Home again...

Many months ago, the Lord began to lead me, in my quiet times with Him, to study our Hebrew roots. Jesus was a Jewish man, born of Jewish parents, in a Jewish culture. I began to understand that my Western church upbringing left me without a context to understand this man who I call my Savior. At the same time, I began to understand that Guatemala has a very different relationship with Israel than the US has. And I began to wonder how the two things were connected. My children, and my husband, thought I was a little crazy - as always. Then at the beginning of the year, out of the clear blue sky, we were offered a trip to Israel. We at first said no - that we were too busy here and we could not leave for 10 days. But as we prayed about it, we realized that this was a gift that God was offering us - and who wants to turn away a gift that the Lord hands to you?!


So, two weeks ago, Duane and I left Canilla and spent a couple of days helping Ryan (our son who lives in the US) to prepare a load of equipment which will be driven to Guatemala in December. It is mostly equipment that will help us more effectively manage the corn project - a grain bin, etc.

From Marine, we left with a group from Destiny Church and a church from Oklahoma (House of David) to arrive in Israel. Because we knew that this was a trip that the Lord had orchestrated, we felt a burden to be attentive to all that He wanted us to hear and understand. And while I am still processing much of our amazing experience there, I know a few things...

- I understand that we as gentile believers and as citizens of the United States, have a responsibility to stand with Israel. As we traveled into Sderot, a town bordering the Gaza strip, we began to understand in a very small part what the people are enduring there as the Palestinians have sent missiles into their town. We worked to help a dental clinic prepare to open, with the instructions that if the sirens sounded, that we had just a few seconds to get into the bomb shelter. We understood that we had little to worry about as the missiles were usually launched at 8 in the morning or around 3 in the afternoon because those were the times when the children would be going to or leaving school. We heard stories from people who had been in the Cast Lead conflict just a few months ago, men who were immobilized because the Palestinians would shoot at them from between the legs of old women or children. So we "pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Psalm 122:6), remembering the promise of God to Abraham as he left his home to enter the land promised to him, that "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse." (Genesis 12:3).


- I have a new and very small revelation of the unity that Christ brings (Ephesians 2:11-22) - that "His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two..." (Jew and gentile). I understand that we as believers are eager to claim for ourselves all of the promises given to the children of Abraham, but not quite as eager to take up the responsibility that we have as brothers to a people that we do not quite understand.

It is a mystery to us that in a time when our hearts are so broken by the people here in Guatemala that the Lord would choose to open our eyes to yet another area of need. The only thing that we know for sure is that there is great power in prayer. And so we will stand "in the gap" for not just this nation but for our Jewish brothers and sisters - wherever they may be.

So, we are home and trying to get back into our routine. It was an amazing trip and we are so very thankful for the opportunity that was given to us. Our family all worked together to keep things going here and did a great job! God is certainly very, very good.