Shabbat Shalom
Dear Family,
It is nice to be able to write to you again from a settled place. Callie and I have had a crazy year, and to be relaxing in a one place for consecutive weeks is really a blessing. We have settled in quite well to our life here in Northern Kentucky. Callie started back to school this week and the quarter is shaping up to be an interesting one. Please pray that the Lord would richly bless her work. I am still looking for a job, so I would appreciate some prayer in that direction.
With everything happening in Israel, it is becoming increasingly hard to not be there. I know that the Lord has us here for a time, and I am very blessed to be here. For some reason (I am still praying about this) I have not been in Israel the last two times there has been a major conflict. I don't know what that is about, but I am sure God has a reason for it. It has been very hard to see the wave of hatred that has been coming at my people since the operation began. he media has been unrelenting in it's pounding of Israel and there have been Pro-Palestinian protests in every city I can think of. Callie and I were watching MSNBC yesterday, and someone in Israel was reporting on the leaflets Israel was dropping into Gaza. The purpose of the leaflets is to tell the people of Gaza what they need to be doing to stay out of harm's way....but MSNBC did not report this. Instead they decided just to interpret the first two lines of the leaflet in which Israel talks about its strength. This is intended to counteract the lies Hamas is telling the people about Israel being weak. MSNBC gave the impression that all Israel wanted to do with the leaflets was to waive it's power in the people's face. Everyone who watched this program will never never know what these leaflets were truly for and that they are meant to save lives, not to gloat. This is pure hatred of Israel disguised in news reporting and this is what the world sees. Please, if there is some way for you to show your love for Israel this week, I humbly ask you to do so. Israel needs to feel the love of the Lord, and the Body HAS to be the vessel for this.
How are we prioritizing God in our lives? This is something that has been preached on again and again, but it is something that should be repeated again and again. With the things that have been happening in this country, and this world, how have we been responding as believers. I have been in the States searching for a job, and I see how every day, my thoughts are consumed by this search. I am consumed by it, and my mind continues to race on and on about getting one. My prayers have all been leaning in the direction of, "Lord lead me to find the job you want me to have." This is fine, and God definitely wants me to have provision, but am I really showing the Lord that He is the priority in my life? Callie and I are finding that there needs to be a place where we can shut out everything and just be together. The cares and the troubles of the world can and should be dealt with, but we are in this certain place, it is all about being together and sharing our love. This has helped us separate and prioritize each other. This doesn't mean we ignore everything outside. When we emerge from this place, we work hard on the things we need to and they get done. But, for us, we have created this particular place just for us....so that intimacy can grow.
We all should ask ourselves, "Have we been doing this with the Lord? Have we been setting apart a certain place and a certain time just to be with the "Lover of our souls?" I ask my self this because it seems that my prayers have all been directed towards the problems I am facing. I am not just finding a time and place to grow in my intimacy with the Lord. There is absolutely a time for intercession for issues, but we MUST have this intimacy! In the end, this is all that we will have. The world will come against our belief with a flood of hatred and criticism. The only thing that will keep us safe is our intimacy with the Lord. If we have an intimate, set apart relationship with the Lord, it stops being a what have you done for me lately relationship that is so easily shaken. It becomes a passionate, knowing relationship that is solid. I pray that we all could have this in our relationships with the Lord. If we don't have it...it is never to late to start! Blessings!
In Yeshua,
Callie and Devin
It is nice to be able to write to you again from a settled place. Callie and I have had a crazy year, and to be relaxing in a one place for consecutive weeks is really a blessing. We have settled in quite well to our life here in Northern Kentucky. Callie started back to school this week and the quarter is shaping up to be an interesting one. Please pray that the Lord would richly bless her work. I am still looking for a job, so I would appreciate some prayer in that direction.
With everything happening in Israel, it is becoming increasingly hard to not be there. I know that the Lord has us here for a time, and I am very blessed to be here. For some reason (I am still praying about this) I have not been in Israel the last two times there has been a major conflict. I don't know what that is about, but I am sure God has a reason for it. It has been very hard to see the wave of hatred that has been coming at my people since the operation began. he media has been unrelenting in it's pounding of Israel and there have been Pro-Palestinian protests in every city I can think of. Callie and I were watching MSNBC yesterday, and someone in Israel was reporting on the leaflets Israel was dropping into Gaza. The purpose of the leaflets is to tell the people of Gaza what they need to be doing to stay out of harm's way....but MSNBC did not report this. Instead they decided just to interpret the first two lines of the leaflet in which Israel talks about its strength. This is intended to counteract the lies Hamas is telling the people about Israel being weak. MSNBC gave the impression that all Israel wanted to do with the leaflets was to waive it's power in the people's face. Everyone who watched this program will never never know what these leaflets were truly for and that they are meant to save lives, not to gloat. This is pure hatred of Israel disguised in news reporting and this is what the world sees. Please, if there is some way for you to show your love for Israel this week, I humbly ask you to do so. Israel needs to feel the love of the Lord, and the Body HAS to be the vessel for this.
How are we prioritizing God in our lives? This is something that has been preached on again and again, but it is something that should be repeated again and again. With the things that have been happening in this country, and this world, how have we been responding as believers. I have been in the States searching for a job, and I see how every day, my thoughts are consumed by this search. I am consumed by it, and my mind continues to race on and on about getting one. My prayers have all been leaning in the direction of, "Lord lead me to find the job you want me to have." This is fine, and God definitely wants me to have provision, but am I really showing the Lord that He is the priority in my life? Callie and I are finding that there needs to be a place where we can shut out everything and just be together. The cares and the troubles of the world can and should be dealt with, but we are in this certain place, it is all about being together and sharing our love. This has helped us separate and prioritize each other. This doesn't mean we ignore everything outside. When we emerge from this place, we work hard on the things we need to and they get done. But, for us, we have created this particular place just for us....so that intimacy can grow.
We all should ask ourselves, "Have we been doing this with the Lord? Have we been setting apart a certain place and a certain time just to be with the "Lover of our souls?" I ask my self this because it seems that my prayers have all been directed towards the problems I am facing. I am not just finding a time and place to grow in my intimacy with the Lord. There is absolutely a time for intercession for issues, but we MUST have this intimacy! In the end, this is all that we will have. The world will come against our belief with a flood of hatred and criticism. The only thing that will keep us safe is our intimacy with the Lord. If we have an intimate, set apart relationship with the Lord, it stops being a what have you done for me lately relationship that is so easily shaken. It becomes a passionate, knowing relationship that is solid. I pray that we all could have this in our relationships with the Lord. If we don't have it...it is never to late to start! Blessings!
In Yeshua,
Callie and Devin
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