LEARNING DAILY

 

Philippians 4:6-7, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus.

 

We are home from our travels to Israel. It was certainly no vacation; it was a journey – more like a marathon! That is what we were told it would be by Pastor Ed Newton and he was right on. I have much to write about what we saw and experienced. I will even include pictures. My eyes were opened many different places and I have to tell you I felt at times that I had skipped so much in my Bible reading. I have no doubt I will read my Bible differently from this day on.

 

We sat where Jesus told His followers the Sermon on the Mount. We sat where Jesus wept over Jerusalem and answered the disciples questions about what would lead to His return (Matthew 24-25). We spent time meditating in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus asked that the cup He was about to face be taken from Him but yielded to His Father’s will. We sat where the angels announced to the shepherds the birth of the Messiah and saw His birth place. We saw where Jesus died, the cave He was buried in, and the place called Megiddo where He will return to defeat the antichrist and his followers. It was a busy, busy time!

 

I suppose you are wondering about the scripture verses for today. I want to tell you about a few personal experiences before and along the way to this journey. Anxiety is very real for me and the enemy uses it to discourage and take away my joy. Separation from family is a real problem for me and the devil uses it whenever he can. Is it all right to be open with you today? Going into this trip, I was very concerned about how our cat was going to do with us being gone for so long. I know!! It is interesting how our pets become so important to us! I do not especially like to fly – 14 hours on a plane and I was concerned about sitting that long and of course not sleeping. I was concerned about being in a strange country and all the things that might go wrong. One night while there, I woke up, worried about some of the events we were going to be involve with several days later. The enemy was trying to steal the joy of being in Israel and fully experiencing all that we would do there.

 

But here is the reality of what happened. I continually thought of these verses, gave all this to the Lord with “prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving” and truly “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and mind” happened. Nothing I was anxious about occurred! Our cat, Ranger, was well taken care of. A neighbor living on the block over from our house sent us a picture of him in their garage laying in a bed they must have made for him and we received pictures of him enjoying the company of our son-in-law at the house. All the other things on the trip that I imagined might happen did not. I had a peace about these things that only God can give. There were other things to be concerned with like getting to the bus on time wherever we were, getting separated from the group (which did happen once to where we had to be found), and getting away from all the people who wanted to sell us something. Charlotte even got “grabbed” by a store owner and chewed out for ignoring him.

 

What an adventure and I will try to share many things in the future with you. It is good to be home!