In January of 2024, I first laid eyes on beautiful Israel, just a few months after the horrific terror attack of October 7th. I was there alone, a 41 year old wife and mother, on a mission that changed my life and ignited a fire that burns bright every day for the Jewish people.
​How did I get there? I’d spent my adult life thinking of Israel as merely a US ally in the Middle East and the birthplace of my Christian faith. I was indifferent towards the Jewish people. But in October of 2023 God opened my eyes and transformed my heart.
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​October 7th
The savage attack on Israel felt like a blow to my soul. I understood that what happened in Israel was a big deal, but I didn’t understand why it was such a big deal to ME.
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For days, I tearfully called out to God on Israel’s behalf. I cried out for the mothers, like me, the children, like my sons, the men called to war, like my own combat-veteran husband, and for the hostages, who grieved my spirit.
A couple of months later, in December, God asked me to be baptised. As a Christian I understood the importance of baptism, yet had never entered those waters myself. The night of my baptism, I stood before the congregation and shared the truth of my life: that God had rescued me from the deepest darkness many years ago. I declared “Jesus is King," and entered the baptism water.
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What I didn’t realize during all this, was that in the front of the congregation, listening to my testimony, sat a group of Israelis. They had been invited to tell their amazing story of survival in the October 7th massacre. One of them, just a teenage girl, turned and looked me square in the eyes. Filled with God’s Spirit, a strong sense of something came over me: I felt a deep-seated connection to her, to all of them! Just then, God promised me that I would see her again, in Israel. What was happening to me?
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The following morning, I woke up and heard the actual voice of God! Before my eyes opened He said to me, “The time is short and the workers are few; go to Israel.” I sat up bolt-right in bed. To my astonishment, overnight, God had placed a profound love of Israel and the Jewish people in my heart. Within me, it felt like there was a roaring lion - powerfully driving me - to Israel to minister to her hurting people.
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A Miracle
I left on my first trip to Israel exactly 7 weeks later. But, let me back up just a minute - you should know that just several months prior to this, I had experienced a great miracle in my life that made a service trip to Israel possible to begin with.
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I had been very ill for 12 years with Lupus (an autoimmune disease), Lyme Disease, and a roster of other serious infections due to poor immunity. Everyday life was challenging, and I often felt I was merely surviving. One morning - literally in one day - God healed me completely and supernaturally. This is a significant part of my story because, though I didn’t know it at the time, God was preparing me to be physically able to travel to Israel and to birth Risen Hearts.
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My Story
In Israel
I joined a group of Christians doing service projects. We fed 8,000 hamburgers to IDF soldiers who had just come from Gaza, we built irrigation equipment with farmers in nearly abandoned kibbutzim along the Gaza border, and we hosted a BBQ for displaced families, among numerous other projects.
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Everywhere I went, I encountered a broken-hearted people. A nation in trauma and struggling under the weight of immense grief. But, I also encountered a strong people - resilience born out of a legacy of overcoming persecution. I experienced a loving people, relational and warm. The Lord showed me that what the enemy had intended for evil on October 7th, God is using for good. For one thing, Christians are being awakened and called to serve Israel with true love and friendship. In turn, Israelis are receiving that love and friendship. A strength and a hope is found in that unity. It is fertile ground for the work of God.
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While on that first trip, I learned about the critical supply deficits faced by over 300,000 IDF Reservists. Many of these men were without ceramic (bullet-proof) vests, protective tactical helmets, fire-retardant uniforms and even warm coats. While the IDF is a well-funded, top-tier military, they were not equipped to call almost half a million men and women (Active Duty and Reserves) to war at once. I listened to the testimony of one young man in particular, who had received a helmet and vest donated by Christians. He contacted them later that same night to tell them that they had saved his life! He’d been shot, but the vest did its job! Immediately, I heard God instruct me to raise money to get vests and helmets for more Reservists.
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A few days later, and quite miraculously, I had been able to raise enough money to get some of this life-saving gear. I was on my way to a military base in Judea (the West Bank) to hand-deliver it to an IDF soldier named “Ben”, who would bring the gear to others in his unit. The encounter with Ben further changed my life.
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Ben
Ben was a tall, strong young soldier with a hurting heart. He was determined to make sure I understood that the IDF were doing everything possible to prevent civilian casualties and injuries. He was afraid I thought otherwise. I could see that Ben had been wounded by anti-semitic propaganda in the news and social media. I looked into the eyes of a man facing death with bravery each day, fighting for freedom and life - a man fighting an honorable war, honorably. The false accusations of murder and genocide were crushing him. I put my hands on his shoulders and simply said, “Ben, I believe you.” He needed to hear that. He literally shuddered as those words washed over him. I told him that millions of people around the world, many of them Christians, believe in the fight he’s fighting. I told him that Yeshua is the One who sent me, who put a love for him in my heart.
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The time with Ben was more than just a time to hand off equipment. It was a holy time, orchestrated and used by God, and one that lives in my heart every day. For me, meeting Ben galvanized a commitment to support the warriors of Israel.
Since Then
Today, we build and mobilize Risen Hearts, a ministry with a back-story only God could write!
I have been back to Israel since that first trip. I’ve met numerous soldiers, many of them with PTSD and crushed spirits. I have had the privilege to visit hospitals brimming with injured IDF vets and October 7th victims. I’ve sat with wounded young men, missing arms, legs, hands, feet, noses and eyes. I have hugged mamas and grandfathers and brothers whose loved ones are suffering. These interactions fuel our resolve to serve the hurting and wounded. We trust that God will use our efforts for His purposes.
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Remember that teenage Israeli girl that looked me in the eyes the night I was baptised? The Lord made good on His promise and I did indeed see her again, at her home, in Israel.
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My prayer for you is two-fold: That you would see without a doubt that God loves Israel and the Jewish people. They are the apple of His eye. He loves them so much that He is awakening and dispatching Christians like me to serve them.
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I also pray that you join us on our journey. May you say to God, as the prophet Isaiah once did, “Here I am; send me” and come alongside us in loving His people as He does.
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Isaiah 49:22
This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples;
They will bring your sons in their arms
And carry your daughters on their shoulders.”