THE JOURNEY - Day 15

SUNDAY – Day 7 of Iron Swords War

15.10.2023

A week ago, in the early morning, the war of the Iron Swords started as Hamas attacked a “flower festival” of about 3,000 young people who went to the desert to celebrate peace and love.

So far, 1,300 dead –in this number there are over 900 civilians including babies and young children; over 2000 wounded; 150 abducted, held hostages or missing. The numbers might change by the time you read it.

There are 300,000 Israeli soldiers in the IDF who arrived from around the world, fighting in one capacity or another. The entire citizen base is involved in helping – cooking and taking food to the bases; collecting clothing and needed items; driving supplies; opening their home for cloth-washing and showers; and protecting the street they live on as a supplement for the forces. The nation is united again, for now.

Joshua is my favourite book in the bible. Chazak V'ematz (חזק ואמץ) = be strong and courageous, is my favourite verse. This is the direct command from God to Joshua, and all my life I heard these words everywhere I went in everything I was involved in.

Nothing applies better now to my life, even though I'm at the back, old and not really helping much, only praying some, and praying some more. The call hasn't changed: Chazak V'ematz for I am with you.

While I was talking to my son this afternoon, around 16:00, I heard Artileries exchange. I told him I heard something and I was trying to understand what I heard. Then it was the sound of a rocket and a huge boom of the Iron Dome stopping the rocket. Only then came the sirens. We are so close to the border that our siren sounds the alarm after the rocket falls. It was rather loud, thus rather annoying as it interrupted in my conversation with my son. My husband woke up at that time and closed the window. I called my son back a few minutes later since he wanted to assure our son that we were well.

I was not worried. Only annoyed. We have no fear and no anxiety. Years of prayers and of studying and memorizing the Word of God, are finely taking hold of us – if we live, we are not bored, if we die, we go for supper with Yeshua.

Where there is no fear of death, there is no fear. Period.

There are emotions, but they are controlled. There are concerns, but they don't consume us. We know how to turn all the negative feelings into prayers. When one of us forgets the other reminds us of the solution: pray, listen to instructions, and leave it with God.

Earlier today we boarded the train to a nearby city and met with our friends to pray. Heavy rainfall by lunchtime. What a blessing. It cleaned the air and we were held back from going out right then. When we left later on, the sky cleared and our train back arrived a minute after we did. We were home in the early afternoon. Transportation continues to function.

It reminded me that we need to pray for our drivers. The public transportation drivers are working without cover or protection and are exposed to any attack while being responsible for the commuters. A rather responsible job. The driver of the shuttle bus yesterday told me that many of his co-workers were on the front, attached to bases so they can move people and equipment when the bases move. I did not know that. In this war, the army was called in so quickly that it did not get mobilized fully equipped, everything was done as needed and hoped for the best... Lord, please help them to survive and bring them home alive and well.

From the Mayor's office, we got a request not to take pictures that identify where we are or what we've seen. It also requested no videos to be sent out and the ones received need deleted. Apparently, it gives the enemy a chance to find our location and put ammunition in their cyber network against us.

The new technology passed me by some time ago. Since I'm not sure how to deal with this, all I can do is not open videos and not send out any. Sorry about that, some of these videos with songs and talks that come from everywhere are interesting, but they can cause death. I'll be deleting them all without opening them. I'm sure you understand.

Almost 21:00, a peaceful and good night to all.

Only be strong and courageous... (Joshua).