A friend sent me a word via text a few days before leaving for Israel mid November.  The word was “advocate.”  I asked her what that meant and she said to look for advocates everywhere I went in Israel.  God was going to provide them! An advocate is a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.

OK, here was the first test.  I was arriving in Israel with 9 suitcases; a mountain bike and an electronic piano.  My prayer request to everyone was that I would be able to find a porter at the airport to help me with my load of stuff; and that I’d be invisible to the customs agents when leaving the baggage claim area.

I got off the plane and found the counter where I could hire a porter. I nice man (Mayer) came up and asked me in Hebrew what I would like.  I mustered up as much Hebrew as I could and the two of us headed off to the conveyer belt to retrieve my bags.  Actually I had quite a fun time making small talk in Hebrew with him as we waited for the bags.  I think he too enjoyed my humble attempts at using a language that I had studied as a young girl, but only use when in Israel.  It’s amazing how words never thought of just pop into my head when in Israel!  It’s actually quite astounding!

We got the bags and he agreed to take them all the way to the rental car for me.  He seemed empathetic and genuinely nice and I promised him a good tip to help make matters more palatable. I walked ahead of him going through customs and ignored the fact that the heavy loaded down trolley was all my stuff, hoping the officers wouldn’t associate the two of us. We made it!  No one stopped us.  Next stop was the ATM machine to get money to pay for the trolley rental. The first machine would give me no money.  I was sweating.  How would I pay for Mayer’s help?  He didn’t take credit cards!  I prayed – dear Lord – help!  Mayer was patient as I walked to another ATM machine.  Thank God it gave me cash and we proceeded to the rental car counter on another floor.

While I was waiting in line to get the car Mayer received a phone call from his boss down in the baggage claim wanting him to return and help someone else.  He said something to me to communicate his disdain for his boss and out of my mouth came the words – lev lo tov (meaning heart no good).  Mayer agreed with me, telling me that his boss in fact had no heart and for him it was all about the money.  Mayer reassured me not to worry and that he would help me all the way to the car.

I had found my first advocate!

Please pray blessings on Mayer and his family.  Truly, I wonder if he was an angel sent by the Lord and in a way, I guess he was!

My plans were set.  Two friends were going to be in Jerusalem for November and I would rendezvous with them on the 13th and have two weeks to find a place to live in Jerusalem.  I’d made those plans months before and there was no reason to think there would be another plan. Not until two weeks prior to my departure date that is. I received an email. It turned out there wasn’t an extra bedroom in the apartment the women were renting.  At first a twinge of anxiety rose up in me.  My plans!  What was going to happen? To fight back fear I looked to the Lord and declared “you have something better in mind!”

How difficult it is for some of us when the plans we plan don’t go as planned?  Is it hard for you?  It sure is hard for me!

I exercised self-control and turned away from anxiousness and towards the Lord. I connected with other friends in Jerusalem and had some alternative housing lined up – albeit small and expensive.  When I told a friend of my new predicament she asked me “did you pray about it?”  Resistantly, I said “NO!”  I don’t want to pray about it!  My plans were set.  I was going to Jerusalem!

Repentantly I agreed to pray about the situation and ask the Lord to change my heart if He had other plans for me. Immediately I was reminded of the Scripture verse in Isaiah 54:2-3  “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide; do not hold  back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes; For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.”  I read on to Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

As I read these passages the Lord spoke loud and clear and I responded in faith. He reminded me of an offer that I had previously rejected, because my plan was “I was going to Jerusalem.”   He wanted me to go to Arad, Israel in the Negev Desert instead of Jerusalem and house/dog sit for some friends who would be away for 4-5 months.  The Lord wanted to bless me with a nice house, a quiet place and a time of solitude and prayer as I entered into the Land of Israel. Again I delighted in the Lord and His plans which are so good! I sought counsel from other friends and all were excited about this new development.  This confirmed God’s perfect will and my excitement grew as I pondered all the blessings that would come as a result of my obedience to follow His plan.

He was doing a new thing; now it was springing forth, do you not perceive it? He was making a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. – Isaiah 43:19

 

Does God care about our plans to rent a car?  You bet He does.  On my trip to Israel to drop off suitcases in August a friend was joining me, who was staying in a different location that I was. We planned to tour Jerusalem by bus and on foot, and then rent a car one day to go to the Dead Sea.

In looking at the prices of rental cars at the company he recommended it was very expensive, so I prayerfully checked for other options. I found one company where the cost was $8.50 per day!  I was amazed.  At that price we could have a car for our entire 4 days in Israel; and it would make life so much easier getting from and back to the airport, as well as to the Dead Sea.

After landing in Israel we got to the rental car counter and were upgraded to a car with a GPS system. That proved to be absolutely essential in navigating between the two different residences we were staying at, and the sites we wanted to see.

In looking back at the trip, it would have been a nightmare trying to navigate it by bus and on foot.  Who knew?  God knew!  The entire trip I kept saying “Thank You Lord; Thank You Lord; Thank You Lord!!!”

Not only did He know, He cared too!  Our Father directed and provided for us to have a car so that we would be well taken care of on our journey.

Let’s look for His loving care in our lives every day – to provide for and care for us in ways that may surprise us, but are certain to bless us.  He is all wise, all knowing and we can trust Him.  He’s a good, good Father!

A faith-walker’s faith isn’t in their performance, or in the world. It’s in who God is, and in the truth’s of His Word.

Along a faith-walker’s life the Lord puts various teachers and teachings to encourage and strengthen them. It’s imperative that they delight in spending time daily studying the Word of God. The purpose of Bible study isn’t to check an item off a religious checklist. It’s to fellowship with, and seek to understand God, and His ways. This helps a faith-walker seek God’s direction for their life.

A faith-walker loves reading the Word, expectantly waiting to hear God’s voice and experiencing the Master breathe and impart a personal application of instruction as found in His Word. Every time this happens it reveals a greater depth of His love. It’s His love that spurs a faith-walker on.

Hebrews 11 starts with these words; and along the faith-walker’s journey the Lord highlighted the first three words of this chapter in a very meaningful way. Faith is a gift from God. It’s a gift that we can either treasure, or cast aside. When we treasure it we become more aware of the creative power it contains.

In a transition period the Lord had the faith-walker write out a list starting with these three words.

Now faith is…

Now faith is…

Now faith is…

The list was 16 items long and comprised of  the unique things hoped for in the immediate future of the faith-walker.

The amplified version of Hebrew 11:1 inspired that list. “Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things we hope for, being proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality. (Faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.)

What’s on your faith list?