Leaving Israel, the Land We Love, Kynada Boland's Story

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Hey friends, welcome to the Her God Story podcast where you will always hear a good story to encourage and inspire you in your walk with the Lord.

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I'm your host, Jodie Chiricosta, ministry leader at Somebody Cares America and International, author and traveler on this journey of faith.

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If you haven't done so yet, make sure to like or follow this podcast on your favorite streaming platform so you don't miss any of our encouraging episodes.

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You probably know by now that I always ask my guests what woman of the Bible has inspired, encouraged or taught her something.

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But what about you? I'd love to hear what woman of the Bible has helped you in your walk with the Lord.

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Email me at hergodstory@somebodycares.org and tell me why. I just might read it in a future episode to encourage others who are listening.

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Remember, email me at hergodstory@somebodycares.org.

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Psalm 122:6-7 says,

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Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls. Prosperity within your palaces.

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Kynada Boland and her family have been living in Jerusalem for just about eight years now.

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You may remember her story from episode seven entitled, God's Got Great Things For You. If you haven't listened to it, you just might want to after hearing her update today.

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I've asked Canada to share her experience and perspective on what's happening in Israel now.

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Welcome back, Kynada. Thank you. It's an honor to be with you.

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Kynada, you and your family have been living in Israel, or in Israel, and actually in Jerusalem for a number of years.

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And you've experienced life during heightened threat levels and even various terrorist activities in the nation.

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But the recent attack by Hamas was beyond what anyone could have thought or imagined.

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What did you and your family experience when those attacks first took place?

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You know, actually, we had just returned from four months away, and we had these two, we had just returned to Jerusalem and we had these two glorious days with friends and fellowship and food.

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It was the end of Sukkot.

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And so, like, really just such a special welcome home from the Lord, these two awesome days.

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And then the third morning, we woke up to the sound of sirens in Jerusalem at 830 in the morning. And I looked at my husband and he looked at me and then he checked his phone and he said, we have to go.

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So we woke up the kids and we said, get up, put on clothes.

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We're going to the shelter. And they're like, what? Why? Like jet lagged.

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And so we just slowly, we have 90 seconds in Jerusalem to make it to the shelter.

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And so we made our way to the shelter where we were greeted by some of our neighbors that we hadn't seen yet.

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And there were hugs and there were, you know, it was surprising to have an alarm or a siren in Jerusalem for rockets.

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But so everyone did OK.

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And then we went back upstairs.

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And then the sirens sounded again. And so we quickly realized, OK, let's unpack our bags from our trip and let's get our grab and go bags together.

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And so each time that we went to the shelter, we would take the bags as ready as they were.

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And then we returned back upstairs.

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So it quickly became aware that we actually needed to get ready and have things in place, not knowing what was coming.

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So how many of you were there?

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It was a very unusual experience for me, knowing, what was going to happen and knowing what was coming.

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So how many times did that happen in that day?

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And was there any news coming out about what was actually going on?

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My husband's connected with IDF, immediate news sources.

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And so right away, people began learning of the atrocities and the trauma and the tragedy that was happening.

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from just being rockets to not knowing what might happen in the coming hours

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all throughout Israel. Each time between the sirens we started cleaning the

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shelter, preparing it in case we needed to sleep, we made things ready in case

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other neighbors would come, we prepared all of our documents and all of the

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essentials for the kids. So this is what the first day looked like for us. And as

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the war escalated, how did that affect your daily life and your emotions and you

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know of you and your neighbors and other people in the country? You know from the

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outset the tragedy and the trauma impacted every person. No matter where

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they lived in the country, each person, each family had a family member involved.

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There were soldiers who were called up very quickly. So friends, parents, children,

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families were impacted at so many different levels. And so obviously the

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stress and the grief and the what-ifs and the whys, like everyone's saying how

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did this happen? And so right away I think the worst is the unknowns of what

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might happen and the what-ifs. And so right away just recognizing that we

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really need to guard our hearts and our minds. We need to stay in the shelter of

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his wings and even daily tasks that you wouldn't like taking a shower. Suddenly

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you're like okay I really want to take a shower but if the siren goes off you

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know I have my clothes laid out, I told everyone in the house okay I promise you

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I will be there in 90 seconds. Like going to the grocery store became a whole

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another thing because you're always aware of where a shelter is and who's

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around and how long it would take you to get to safety. And so it impacts every

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level of society and relationship and function. And how did you see people

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coping? I mean you know the Lord, you said you you know it's a constant daily

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reminder probably hourly and minute by minute reminder to stay in the shadow of

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his wings. How did you see other people coping and drawing

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together? Even my children commented like we have the Lord and we know his

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promises. We know that ultimately he is the only one who gives peace that the

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world can't take away. And others don't. I mean there is a lot of some people

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don't but so everyone's glued to the news. I'm sure it's the same in America

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but especially in Israel. Israelis watch a lot of news and this just causes more

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stress. And so initially I think there was just so much shock. People didn't

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know what to do. But once the soldiers began to be called up, people started

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organizing very quickly around the needs of the soldiers and the needs of the

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communities. And it was really incredible to see people coming together.

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I mean they called up over 600,000 Army reserves. There's not gear for all those

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people. Not even bulletproof vests. Not even basic supplies. Backpacks. They

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were spray painting their backpacks to match their clothes. Just doing what they

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could with the gear that they had. And so right away the mothers of the battalions

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were working together to raise funds and find the gear in the country. There's

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communities that were rallying together to provide food for the soldiers and

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doing the best that they could in this unknown situation not knowing what's

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gonna happen. The emotions are the tipping point. Everyone's like walking on

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this tipping point of emotional fatigue and stress. Yeah. You know I know,

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Kynada, everything you and Justin and your family does is bathed in prayer and you

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ultimately decided to evacuate. What brought you to that decision? How did

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that come to that? I mean scripture says the Lord will direct the steps of the

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righteous and we need to be directed by the Lord. You know especially in times

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like these, all the time, but especially in times like these. How did you come to

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that decision to evacuate? You know we didn't make the decision alone actually

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and I feel like part of handling crisis is gathering together. Because it says in

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the Bible, do not give up meeting together as some is in the habit of doing.

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But all the more as you see the day approaching, cultivate community, spend

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time together, pray and worship together. And so we were doing that. We met with

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friends, we had fellowship and food and prayer and we were hosting our small

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group which is actually an Issachar Network small group to discern the times

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and the seasons. And everyone was asking, not everyone I guess, some of us who have

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another place to go. Some people are like, where would we go? We're not going

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anywhere. Where else would we go? But for us as a family being Americans and

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being volunteers in the country, it was a question for us. Will we stay or will we

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go? And the first couple of days we were committed to staying actually. We just

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talked as husband and wife and as with our family and we're like okay we're

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gonna stay. And then a few days later as things were on, I was up in the middle of

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the night and the Lord had actually been speaking to us about a hard left that

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was coming. He had been speaking to us for months about a hard left. So one night

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I was just up in the middle of the night and I was like Lord if this is the hard

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left like I don't want to miss it. I don't want to miss it. I don't, just in

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our zeal and in our desire to stay I don't want to miss it. And so I just asked

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the Lord, I was like please speak to my husband. The next morning when we woke up

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Justin and I were sitting on the couch and he said I had a dream. And so he told

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me his dream and it was about an army plane that was taking off and there was

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a tank guarding it actually to make sure that the plane took off safely. And he

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said, Kenada, he said I think we were on that plane. And so this opened the

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conversation up for leaving and that day as I just before the Lord, it was just a

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quiet day. I didn't feel like going anywhere. We didn't meet up with anyone

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and I was just in this place and I so experienced the pleasure of the Father

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over our lives. The pleasure over our willingness to stay, the pleasure

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over our willingness to go. I mean for the sake of our kids. If it was just

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Justin and I like I don't think you could have pulled us out of there but I

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just, it's such pleasure. The pleasure of the Father over us. And it was so kind

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and so gracious. And so that night actually we had our small group and we

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all just shared where we were and what was happening and what we felt like the

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Lord was saying. And so we told them, we said we're not sure what we're gonna do

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and they said you'll be confident. The Lord will give you confidence that you

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will know what to do. You will have confidence. So the next morning we wake

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up and Justin again he said, Babe, he said we're supposed to go. He said I

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feel it in the depths of my spirit we're supposed to go. And so I just like

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submitted and agreed and even in that those next hours there was actually this

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like small excitement that sprung up in my like in my being and which could only

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be the Lord. And so we just leaned into it and then it all happened so quickly.

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There was hardly time to think about it until we landed in the States. Yeah I

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mean with so many people trying to leave the country there were a lot and

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airlines had canceled their flights. So your departure really could only be

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orchestrated by the Lord. And how did he do that? Share what happened. So honestly

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I've used that to stir myself up and encourage myself since we've landed in

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America because our hearts are so just for our friends and our neighbors and

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it's been really hard actually to be away from these people that we love and

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I've given our lives to for eight years. So my husband after we decided that we

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would depart we he started reaching out looking online for options with

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different organizations that were helping people to leave Israel and

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immediately he got a what's that message and then suddenly we found

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ourselves on a zoom call with an organization called Project Dynamo and

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what they do is they rescue Americans in other countries. This is their this is

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the only thing that they do. They're working in 14 different countries right

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now. Long story short we find ourselves on a flight less than 36 hours later and

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it was wild. It was a faith walk. The whole thing was a faith walk from there

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was no details. It was definitely a like special ops operation. The man who runs

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it is like special ops with the army and it was an incredible experience. So we

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get this sort of cryptic we entered our information in this website that

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offered rides. So one of them was Project Dynamo and another one was Glenn Beck's

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organization. So we just submitted some information to them saying we're

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interested. We were not in a rush. Things in Jerusalem were peaceful. Aside from

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the occasional rocket things were peaceful. It was actually eerily quiet. So

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quiet. So we weren't in a rush at all but we reached out and we instantly get

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this text from this like case manager who happened to be from the Ukraine and

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she didn't have great English and it was sort of she just wrote us and said can

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you confirm your attendance on the flight tomorrow tomorrow night? Four

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people right? And we're like no five people and it was just all a little bit

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strange. I'm like yeah no like let's let's keep waiting you know. But anyways

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next they send us a message and they're like how about a zoom call? We're having

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a zoom call in two minutes and so we're like okay well we'll get on the zoom

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call and learn more information. And so we get on this zoom call and then his

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name is Brian Stern and he's just like here's the deal. He's like tomorrow night

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you will get out of Israel. He said we have this flight that will happen and

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tomorrow night after Shabbat ends I want you to send me your address and your

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name and we will send transportation to pick you up. He's like no smiley faces,

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no thank yous, just your name and your address. And then you we will meet you at

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the plane. If the airspace closes we will have four boats waiting for you and you

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will get on a boat and you will go to Cyprus where we have another team

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waiting for you who will get you to America. I mean he had it like it was

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incredibly detailed and I have total like special ops like we're removing you,

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we're extracting you. And so I had more confidence then you know that this was

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actually a legit thing and this is very well taken care of. But even so still not

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in a rush, still not sure. So this is late on Friday night and then Saturday

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morning we wake up and we're like okay we'll pack, we'll be ready, we'll see what

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happens. Anyways so long story short, Saturday when Shabbat is over we get

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this text, the flight is delayed till 6 in the morning, we're gonna send you a

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PIN, a Google PIN and when you get that PIN you go to that location in the

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airport. Everyone's like well what terminal and he's like just wait for the

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PIN, go to wherever this Google PIN map mark is. And that was it. So we all show

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up at the airport, you can tell the others who were looking around like oh

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you must be with Project Dynamo because we didn't know where to go yet. There

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wasn't a PIN, everyone's just going because they said to go at a certain

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time and it was seriously a faith the whole time. And so then we they pull us

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back in the side room and they're like okay send your passports up to the guy

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in the blue hat. And you're like you want me to give my passport to the guy in the

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blue hat? Like there's hundreds of people standing in this room and so anyways

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everyone does. We give them the passports, they're stacked up on the counter and

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he's calling making the manifest one by one. So finally we get a boarding pass

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and then it feels a little more official. We get to the gate and we were actually

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delayed several hours because there were rockets and with every rocket you have a

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half hour delay and we were waiting on other flights that had been delayed and

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and then everyone boards the plane that was first come first serve and so you

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get on. And actually before we got on he's like I don't know if there'll be

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food or water maybe by yourself. So we requested food and water, we don't know

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like go ahead and get yourself some water just in case. And then he's like it

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just depends how much fuel we get in Tel Aviv, if we'll need to stop in Portugal

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on the way to Tampa. Like it was all very go with the it was very like minute by

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minute. So anyways we get on the plane I assume that everyone is praying for a

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safe departure and we finally make it to Tampa after a stop in Portugal. And then

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we were greeted, it was such a special ceremony, like it was very special. We

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were greeted by Governor DeSantis and his family and other people supporting

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Israel and they actually had like an amazing spread of food and services like

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the emotional safety dogs that they use in crisis and they had services and

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cell phone companies and gifts and toys for the children. Like it was such a

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special reception. I would actually it was anyways it was a whirlwind and it

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wasn't until we got home that I began to process what just happened. Yeah so what

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have you feel like the Lord's been saying to you through and in the midst

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of all this as you've processed? So I think that piece of his pleasure is so

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important for all of us. You know to know that we are loved and that he delights in

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us. Like because he first loved us we love him and we trust him and we obey

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him and so I think that was a really essential component in our rapid

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obedience and but something else that he's really been saying the whole time

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is that worship is warfare and this battle this is a battle this battle is

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not against flesh and blood. This is a battle against the powers and

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principalities and it's a battle against God's covenant with Israel and his his

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own faithfulness and his promises. It's it's the enemy coming against who God is

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and so our worship matters and our worship is warfare and so we can actually

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contribute and participate with our worship and so that's a major thing that

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he's been saying. I think Ephesians 6 is a really important scripture for this

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time not only for people in Israel but just on the earth at this time because

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deception is increasing and we have to be so discerning. I feel like discernment

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is another key theme in all of this because even while we're in Israel there

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was false like they were hacking into the red alert system hacking into our

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home front command and so sending these alerts like psychological warfare

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information warfare that caused so much stress but they weren't actually real

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things. So like increasing our discernment and leaning into the Lord as

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never before so that we know and can discern what is truth and what is not

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and and guarding our hearts and minds with his truth and also just with his

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presence and not like what we take in we need to really be careful. The last

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thing I will say the Lord had been speaking to us everywhere we went in

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America on our on our furlough was the story about Elijah and when he was

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hiding in the cleft of the rock and there was a whirlwind and there was a

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fire and there was an earthquake but he wasn't in any of those he was in the

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still small voice and so I think this goes back to the discernment piece too

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but I think a lot of times I also can just look for the big sign like oh then

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I'll know what to do but it really isn't a still small voice and we need to

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cultivate our ability to hear and to obey and to trust that we can hear his

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still small voice and so this is another major theme that we've been trying to

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grow in and walk in in this season. Yeah you know it's interesting that you say

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that I was on the phone with my sister about an hour ago and we were talking

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about that exact same thing how we need to cultivate hearing the still small

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voice of the Lord saying this is the way walk in it go this way go right go left

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and I think it's you know the Lord has been asking all of us to cultivate that

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for several years now and I think we're all you know getting tested on it now

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can you hear my voice and if not tune your ear a little bit sharper but now

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that your stateside do you have a sense Canada what your mandate is in this

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season? You know that's a really good question this is the burning question of

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the hour. We feel like we had rests when we were here previously and now this is

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about something that the Lord has positioned us specifically to do. We're

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definitely on the day-to-day plan figuring that out where we feel like

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we're in like fact-finding mode we're reaching out to relationships where the

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gathering information on the one hand I definitely know that of course it's

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about speaking truth and standing with Israel and sharing what what we know and

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carry and I also believe it's about preparing America too I think there as

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that which has been a surprising piece even as we've landed recognizing you

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know we wrote a book on home and family disaster preparedness and it's in our

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hearts but I do think the preparedness piece preparing America and

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just preparing hearts and even practical things is also on the radar not sure

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what any of it will look like but these are the two things that we carry and

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that we want to be effective and faithful with. Yeah and you do have this

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preparedness piece curriculum which is excellent that people can go do together

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in a group and it helps you prepare your heart and your home for whatever

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disaster or crisis might come so if you're listening and you're interested

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in more information you can go to our show notes and we'll have a link to that

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preparedness piece curriculum so that you can find out more about it. Kynada

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can you share some specific prayer requests and needs about the situation

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in Israel and and in Gaza I mean there's a lot of people suffering there from

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Hamas as well. You know an interesting fact I don't know that many people know

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Gaza for for people who are seeking to know more about a relationship with

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Yeshua or Jesus Gaza in the Middle East Gaza is the number one place that people

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respond to with openness to the gospel and openness to learning about who the

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prophet Jesus is and so I you know Isaiah 55 is is a chapter that I really

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focus on when it comes to crisis because he says for everyone who turns to me in

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this time of need I will give him my faithful love promised to David like he

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has such life and a covenant of love and faithfulness that he gives to anyone who

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turns to him and so this is really our prayer especially for Gaza that the Lord

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would protect the innocent civilians and draw them unto himself. Yeah and do you

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have maybe you can or maybe you can't share any specific prayer requests but

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you know right now is for people to target prayer I mean of course you know

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many many people are praying about the situation but are there specific prayer

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needs that can be targeted in our prayer time together? Isaiah 55 would be a key

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one for both Israel and Lebanon and Gaza just that they would turn to him in their

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place of need and also wisdom for the Israeli leaders that they would seek the

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Lord and they would do what he says like in 2nd Chronicles 20 like all through

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the Bible that the leaders would not listen to any other counsel or any other

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motivations but would seek the Lord and do what he says. Ephesians 6 is a big one

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for everyone who's living there because many families have evacuated areas and

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they're living in new regions for the time being. There's a lot of families and

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civilians that are trying to go about their normal life as much as they can.

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Schools have resumed in Jerusalem and people are working and and so just that

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we would guard our hearts and minds that we'd take on the armor of God and all of

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the gifts that he's given us to like just comfort comfort for his people and

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and of course for the soldiers that they would be supernaturally protected and

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effective. Well Kynada as we as we close and we will pray in a few minutes but as

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we close is there a woman of the Bible whose story you think is particularly

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relevant to this season? You know a lot of people have been talking about Esther

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and about how the last time an edict came out of Persia to destroy all the

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Jewish people this is very this is this is the same thing and this is a edict

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coming from Iran to destroy Israel and so like Mordecai and like Esther I

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believe as believers who love and serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that

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were called to stand with the Jewish people and with God's promises for

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Israel. You know the replacement theology has stolen so much of our

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understanding of God's heart for Israel and it as a specific location and a

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specific people with a very specific destiny and so I feel like this is

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America's time and us as believers to rise up in that position to stand with

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Israel and to stand with the promises of God and I do expect that that will

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become more and more costly but He's worthy. Well you know God in in Genesis

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12:2 -3 going back to the very beginning God promises Abraham I will

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make you a great nation I will bless you and make your name great and you will be

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a blessing I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you

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and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed and we know that God is

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the same yesterday today and forever and his word stands true so those who

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bless the descendants of Abraham will also be blessed and the descendants of

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Abraham are the Jewish people. Of course John 3:16- 17 you know we all probably

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can recite that from our heart but it says God so loved the world that he gave

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his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have

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eternal life for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world

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but to save the world through him so Jesus loves even those that you and I

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might not think deserve salvation but he sent Jesus to seek and save the lost he

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doesn't want anyone to perish so while we bless Israel and we pray that evil

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will be vanquished as Kynada said we must also pray for the salvation of all

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like the Palestinians who are trapped in the crossfire and even those associated

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with Hamas and Hezbollah God has and continues to save people who are trapped

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in all sorts of false ideologies I've heard stories of terrorists being saved

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so Kynada would you take a moment and lead us in prayer Lord I just thank you

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so much for the opportunity to be alive on the earth at this time I thank you

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that for each person listening God you chose us you handcrafted us and

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positioned us to be alive at this time for a special purpose and so God today

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we lift up Israel we lift up Jerusalem we lift up your people and the people of

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Gaza and Lebanon to God all these people involved Lord and we ask you to draw

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them unto yourself we ask you to reveal yourself God you love to show up so I

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ask God for the families and the children and the soldiers and the leaders

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that you would reveal yourself that you would comfort them that you would be

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present with them that you would speak tenderly over them that you would just

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love on them Lord and I pray for those of us who are not in the land at this

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time God that you would just grip our hearts that you would give us

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revelation of your heart for Israel and that we could stand with you and declare

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the promises and the truth and your faithfulness God let us see your

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faithfulness this is all about your faithfulness and so we just say today

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we trust you we love you may your kingdom come and your will be done in

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the name of Jesus you know friends there are orphans and widows all over the

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world who need to experience the tangible expression of God's love right

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now and we're working to identify the best way to help those who have been

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orphaned by this war there are many with special needs that we as a company of

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women can meet together would you consider joining us with a special gift

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to help just go to HerGodStory.org and click on the widow and orphan tab at the

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top of the page thank you for tuning in in our show notes at HerGodStory.org

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you'll find scriptures and other information we talked about you can also

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get a free six-week devotional of women of the Bible you can download or

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purchase a 12-week devotional that will send to you for just $12 knowing that

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all the proceeds go to the widow and orphan fund we'd love to pray for you

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on our 24/7 prayer and text line so give us a call anytime at 855-459-CARE or

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email us at prayer@omebodycares.org and now dear friends I bless you from

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Isaiah 30:21 may your own ears hear the Lord right behind you his voice

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will say this is the way you should go whether to the right or to the left may

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you hear his voice clearly. Her God story is a ministry of somebody cares America

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