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)