A new word

Almost a week ago the twelve day war with Iran ended. It ended in a very painful way, with a last hour of intense attacks from Iran, killing four people in Beer Sheva. Later I learned one of them was a young girl from Arad. This was when I saw the endless line of cars going to the Arad cemetery (in the desert behind our house) for the funeral. That day God gave me Proverbs chapter three verse five

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;

I did need to do that! Because my understanding was only: “Why, God? Why did these people have to die in the last hour of this war?”. I still don’t understand why, but I do know that I don’t need to understand. That I am just called to trust God with all my heart. On Tuesday a shaky ceasefire started and on Wednesday the Israeli society went back to ‘normal’. There is a verb for this in Hebrew. It is Lechazlesh, short of Lachazor leShigra: going back to the normal routine. But how do you do that, Lechazlesh after twelve days of continuous alert, in most of the country every night one or more sirens and trips to safe places, so many lives lost and so many homes destroyed? Even in the relative calm of Arad, there were some adjustments in the process of Lechazlesh. On Thursday I just felt an overwhelming fatigue fall upon me and I slept two hours during the day! And on Friday I just felt like crying, which I also did, when my sister called me and asked how I was doing (thank you, sis, for your perfect timing!). These are all normal responses of our bodies after the release of the alertness, tensions and adrenaline shots of the almost two weeks before.

And really Lechazlesh is not possible yet, because the war is not over yet, even though a relative calm has returned to the country. We were reminded of the harsh reality of war on that Wednesday, the day of returning to the normal, when seven IDF soldiers were killed in action in Gaza. And even though some bodies of hostages were recovered during these past weeks, still around fifty hostages are being held in Gaza, dead or alive. This relative calm has nothing to do with real peace, shalom, so please, continue to

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.

Peace be within your walls, Prosperity within your palaces.” (Ps 122:6-7).

What can I say I have seen God doing during these days of war? Last shabbat we shared about this with some other Messianic believers here in Arad. It was amazing to see, how God had been speaking and working the same things in many of us. Abba is really trying to have us focus on him more and more and not on the circumstances! Teaching us, that our real shalom and security is in Him. That we are in His hands, no matter what. And also, that we need to lay ourselves and our opinions down more and more (lean not on your own understanding) and just walk with Him (Trust in the Lord with all your heart) and continue to

Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. (Ps 37:4-5)

So, here I am, committing my way to the Lord and continuing it. These coming days I will do some traveling in Israel, to see friends and to encourage people. Please, keep these days in your prayers! I will write a bit more about it and about my future plans in the coming days.

The endless line of cars for the funeral