Why I Love Israel

Reflection of Mt. Zion in the prayer room window

When my husband, son, and I moved to Brussels, Belgium four months ago from Jerusalem, it felt like I was leaving part of my soul there.  Almost every day I think about Israel, specifically Jerusalem, and the amazing year we lived there.  So many precious memories were made there.  I am not saying I don’t love Belgium or don’t believe this is where my family is supposed to be.  I do.  We are definitely in the center of the will of God.  I love what He is doing here in Belgium. This is His plan for us, and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but I really miss Israel!  Not just what Israel stands for in my life, but the actual physical land and people.

Jerusalem is the only city mentioned in the Bible that God loves. Most of Biblical history happened there. Abraham, Joshua, Isaiah and Jeremiah walked on the dusty hillsides.  Yeshua walked the Land for thirty-three years and especially loved the Galilee area. He died, was buried, and rose again in Jerusalem. The Apostle Paul was a Pharisee in Jerusalem and had a life-altering encounter with Yeshua on the road leading to Damascus, Syria.

Yeshua is Jewish. The disciples were Jewish. The church that Yeshua built was obviously Jewish for three hundred years until Constantine was “converted” and started removing all traces of Jewishness from it.  Christianity should more accurately be called “Messianic Judaism”.  Yeshua never meant for the church to be pulled away from her Jewish root.  We, as Gentile believers in Yeshua, have been grafted in to the Jewish vine. God reconciled me to Himself by sacrificing His Son, a human baby who was born to Jewish parents in a small Jewish town. That’s how much He wanted a relationship with me.  Wow.  This is just too much for my little mind to comprehend. (more…)

Goodbye, Israel…..

Since we arrived in Israel almost a year ago, our volunteer visa process with the Ministry of Interior has been a virtual rollercoaster.  I won’t go into the sordid details now, but just believe me.  It has been crazy.  When we re-entered the country after spending the month of November in the States, they said we could not stay any longer. They gave us two weeks and we stretched it out until an appeal appointment on Feb. 3.  At the appointment we were told we must leave the country by Feb. 17th.

We were expecting to be told we had to leave, but we weren’t expecting two weeks!  Gary has a one-year visa that is good until July 2010, so he can stay.  It’s just Preston and I who are having to leave. They don’t allow family members to come under the umbrella of the head of household visa any longer.  So…Preston and I are leaving in two weeks and Gary will be leaving on Mar. 12th. Our one year lease is up on our apartment on Mar. 31st. Good timing, huh?!  God’s leadership in our lives is so perfect!

After many confirming words, we have now set our sights on Brussels, Belgium! Even before we left the States last April, our hearts have been drawn to Belgium.  There is no functioning house of prayer in the whole city, and Brussels is the capital of the European Union.  Brussels is a very dark city spiritually.  For that matter, Time Magazine states, “Europe is the world’s spiritually darkest place.“  USA Today says, “ Islam is Europe’s fastest growing religion.” Operation World:  “80% of the French population has never seen, read or held a Bible.” Christianity Today: “Anti-Semitism in Europe is now worse than at any time since 1945.”

(more…)