Motzei Shabbat

Some of the things that are going on in the world right now.

    "Watch out! Don't let anyone fool you! For many will come in My Name, saying 'I am the Messiah!' and they will lead many astray. You will hear of the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off; see to it that you don't become frightened. Such things must happen, but the end is yet to come. For peoples will fight each other, nations will fight each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various parts of the world; all this is but the beginning of the birth pains."

Yeshua HaMashiach speaking, Matthew 24;:4-14

    It's almost unfathomable to imagine what happened on October the 7th in sleepy Israeli villages on Shabbat and Simcha Torah. Yet it did. Is it over? Hardly. Starting with Hamas killers attacking Israel from Gaza, we now have fighting going on from 3 sides. If anything, it's going to get worse, seemingly.

    While it is possible for G-d to avert His anger - and that is what we pray for - history shows that the one thing we know will appease Him, is if we all do genuine, hard teshuva. We should get right down to it immediately. Remember Nin'veh. She was saved from destruction when Yonah came to warn her. But she went back to her wicked ways and suffered utter annihilation at the hands of HaShem. Our world today stands on the brink of repenting full force or suffering the consequences.

    All humanity should heed Yeshua's words:

"Pay attention! [says Yeshua,] I am coming soon, and my rewards are with me to give each person according to what he has done. I am the א and the ת, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End."

    As we try to make sense of these unparalleled atrocities, let us remember that G-d is our only Safe Place. Let us cling to Him. No one knows how this will all unfold, but we do know how it ends: HaShem and His Messiah win. Let's do our best to be found on the side of righteousness and justice in these evil days.

    My heart is heavy at having to pen these words just before retiring for the night. But my inner man is so desperately calling out to HaShem to open the eyes of the blind before it's too late.

    If the Judge of all the earth were to return tonight, what would He find you doing and saying? 

    Even in the face of tragedy, we can find Simcha. Not happiness, but Joy, in the moment. We can choose life instead of death, blessing instead of cursing. Let us do so now, for tomorrow is not guaranteed. 

    Finding joy in the moment is easy when one lives in an attitude of gratefulness to Adonai for all one has and owns, the material as well as the emotional and psychological blessings our Heavenly Father bestows on us daily!

    One such incident was today, when a friend came by and picked me and my sewing apparatus up and took me to her home, where I met Milly the Bloodhound.

    We spent 5 or 6 hours together, re-learning how to lay and cut out materials for a dress, for a pair of pants. Our nerves were shot and we fought a great fight with the tension dial and the bobbin case, but in the end, we found a way to make it work. Baruch HaShem. Not only that, but we [tried to] take Milly for a walk. She just sat down!

    We chatted, pinned, cut, and then had dinner together. Wow, was my tummy full. So was my heart.

    No matter your circumstances or the circumstances that surround you, in HaShem, there is always joy to be found. Cling to Him and let Him be your Hiding Place in every storm, big or small.

Layla tov