“Are you interested in going?” she asked, looking away from the road for a brief moment to look at my face.
“Yeah, I actually am.” I said as I pondered for a second the reality of what was going through my heart and mind.
Israel.
The Holy Land.
The inheritance of God’s chosen people.
My home for the spring semester.
I had not planned on going abroad for any more semesters. Work, pay for school, finish school had been the plan, but as Alina answered the questions I was asking about the Calvary Chapel Bible College campus in Jerusalem, I realized that a true consideration of the possibility had been stirring in my heart.
“There’s an informational meeting on Wednesday. You should come!” she said and I replied that I would.
From that Friday conversation to that Wednesday, I prayed everyday that the Lord would speak regarding the opportunity and when Wednesday morning arrived, I earnestly prayed that He would reveal to me and confirm in His Word whether He was sending me to Israel or if I was just getting ahead of Him in my excitement to visit the place I feel so deeply called to.
In my reading that day I started the book of Ezekiel and as I read, I came across this verse,
“And He said to me: “Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me, they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day…I am sending you to them…” Ezekiel 2:3, 4b
I don’t know if the Lord has ever spoken to you directly from His Word like that, but it was incredible. There was no coincidence that I prayed that specific prayer that morning; the morning of the informational meeting about the semester in Israel; the day that I started Ezekiel in the natural course of my personal reading. As I read it was like the world around me grew dull and a weight in my heart drew me closer to the written Word as He applied the Scriptures directly into my life.
I knew then and there that He was calling me to the place where Jesus walked for the spring semester and I confidently attended the meeting, asked for an application, and discussed details of cost with Alina, the affiliate campus coordinator.
Throughout this process I have experienced much discouragement and tremendous spiritual warfare.
As I am sure you all know, the American embassy in Israel moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and set off a fresh wave of unrest in Israel. Many people have discouraged
My younger sister is a junior in high school and will be dress shopping for and attending her first prom, as well as performing in an important American Sign Language show which her school puts on every year (and which I will be missing for the third year in a row).
The high school seniors I serve in the high school ministry at my church will be graduating and I will be gone for the last three months that they’re a part of the ministry.
I don’t have the funds to pay for the semester and even with my two jobs I will not be able to make the payments before I leave.
All of this weighed at one time or another upon my shoulders in these past few months.
And all of this rests in His capable hands as He is teaching me to walk by faith and abide in His promise.
He said that He is sending me and that is all I need to know to confidently walk in the knowledge that I will be perfectly safe during my time there; that He will surround my sister during these important milestones in her life; that He will continue to carry the seniors I love and establish their paths as they depart from the ministry; and that He will take care of the cost because I am His ambassador and He has the resources of heaven and earth at His disposal.
The road has been rocky and the mental stress and spiritual testing has been exhausting, but ultimately I come back to His promises and His faithfulness. If He hadn’t spoken so directly that He is sending me, I would not be preparing to leave. I would put Israel on hold, continue to work, and get there eventually, but walking by faith means taking risks and trusting Him to see it through to the end. So that is what I am doing and I know that, less than a month from today, I will be standing in the Holy Land with my tuition paid in full, praising the Lord for His provision.
oday I stand and praise Him for the provision that I do not yet see, yet know is coming because I know the faithfulness of Him who knows all of my needs and supplies them with generosity and ease.