Over the New Year of 2012, I was blessed through the work of the Father’s House to be on the Journey Group to go to Israel. It was one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever done in my life. Actually, it is THE most remarkable thing I’ve ever done.

I’m not a Preacher or a pastor; I’m an active member with my church family in Glen Rose, Texas. The way that I came to Christianity was because I was shown that God is real and that God cares about us. I used to not claim to be a Christian even years into my adult life. But, I had a horrific accident whereby almost every other person would have died from the accident, and most that lived would not have received the Blessing of recovery that I received. After this horrific accident and as I was in the medical rehabilitation process, I prayed and I was saved through a very strong Christian friend of mine. As far as sharing the news about Christ, I do that often as I now spend much of my time presenting to people about life choices. Tied deeply to my message is the message of Christ’s love for us. That’s my number one priority: sharing the message about God’s role in our lives. Now, going to Israel cemented my desire to do this to do JUST this: to share the message of Christ’s love for us. When I walked on the land where Jesus walked, when I was at the place of His birth as a human, when I was at the place where Jesus performed many miracles, when I was on very trails where Jesus walked, my awareness that He is listening to us that Christ / God is listening to us grew tremendously. And, one of the greatest gifts about being in Israel is that my awareness about God listening to us IS STILL present with me now even being back in a different country and on a different continent from Israel. I love God for what He has done for me for us and I desire nothing more than sharing the message so that others are also turned toward Him.

It truly was an amazing experience and I found it extremely special to have this journey with some amazing men of God. We were all bounded together because our love for Jesus Christ and we continued to grow throughout the journey. I have a greater understanding of the biblical text as well as modern day Israel and their daily struggle as a result of this trip. Of course, it makes scripture come alive and will greatly impact your preaching and teaching of God’s word as well as strengthening your overall faith. I would also encourage pastors to consider various ways they can help others in their church family make a similar journey to Israel to help strengthen your local body as well as provide much needed support and encouragement for the people of Israel. I think having church leaders experience this type of trip only results in a greater blessing for those that are part of the churches they lead. Great experience, Great Journey, and Life Changing!!!

My journey to Israel was God ordained from the very beginning. I was in nursing school and we are limited on how many days we can miss. This was the first time ever the college decided to close down the entire week of Thanksgiving. The insanely busy schedule of a nursing student doesn’t leave much room for anything that doesn’t involve nursing. Waking up an hour earlier to dig into the Word like I did before work started getting less and less every day; attending church and Stonewater U classes every week started to turn into online services and not attending to try to squeeze in any time to study. I have grown a lot over the past few years in my walk with Christ. This trip took the intimacy I have with God to a whole new level. I was excited about this trip and spending a week in the Holy Land, being where Jesus walked and spending much needed time in His Word. The second day in Israel, Roxie asked me what the Lord was speaking to me. To be honest, it took me a day or so to calm my excitement down and hear what He was speaking to me. He was telling me to “be still.” With that I finally slowed down and started soaking everything in. My uncle had shared some insight with us, when you look around Israel there is a lot of trash on the roads, stone buildings, not what you picture when you think of the Promised Land, but it is like our hearts, filthy, full of trash, and ugly, yet we are Holy because God says we are, just like His Land. Standing at the true birthplace of our Savior, the first place we worshiped and I couldn’t get any words to come out; I was humbled, and moved to tears from being overwhelmed with feeling His presence. This wasn’t the only location this happened at. God has done some amazing things in my life, even earlier this year, but He showed up in a huge way while I was in His land. There was a strike with our airlines and talk of maybe not making it back in time, which would’ve had me missing exceeding the number of days we could miss in school, 2. John had the travel agent working to get my mom and I on a flight out on different airlines but it would have to be early. Without a second thought I said, “no, absolutely not.” I felt God saying “are you really going to put all your trust in me or take the first opportunity to get back?” The strike ended for us to get back on schedule, before going back on strike a couple days later. I felt Him putting a whole new passion in my heart. There were some fires being started by terrorists all throughout the land in Israel, including Jerusalem. Not once was I afraid, I felt at home and safer there than I do even here. I feel like God was starting a wildfire in my heart, and John and Moshe’s passion for teaching fanned the flames. I have been non-stop in the Word since I’ve been back, and God has opened a huge door for me to go back this February for a month and learn more about Him. “For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrew 12:29