A time of connecting, rest and restoration

Today I left Paray-le-Monial after spending a month with my sister. It has been a very good time, partly in and around the house and partly some real vacation. I was able to connect with old and new friends, often with the possibility to share something about my work. Specifically the existence of the Messianic Jewish movement and the vision of TJCII for unity in the Body of Messiah awakened a lot of interest. Most of the people I shared with didn’t know much or anything at all, but many hearts were hungry. I also saw this happening, when I went on a Saturday to Holy Mass in one of the chapels of Paray-le-Monial. The gospel that day was Luke 6:1-5, about Yeshua going through the grain fields with his disciples, and his disciples plucking the heads of the grain, which was unlawful on shabbat. The priest who was preaching, had a real shabbat sermon. He talked about the meaning of shabbat and that on shabbat we are invited to rest. Also to rest from all our worries. I loved his sermon! So after Mass I waited to be able to share a bit with him. I wasn’t the only one waiting and I saw how several people went up to him with questions about shabbat. I found it very interesting to see, how much hunger for understanding and knowledge is awakened, when you touch the Jewish roots of our faith. I didn’t see this kind of reaction after any of the other sermons I heard (where the Jewish roots weren’t touched) during this past month…

He loves and he is not loved in return.

The vacation was a real adventure. We were able to borrow a camper from friends and went camping with it for almost 2 weeks. The first week was with my sister and a friend and in the second week we ‘exchanged’ the friend for our mother. It was so much fun!!! None of us had ever travelled with a camper, so everything was new. And we had the full experience: from sun to rain, warm and chilly, camping site and wild camping. The first time emptying the chemical toilet, I had forgotten some of the guidelines that had been given to us before departure, so it did not go all that smooth 😉. But right away a seasoned camper traveler came over to help me and gave me the pointers that I had forgotten. I don’t say we are seasoned camper people yet, but we have some experience now and for all of us it left us wanting more.

For me, being so close to nature was really the best! Feeling a little breeze on my face while lying in bed, being able to see the sunrise from my bed and doing my morning sports outside in the nature, did me so much good! The most amazing experience was having a small deer approaching me during my morning sports. In the end it came as close to me as 3 meters, looked at me, ate some leaves and slowly went its way. This encounter made an indelible impression on me and I want to cherish it for a long time. Also being on the coast in Bretagne was really amazing! I always love the sea, but the coast here is something else. Two nights we camped just behind some dunes, so we saw the sun set in the sea and I did my morning sports on the beach. My heart still overflows with gratitude!

Today I travelled from Paray-le-Monial to Marseille, from where I will fly tomorrow to Israel for a month. And in this one day I have experienced so much of God’s faithfulness and provision, that I would like to share some of it with you. From Friday on I had been contacting some people to find a place to stay for this night and the possibility to borrow a small suitcase for my time in Israel and leave my big suitcase behind. Since I am traveling back to France, this would make the traveling to Israel a lot easier. This morning I received a message that I could come to the Chemin Neuf community, the place where I started my time in France on July 14th 😊 and that they had a small suitcase for me. The next provision of Abba came from my BlaBlaCar driver. BlaBlaCar is a carpool organization and it is very well developed in France. I used it today for the first time. I had a lift from Paray to Lyon center, from where I would need to take a metro and tramway to get to the airport’s train station, from where I had a train to Marseille. When my driver heard, that I needed to go there,

he offered me to wait half an hour in Lyon, while he went for a doctor’s visit. After that he would drop me off at the airport, since he needed to continue that way anyway. This made it for me so much easier: no shlepping my suitcase up and down stairs, in and out of public transport. It was a huge gift for me and I felt it was Abba taking care of me. I pray for my BlaBlaCar driver, that Abba will reward him a hundredfold and that he may encounter God in a personal way.

I also would rejoice about your prayers in this coming month. The first 2 weeks I will be mostly in the Negev desert to meet up with friends and to have some time with Rick and Dafna at the Fountain of Tears. Then I am going to Jerusalem for a time of intercession and meetings of TJCII. Right at this moment there is talk of a hostage deal in which all the hostages would come home. This would be huge! I can only imagine how emotional this would be and I would really want to be in Israel to experience this with her and intercede from within. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps 122:6)!

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