My version of New Year’s resolutions is a list of goals and desires that I want to see accomplished in the new year. Not resolutions and promises, but desires that I hope to see accomplished by God’s grace. I spend time in prayer and ask Him to show me what He wants. Internally where no one sees and externally which affect my family and ministry. This year is no exception. There are specific goals that I will attempt to accomplish by His grace. A few can’t be written for all the world to see, but here are most of them (not necessarily in the order of importance):
1. Read & study the weekly Torah readings.
2. Read through the New Testament once a month for a total of 12 times this year. This is the plan I am using: YouVersion.com.
3. Write a blog post at least once a week, preferably twice a week.
4. Continue studying French and Hebrew.
5. Learn to knit.
6. Begin to do prayer walks around the Brussels red light district.
7. Purchase a camera and learn to take quality photos. (Anyone have a good, inexpensive camera suggestion?)
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Over the last couple of weeks I have been laboring over what the new name of this blog should be. Some people might be able to come up with fifty great titles in twenty-nine seconds, but it’s really hard for me. Obviously it can’t be My Falafel Times anymore, because Gary, Preston, and I left Israel two months ago and moved to Brussels, Belgium. God has opened up a whole new door of ministry, and we are so excited about it. Israel is still a central theme of my life, so you’ll still hear about the subject, but sadly enough I definitely don’t see many falafels in Belgium.
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Neh. 3:29 “…the gate that looketh toward the east: And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.”
Eastern Gate from inside the Temple Mount
Ezekiel 44:1-3 Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east; and it was shut. And he said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut. Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”
Eastern Gate from the Mt. of Olives
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Whew! What a year! This is where we were at the beginning of the year.
Our front yard on Hill St. in Texas
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I awoke this morning before the sun. Couldn’t sleep. Too much to think about. When I lay my head on my pillow tonight, everything has to be packed for our 7-week trip and the house cleaned and ready for our friends who will be staying here while we’re gone.
I grabbed my throw blanket and went out on the porch just as the light was peeking through the clouds. The morning was crisp and cool, such a refreshing respite from the heat wave this last week. As one of our friends here says, the birds were “tweeting” and singing. I could just barely see the mountains on the other side of the Jordan River. Moses surveyed the promised land from the mountains that I look at every morning. John the Baptist hung out in the wilderness just before those mountains. Jeremiah probably climbed these hills closest to me. The view from my porch never gets old. This morning was especially poignant, because after tomorrow I won’t see this sight again for seven whole weeks. Jerusalem has stolen my heart. If heart is where the home is, then I am home. I know I won’t always be here. Abba has so many things planned for our family. There are rivers to cross and battles to win. There are pockets of darkness in the earth that need the kingdom of God declared and spoken forth over them. But for right now I am relishing the fact that God has graced me to live in the city that He loves. And I will miss her immensely.
“I am extremely jealous for Zion; I am jealous for her with great wrath.” Zech. 8:3
“You who make mention of the Lord, do not give Him rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem the praise of the earth.” Isa. 62:6-7
