I wanted to wait before even launching into the topic of this post. I wanted more “proofs” and more examples of His goodness before publishing any of these thoughts. But this one has been on my heart quite often over the past few days, so here we are. I will write and you might read.
On our last Shabbat with our congregation in Denver, we were blessed to have a crowd of our dearest friends praying over us. These people are spiritual giants to us; they are so full of grace, power and His Spirit. They have traveled many roads that Aaron and I have yet to glimpse, let alone experience. We have written these prayers down and are revisiting them often so that we can remain grounded in His promises and in the blessings of those who love us.
One of the people who spoke over us was Ron Lundquist, a dear co-laborer for our Messiah. He offered one word for our path which was “water”. He noted that when he first met us a few years ago, I was just putting my toe in the water and testing to see if this was the path HaShem wanted for my faith and for my spiritual journey. He noted how far we had both come since then. Sticking with the water theme that HaShem had put on his heart, Ron described that there would be times we would launch out into the rapids. We would be in the river of God. We would hoot and holler like rapid runners, full of joy as we were moved along in the Spirit. And there would be times that He would bring us to the side, to the still waters to rest. These would be times of refreshing and as long as we listened to the Spirit, we would be sure to always be in His river.
The three weeks leading up to our trip to Israel were like the rapids. It was fast-paced as things changed at a moment’s notice. One minute our raft was pointing down the river with a few bumps along the way. The next minute we had turned a 180 – still moving in the right direction, but traveling downstream by the seat of our pants and holding on for dear life! HaShem threw open the floodgates and we were riding on His waves of provision all the way to the doors of Israel!
As soon as we arrived here, we were pulled to the side and into the still waters with Him. He strategically sent us into a 14 day quarantine with very little that we could contribute to life around us and with nothing to offer the people He loves. He dragged our raft to the side and out of the rapids so that we could refocus on Him and learn what it is like to depend on others for everything. It was humbling – not something my independent, “High C” character liked at all. Just when we thought we were ready to be pushed back into the rapids for another wild adventure, He plunged all of Israel into a three week lockdown throughout the fall feast days (Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, respectively, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.)
We settled in to the still waters for the long haul, coming to terms with the fact that we were restricted to a certain distance of travel from the house (1 km unless grocery shopping) and, even if we could get to other places, they would likely be closed. However, exercise is permitted for any distance from your home. So last Friday we took a hike down to the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee to many of our US friends). On our way there, we were surprised to discover the beauty of Ein Poriya – a place where living water flows from the rocks and gathers into a shallow pond. Although the destination we had in mind was a bigger and far more impressive body of water, HaShem reminded me that sometimes the unexpected water along the journey can be just as meaningful. Which is exactly where we find ourselves at this time in Israel – close to the fullness of the journey we planned, but currently sitting in the unexpected still waters of His presence.
As we enter Sukkot in just a few days’ time, our prayer for you is that you find His Presence overwhelming. Sukkot is a time of remembering how God provided for Israel and how He dwelled among them (“Immanuel” – God with us). It’s a memorial of His Presence going with them day and night protecting them and giving direction for their journey. It’s a reminder that, even in the unexpected deserts of our walk and regardless how turned around we may feel, there is One who provides living water.
In October of 2000, just a few days after Sharon walked on the Temple Mount on Yom Teruah and Israel exploded into violence, I was due to travel for Sukkot with a group of dancers, Charismatic Episcopalians and Messianic Believers. If I backed out, I would lose my $1,948 (how’s that for a price? Look at all familiar?) I cried out to God and he directed me to open my Bible three times. One of them was Isaiah 35:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+35&version=NIV
I was worried if we would even have food and water when we got there, but he said: Water will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. And also: They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Indeed, many other tourists cancelled, so that the streets were nearly deserted. Shopkeepers asked what we were doing there; we explained that we were Christians who loved Israel and we were coming for Sukkot. People were amazed. At the Kotel on Erev Simcha Torah, we were standing behind a barrier for the women and goyim; I tried to talk with a little old Bubbe in my very bad Hebrew; I used the wrong pronoun on her and kept lapsing into Spanish. But when I finally got across to her that we were Christians from American who loved the Torah and the Mishpocha and the Aretz, she threw her arms up in the air and exclaimed “Baruch Hashem!” “Amen,” I replied weakly, because that effort took a lot out of me. But these days, when I want to go to my happy place, I remember that evening at the Wall, a light mist falling (after the prayers for rain!), and connecting with one of God’s precious chosen with the love of Yeshua.
You will likewise have many such precious opportunities and we are all looking forward to hearing about them very soon!
And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
I love this story! I love this testimony! You’ve had several of them so far. Because of your amazing comments Earlene and I were both saying on our walk this morning that this idea of “our journey” may not just be the two of us. You may be our first guest blog poster to share some of your testimonies too! 😉 It was fun this morning the way one of us said something about guest contributors and the other said “I was just thinking the same thing!”