SWORDS OF IRON WAR, DAY 467

 Nahariya Thursday 16.1.2025.

After shot

The last of the abducted hostages, 38 of them alive? still in Gaza at that point in the early morning.

God knows what is going on, He fights for Israel. We can only ask for an understanding of what is going on. Most things are hidden from the public.

There is a
heaviness on us that it felt even now at 6 am. We don't know who will come out and who will not.

We've been praying for understanding. We pray for the families who are waiting and that the shock will not overwhelm them. We pray for the restoration of the hostages and their families. We pray... pray... pray...

(Isiah 40: 1-2) “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God.
“Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins.”

We ask that God will forgive us when men are given the glory that belongs to God. 

SWORDS OF IRON WAR, DAY 464. 13.1.2025.

Nahariya, Israel. 

Willie's test. All is well.

Willie reminded me this morning that “all is temporary”.

God had been reminding me that He is time itself. His name is YHVH – “haya” = was, past; “hove” = is, presence; “yhiye” = will be, future.

God is the only constant in the universe. Since He is time itself, all the events don't change a thing for Him or in Him. He knows the beginning and the outcome of everything. This is a comfort to me.

(Hebrew 13:8) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Wars will cease, fires will die down, leaders will be raised and will fall, children grow and generations will die and live... all is temporary but He reigns.

Our prayers come out of our hearts but God put them there to start with, so He knows that they will be answered. He sees all in the light of eternity. 

God, please, give me Your vision to pray. 

SWORDS OF IRON WAR, DAY 459. 8.1.2025.

The heading for my life in 2025:

(Proverbs 16:3) "Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

Today is the third day of corporate fasting and prayers in our Khila.

Since what one fasts is up to each person, we chose to eliminate lunch, which is the main daily meal in Israel. I have no idea how other people are fasting or what they eliminate. I just know that I feel hungry. I have so much food during the rest of the day that there is no place for that hunger feeling. It must be only a symptom. It is not real.

It makes me think that much of what I experience is not real. It is only but a symptom.

The Bible tells me that when Yeshua was crucified He gave me salvation and healing. By faith, I accepted both.

Believing that I am saved since He was my atonement for my sins, forever, gives me eternal life. The same faith in the same Lamb of God gives me total health.

While I know without a doubt that I am going to heaven, that I am saved from sin, the health issues are wavering in my responses, in my mind.  Yes, I will have a new, perfected body after death, but meanwhile?

But.... I live on earth with the assurance of salvation. Why do I suffer the symptoms of ill health on earth? I know He heals. I know that He healed me repeatedly during my lifetime in various ways. Some healing came with prayers of myself and others, some came with medication and medical care, some with moving my body specifically as I felt He leads me to do, some came while I recited verses of healing, and lately more healing came when I started a healthier lifestyle journey.

All healing came from God as I learned to listen, obey and follow His directions, and as my faith in Him strengthened.

But symptoms of pain, reduced hearing, darkened vision, and other such “joy” still manifest themselves in my body, daily. Why?

I started to pray, “Thank You, God, for totally healing my body. I believe that I am healed and the symptoms will disappear on your time”.

When I pray for others, “Thank You, God, for healing ... please help him/her to trust that You will remove the symptoms.”

I don't know if that is the right way to pray, but my heart aches for the pain that so many are suffering. So many more now as a result of the abduction of October 7,2023 and the war that is still cutting down young lives of our people, and leaving so many maimed and hurting. These are not cases of symptoms alone, neither are the ones who suffer from various diseases such as chronic pain and cancer.

So where are the miracles and wonders that are to follow the believers?

With Isaiah, I call out, “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.
“Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins.”

SWORDS OF IRON WAR, DAY 452. 1.1.2025.

A new year. The old one's official statistics:

2024 By The Numbers: The Population Authority has published statistics on Israel's growth and decline rates for 2024. A slight negative trend was detected in emigration; however, Israel's population passed 10 million for the first time. 

Day 450 to War of Iron Swords.

Monday. December 30. 2024.

Almost 2025.

450 days.

I am listening to the cry of our hearts in this powerful music. I am crying.

How Long God? How Long?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd-4clk0M-E

Day 448 to War of Iron Swords.

 Shabbat. December 28, 2024.

The year 2024 was a learning experience for me. I learned how to pray deeply and to notice daily answers from God, both for what I prayed and for what I did not realize the need to pray.

I came closer in my heart and my thoughts to my people and found that I am thankful to be an Israeli and a Messianic Jew. Even my love for the Hebrew language increased and intensified.

I also learned how to live a healthier life, eat healthier food, and lean on God for each change. Most of these experiences felt harsh and challenging, some more than others. I cried a lot, felt the pain of my people and my country more than ever, learned to deal with trauma, personal and national, and learned to live in war.

Last week, God sent us to a few days of R&R that included a prayer assignment. While in the Dead Sea with a couple of our close friends we prayed for the Eastern Border. He specifically showed us that the next heavy front of the war would be on the East Side of Israel. While the North Border with Lebanon seems quieter, other fronts remain at war.

On Sunday, the first night of our prayers, the sirens sounded in Arad. We returned home on Wednesday night, and by 3 am that night Yemen sent rockets toward the Tel Aviv area and sirens sounded in the middle of the country and in the Dead Sea. Last night they sounded again. The Air Force and the Iron Dome had diverted the rockets but the attacks are still coming each night.

Our prayers continue.

We are in the habit of asking God for verses as references for His assignments. On the train from Nahariya, we looked it up and found verses prophesying the attack from the East. Below are some of them:

Ezekiel 27 & 38-39, talk about Gog, Magog, Tarshis, and Sheba – the northern and eastern countries that are attacking Israel at the end of time and Yemen is thought of as the modern time eastern country of Sheba.

(Daniel 11:44) But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many.

(Revelation 16:12) Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.

God is still on His throne. The year 2025 will bring what He

Planned. We pray that in the year 2025:

• His people will be gathered home to Israel from every corner of the earth, as He promised.

• That the hostages to return, even before 2024 ends.

• We believe that the prophecy in Isaiah 45:17 will become a fact: “But Israel shall be saved by the Lord, With an everlasting salvation; You shall not be ashamed or disgraced Forever and ever.”

• That God's people will know how to pray according to His will and learn to always lean on Him.

Personally, I pray that God will continue to heal us. That we will hear His voice clearer and be closer to Him on a daily basis. That we will have the physical strength and the spiritual closeness to continue His assignments for us.

Happy New Year in 2025 - May God bless us all. 

Day 438 of SWORDS OF IRON WAR

Nahariya, Israel. Tuesday. 17.12.2024    

Meanwhile in Canada.

It's been quiet for a few days. Today, there are some sounds from the border, but it is not anything to worry about—not on our side.

But we are in readiness.

But we are expecting a bomb or a siren or...

Tel Aviv was attacked from Yemen – hard to understand – I heard the sirens on our app on the phone. Shocked us a bit.

But we are aware of others' movements and are not relaxed. We are still feeling tired and ready to pounce, almost like a spring ready to let go and shoot itself into space.

It is time to go for a holiday. Fourteen months is long enough. Many people went outside of the country for a break and visiting family and just breathing less stressful air, so we stayed put. We feel we need a bit of time.

No, we are not going to other countries. Waiting for 4 hours in the airport who might tell you to stay another four or go to places that have riots or... too stressful. So we decided to stay in Israel. We booked 3 nights in a 5-star hotel; A good neighbour is looking after the cat, and we are taking public transportation down to the Dead Sea. At our age buses and trains are free to us in Israel, so we leave the driving to them. A couple friends will be coming with us to play in the mud, eat in good restaurants and soak in the healthy pools.

We are leaving on the morning train next week and yes, a few days later we'll be back again.

We'll be home for the first light of Chanukah and for Christmas. 

God took time off, He will be with us on ours. 

Genesis 2:2-3

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Day 434 of SWORDS OF IRON WAR.

Nahariya, Israel. Friday. 13.12.2024  

Israeli flag on Golan

(Just to clarify – online banking has a watch on the sight which notes that it is the 433rd day of the war today. News media reports say we are on the 434th day of the war. Maybe each in its own global time, it feels way longer than either one).

Israel flag was raised in Syria after a unanimous vote by six Druze villages to be under Israeli rule. So the Golan is now Israeli by agreement. What a great turn of events.

I've been mourning all week. But raising a flag on Golan brought with it a release. I'm breathing again.

Mourning because of a Cease-fire that is not true peace and young people are killed; because of the 100 hostages that only 30 are named alive; because of people that I have known for many years who died this week and others who are seriously ill, and also because of personal losses which come with age, but are losses non-the-less.

Death all around us causes emotions to be dragged down lower than one expects.

But the Israeli flag flying on the Golan raises new hope. And words of a friend reminded me what is important and allowed me to raise my head again. She wrote, “The light of God surrounds me. The love of God enfolds me.
The power of God protects me. The presence of God watches over me. Wherever I am, God is.”

Times of mourning are reminders of times of Joy. We need to experience the one so we recognize the other.

(1 Peter 1:8) Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

Israel is built on hope. The people are breathing hope in their daily life and faith is strong. We remind each other Who is in control and we spring each other back to life. The one song I hear daily is a simple declaration of faith, “God be blessed, He always loves me and goodness follows me all the time” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLWw9s0QSOA&list=RDHLWw9s0QSOA&index=2

- copy and paste, it is a good song to live by.  

All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth:
When he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see it;
And when he blows a trumpet, you hear it

(Isaiah 18:3)

Day 429 of SWORDS OF IRON WAR.

Nahariya, Israel. Monday 9.12.2024

Four more boys fell today in South Lebanon.

Reservists.

We are supposed to be in a Cease-Fire in this area.

I don't remember feeling so angry and so helpless as I'm feeling since the ceasefire. That's so typical of the history of the Israeli wars in the Middle East. Why does no one stand up and shout that this is not a ceasefire? We heard last night bombs blowing up and Aircraft going through up here. That is not a ceasefire it is a sham!

Pray? I'm asking for revenge! I remember October 7 and onward. No more praying for our enemies. The hit in Yavne fell close to the home of childhood friends of ours. Enough!

I don't write because I'm praying for things to end, for the hostages to return home, for God to take over... I don't know what is happening in the heavenly but I feel helpless to affect what is happening on earth.

(Psalm 13)

1. How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?

2. How long shall I take counsel in my soul,

Having sorrow in my heart daily?

How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

3. Consider and hear me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes,
Lest I sleep the sleep of death;

4.  Lest my enemy say,“I have prevailed against him”;Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

5.  But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

6. I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Day 424 of SWORDS OF IRON WAR.

Welcome Back 

Nahariya, Israel. Wednesday 4.12.2024

Northern Arrows, Lebanon Front ce
ase-fire agreement was violated by Hezbollah and IDF went back into the front.

Cease-fire? I wonder if my definition is different from the reality. It is quiet in Nahariya. There are no noises from the border and we sleep well during the quiet nights. Our soldiers, however, continue to fight on all fronts.

Syria is back to civil war. The Syrian authority side is run by Hezbollah, as Lebanon government. Iran is the backup of both. Israel had no choice, we had more recruits of young people to the Fighters, and IDF continued to clear the land around Israel's borders from the tunnels and the terrorists.

We increased our prayers for a miracle of God, bringing the hostages home without exchange or ransom.

Winter returned and our nights are 11C. We bought a new blanket made of feathers and added it to our pile of blankets on top of our bed. Yes, I am aware that Canada has -26C in some areas, but somehow the housing in Israel contains the cold “better”. I hear the same remarks from everyone who lives in the old housing from the 70s – no insulation nor heating system that lasts. We have air conditioners turning too hot and they don't stay for long as the cold seeps in. Well, in two months that'll pass.

We've been enjoying the quiet and the sunny sky in the last few days. Walk downtown almost daily, and just breathe in the fresh air.

(Psalm 125:1-2)
Those who trust in the Lord Are like Mount Zion,
Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So the Lord surrounds His people

From this time forth and forever.

I love being old. Such freedom to enjoy life. 

Day 417 of SWORDS OF IRON WAR.

Northern Arrows, Lebanon Front is now with a cease-fire agreement.

Nahariya, Israel. Friday 29.11.2024

We had a quiet sleep last night. Only the air force kept circling, protecting us from a possible violation of the cease-fire.

We booked a place on the ministry bus and are planning to get to Khila's morning services with God's help.

When Willie read to us tonight, I realized that God commanded us to ask of Him and He will give us the enemies.

(Psalm 2:8) “Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.”

I only noticed that tonight.

God, I am asking you to give us, Israel, the nations as our inheritance, and please end the war on all fronts, and please return our abducted home.

In Yeshua's Name.

Shabbat Shalom. 

Day 417 of SWORDS OF IRON WAR.

 NAHARIYA, ISRAEL. WEDNESDAY 27.11.2024

Northern Arrows, on Lebanon's front, lay down the weapons there is a cease-fire agreement.

It is 19:25 and the last recorded siren was in Sufa, Gaza Envelope, 15 hours ago.

The cease-fire is with the Hezbollah. By the time the cease-fire agreement was signed, Israel was fighting on 7 fronts.

Nahariya 

1. Hamas in Gaza

2. Hamas, some say Palestinian Authority, in West Bank

3. Hezbollah, in Lebanon

4. Hauties, in Yemen

5. Syria

6. Iraq

7. Extremest Islamic Regime in Iran – the backing up all of them.

Lebanon front was the only one who signed a cease-fire.

In an interview on Channel 12 on Monday, opposition leader Yair Lapid said that 890 soldiers had been killed and 11,000 injured since 7 October last year.

Some say that the army concealed the real number of the dead and injured. I don't know how true it is, but the specific numbers of casualties do not matter, families were destroyed or maimed or suffered trauma or all three, all across the nation. While some rejoice in the cease-fire, others don't. “Would it hold?”

Past experiences taught us to be wary. Even our PM made sure that there is a clause with specified that no matter how small is the move from the enemy against this agreement, IDF has the right to and will retaliate immediately.

Since the agreement is only with the Lebanese front, the other six fronts continue to fight and our soldiers and the nation are still at war.

We walked 5035 steps downtown, today. I did not see nor feel joy. Not like the joy one expects in true peace. Some people had a smile on their faces, but it did not reach anyone's eyes.

I heard it said that the ceasefire is for 60 days until Trump comes into power. I don't understand the politics behind it all, but I still think that if we, as a nation, open ourselves to the power of God and let Him be in control of our lives and our situation, a true joy that reaches the eyes would be displayed on people faces and will cover their countenances.

Until then, we sort of smile and continue to hope and pray for the cease-fire to hold.

(Proverbs 8:34-35)

Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoever finds me finds life,
And obtains favour from the Lord;

SWORDS OF IRON & NORTHERN ARROWS (Day 413; 2nd year)

My Weekly Schedule 

NAHARIYA, ISRAEL.SATURDAY 23.11.2024

In the last year, I've been using Social Media more than I've used it in my entire life. In the last few months, seems I've been with my phone attached to me almost 24/7. In the past month, I also enhanced my knowledge of a few applications such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, WhatsApp, and whatever else is coming my way. I've been on Zoom at least twice a day, I've dabbed in Canva, and I made a few videos on the camera on my telephone. I know how to read Alerts in two languages, and I even manoeuvre myself on Google and am now able to open Telegram.

Lots of technological learning for an old lady.

Last night I found the main obstacle in it all. I ran out of space on the computer and the phone.

I thank God for the young women around me who helped me to find my way inside this technological web. Today, I had to delete all my pictures and videos to make room for new ones.

It was not fun. I'm still not done. I deleted pictures of family members that are now dead, I deleted videos that I made and I was so proud of my achievements, I deleted some thoughts and writings I had no idea how to keep... then I thought, I'm old enough to see the next world, I would never take these with me, and from my experience, with historic documentation and creative material of the last two generations, no one else would look at it anyway.

So I re-prioritized again.

In these two days of delete, I saw a few notices from American singers and actors who said they would be leaving the country and/or would not perform in the “red states” of the USA.

Our entire world needs to be re-prioritized.

Democracy is a system that allows for opposite opinions and ideas to live respectfully side by side. Until this generation, there was no room for the childish behaviour of pouting if others did not follow my personal ideology or opinion. Unless you were a two-year-old and still learning. This generation is so self-absorbed, that people do not see the absurdity of their actions.

You, the famous person who lives in comfort from the entertainment you have provided for others, you want to go on a sabbatical? Just take off for a year or two or five. You have the means, unlike your fans who don't. Don't cover your guilty conscious for living in comfort by putting down their choices, and pouting as if it is their fault that you decided to take time off or to travel less. You are over 30 now, not 2 years old. Behave your age.

It is addictive to make videos of oneself. One becomes addicted to the fun the instant fame and the laughter it provides. I love doing that! It is a great diversion for me during this war. I did not learn yet how to find who are the people that click on my “creation” and give me a “heart”. Five minutes ago a new AI assistant appeared on my phone screen, it is called 'Gemini'. I have no idea how to use it, but I'm sure I will learn.

It is all a great diversion from the war and the 803 dead soldiers; from our constant cry for the hostages to come home. From the young men and women who lost limbs and some are now learning to walk with metal appendices attached to them and are thanking God and the medical people for the rehabilitation, and the opportunity to live.

Does anyone remember that Ukraine has been at war for over 4 years? Many of their refugees live over here in Israel. All suffering people look the same, I can no longer tell who is who.

God, do you think it is OK to shorten now the time? All these 'Idols' are going on sabbaticals, maybe we get time off also?

Please...

 

SWORDS OF IRON & NORTHERN ARROWS (Day 409; 2nd year)

GOD'S GLORY

NAHARIYA, ISRAEL.TUESDAY 19.11.2024

For the past few days Isaiah 60:1 has run through my head, “Kumi Uri Ki Ba Orech, Ki Kvod Adonai Alaich Zarach” “Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. “

It is said on Israel the land, the nation, and these last few days it feels as if it is said over me. I walk about full of happy joy inside me knowing that God loves me. Yes, I doubt that I have the right to feel that way.

Rockets penetrated Haifa, Tel Aviv, Carmiel and other towns destroyed homes and caused death and wounding. Some of these people who were in those areas we know personally others we don't. Units of women soldiers penetrated Lebanon carrying 40% of their body weight on their backs, carrying ammunition and tools of war. I don't like seeing their pictures, I know our young people, males and females fight side by side, but it still pinches my heart.

I keep praying for the hostages that no one mentions anymore and I fear for the soldiers in the fields in Lebanon where rockets full of blocks of iron are aiming to maim and destroy more than the rockets intended to. I hear the sounds of war from the border mixing with the thunder sounds now that the rainy season has arrived. And I know that the “news” of the ceasefire is rejected by both sides and is propaganda of the current administration of the USA and they are not our friends, regardless of how they appear in the eyes of the world.

Then I recall that God shone His glory upon us individually and collectively and I remind myself and God of His promise, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure”.(Philippians 2:13). 

And I ask Him to bring His children home. 

SWORDS OF IRON & NORTHERN ARROWS (Day 406; 2nd year)

Shabbat Dawn

NAHARIYA, ISRAEL. SATURDAY 16.11.2024

Friday, “It was a challenging week. But God is good, He had given us the Shabbat. So we will rest and praise His Name and thank Him for sustaining us during it all. We are taking a Shabbat rest now and will meet again on Sunday Morning, Israeli time. God bless you, keep you, shine His face upon you, and give you peace.”

Saturday,

I wrote the above last night as my Shabbat Greeting to friends on my list. By 7:30 pm, the bed welcomed me with warmth and helped me sleep. It was a good night. We slept deep.

Woke up by 5:30 am had a shower, turned the coffee on, took a picture of the dawn, and Willie read a chapter from the bible for us. It felt like an Israeli Sabbath.  Only the birds' sounds are in the air. 

By 7 am a siren pierced the air. Explosions and Airplane sounds shuttered the peace around us.

Yet, since “I can do all things through the Messiah who strengthens me.” I can also thank God for the great sleep we had and continue praising Him knowing that this too shall pass and the Sabbath is still here and we do take joy in it.

(Proverb 17:22) A merry heart does good, like medicine. But a broken spirit dries the bones

Have a merry heart all you people. We'll meet again.