march against intolerance, and while 3 million copies of the “Charlie” magazine are going on the market instead of the usual 60,000, I am struck that no one here wants a souvenir of the attack. They have seen it too many times before and they see the writing on the wall…
May you be found in His Peace. May your first love be rekindled and may you seek His Face always. May He be glorified in His children and may we fight the good fight of faith. For HE is worthy.
God bless and encourage you,
Your sis J
Larry Who 