2 Thes. 1:11-12 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Almost every Jewish holiday season, we go door to door, predominantly in poor neighborhoods throughout Israel, delivering baskets full of food, toiletries and other gifts. This year, we’ve included a copy of my wife’s first cd, hot off the presses***!
For those who don’t know, my wife Rivka has a phenomenal voice. The cd, called “Lazman Hazeh” (For Such a Time as This) contains twelve songs, all sung in Hebrew. And most of the lyrics are scriptures of God’s love, grace and encouragement for His people; they are crucial to the difficult times Israel is enduring right now. Also included on the album, is the song “Mercy Seat”, if you’ve heard of it, a very powerful song about God’s great mercy toward us when we run to Him.
We’ll spare you the details of the battle we’ve had with this cd but I’ll just say this: you could not imagine to what great lengths the enemy went to try to terminate this project from coming to fruition this past year. Time and time again, right as we were nearing the finish, we hit another brick wall — so many tears, frustrations and wanting to just “throw in the towel” — we thought it would never get done!
Then, yesterday, at our very first attempt to deliver baskets with the cd’s inside, our ministry van dies (“dies”, like our mechanic said that the value of the vehicle is not worth putting the money into fixing it). And if that wasn’t tough enough, today as we were delivering a second batch of baskets with our own little car, it too died — in fact, we barely made it home as we were driving through the dark highways of the Negev with two sleeping little one’s in the back seat!
Okaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…. I think it might be safe to say that our enemy is just a little upset about this album! But here’s the thing. We will continue to press forward to do the work of the Kingdom and we will prevail!
If you’re going through some tough stuff today, we are so there with you, friend! But let’s get tougher — and get ourselves going! Let’s stand strong together for the Lord’s purposes, no matter the cost, no matter the obstacles! Because, you know it — there’s soooooo much work to be done!
*** If you’d like to have a listen and/or purchase a cd, go to www.lazmanhazeh.com Each cd you buy will enable us to give away five in Israel. 100% the proceeds will be used to encourage and bless Israel.