Why twelve, you ask? I don’t know. I was looking at pictures of our year in Israel this morning and started thinking about how I love that place. For those of you who don’t know, we spent last year living in Israel and serving on the leadership team of Succat Hallel, a 24/7 house of prayer in Jerusalem. It was one of the best years of my life but also one of the hardest years of my life. I know that sounds strange, but it’s really true. The difficult times refined my walk with God in a way that nothing else could, so I treasure even the hardest days.
These twelve things are in no particular order. I couldn’t put them in order even if I had to. I love every one of them. Ok…here goes….
1. Looking out my living room window at the Jordanian mountains of Moab. The security fence that borders the West Bank is visible also.
2. Visiting my 2 favorite places on the Temple Mount. This was the location of Solomon’s temple & possible site of the third temple.
And this is the inside of the Eastern (Golden) Gate where Yeshua will enter the city when He returns. (Who is that handsome man standing there?!)
3. Worshiping with the community at Succat Hallel
4. Watching Bar Mitzvah ceremonies at the Western Wall on Thursday mornings
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After today I will call my Wednesday posts “Wordless Wednesday”, but today I’m going to explain it a little. Destiny said I should call it “Wordy Wednesday” just for today, and I totally agree. I would hate to mislead anyone. 
I’ve been wanting to do Wordless Wednesdays for a long time but always seem to forget until late on Wednesday Thursday Friday night. I really love pictures that speak for themselves, so now I will (hopefully) be looking for a photo all week to use.
The whole idea of Wordless Wednesday is not to use words. I totally get that, but I do want to say one more thing that might seem unrelated but really isn’t: I am so very very grateful that my laptop is back in my hands after being in the repair shop for a week. I have a Macbook Air (which I LOVE) and the hinge has been gradually breaking over the last several months. Well, my wonderful husband researched it and found out that I’m not the only one with hinge problems on my version of Air. Therefore, they fixed it better than ever and totally free of charge even though it was past the one-year warranty period! I LOVE Apple!
Ok…..now for my Wordless Wednesday….
American Fourth of July in Belgium
Yesterday I was listening to a teaching by Billy Humphrey, founder of the the International House of Prayer in Atlanta, Georgia. Billy came to our home church (Shady Grove Church) several times while we were pastoring, and we have always loved his fiery, prophetic spirit and passion for God. His opening text of the message I listened to yesterday was one verse in the book of Matthew, and it has gripped my heart. When you read it with natural eyes, there is nothing unusual about it. Actually it’s a verse that most of us have read many times. Billy described it as the “reset button” in his life. When it seems like life is getting too complicated or he’s having trouble focusing on what really matters, he meditates on this one verse in Matthew 22:2.
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son.”
This is what it’s all about. Our highest purpose is to be a bride prepared for the Son of God. It’s not what we do for Him. It’s who we are. This has been His purpose from the beginning of time. We, as sons and daughters of the Most High, the Church, are being readied for the marriage supper of the Lamb, to be married to the One who will ride on a white horse of war rather than a donkey of peace. His robe ‘dipped in blood’ but not his own. (more…)
Living with six of my seven grandchildren is a joy. Poppy and I get to spoil them and love on them continually. We try not to spoil too much, but we just can’t help it. Like last night. The parental units went to an Explosion youth leadership dinner and meeting, and we kept all the kids. At dinner time we lined up six plates, filled them one by one, and passed them around the table to each one. When the plates were passed out, we started on the drinks. One of the older ones said they wanted Pepsi Max. Pepsi Max is a beloved drink by some around here. It has 30% more caffeine than regular diet Pepsi, and the kids are not allowed to drink it. The next thing I know, Poppy is handing the two oldest girls their own glasses of Pepsi Max. Poppy said Ash and Maddy needed it, because they had had such a busy afternoon. They had gone with him to run an errand. They ended up walking in the forest and got lost. (That story will have to wait for another blog post…) You should have seen their faces when Poppy told them they could have Pepsi Max. You would have thought we gave them a $100 bill! All this to say, we usually give them what they want…especially when mom and dad aren’t around.
I don’t know why I went off on that story, because the real reason I’m writing this post is to talk about how the kids are learning to play instruments during our watches in the BHOP (Brussels House of Prayer). Ashlyn is very interested in the harmonica, and it sounds so great. It’s not your typical “hoe-down” harmonica sound. She has learned how to make it sound good even in slower worship songs. Madysen is loving the piano. She practices all the time. She has learned two chord progressions and we have been singing several songs to those progressions. It’s very beautiful, actually. Kadyn is a natural on the drums. She is learning to keep a steady beat and is very good at it. (She has her dad’s drumming genes.) Lyric loves to play the guitar she got for Christmas last year. She does a great job, and she sings at the same time. The boys are just 2 1/2 and 18 months, so all they do is dance. It’s so cute to watch.
Ashlyn on the harmonica
Maddy on the piano
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Yesterday Gary and I traveled to Antwerp to join in the celebration of the completion of the Breaking Chains Ministry Center in the Red Light District. What a day! If you have ever transformed a house from utter devastation and ruin to a beautiful, cozy home, you know some of the feelings we had last Saturday as we surveyed the transformation with approximately fifty friends of the ministry. When the apartment was rented just a few months ago, it was, in my opinion, uninhabitable. I can’t begin to tell you the filth and disrepair it contained. We found several dead mice, which explained the stench. There were holes in doors, floors and walls. The bathroom was scary. Every room was pretty disgusting. These pictures don’t do it justice.
Living room - at least 4 layers of wallpaper!
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