Brokenhearted

Brokenhearted

by | Jan 23, 2020 | Uncategorized

Two years ago yesterday, we lost our sweet dog, Olivia. It was a very warm winter day. She went out onto our pond (that was frozen the day before) and fell in. We were at a funeral for a family member and no one was there to rescue her.

I was heartbroken and inconsolable.

I didn’t understand why God had let our sweet dog die this way with no one to help her.

As I reflect on that day, God was there with us. He did not let my children be the ones who found her. It was my husband. A friend was there to help him pull her from the pond.

A friend was there for me as I wept uncontrollably over the phone.

As I questioned God, He gave me this verse-

What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. Matt. 10:29 NLT

If a single sparrow can’t fall to the ground without Him knowing, Olivia did not die without His knowledge either.

God understood my pain and was with me through it. He never left me.

When it was hard to pray–and it was–He was there praying for me. The Holy Spirit was interceding for me, too.

Adonai (God’s name meaning my Lord) promises:

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Ps. 34:18.

God sees all things and knows all things. Pain and death are terrible things. Unfortunately, this is the life we live on this earth.

Death is normal. Death is a part of life, whether or not we like it.

One day death will be thrown into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:14). No more death, only eternal life.

Until then, parents will mourn over the loss of their child or unborn baby; people will mourn over the loss of parents, friends, and siblings to terrible diseases and accidents. Friends will lose friends.

It was not part of God’s original plan. It came as a result of sin and the fall.

The good news is God is with us. He will never die; He will never leave us or forsake us. In our pain and grief, we can find God, and He promises to be near us.

Jesus knows loss, pain, and grief. He experienced everything we do so He would understand exactly how we feel and how to comfort us. (Hebrews 4:14-16.)

My son had a dream one night after Olivia died. In his dream every animal we have loved and lost came up from a hole in the ground. Each was perfect and alive. Each one remembered us. He shed tears thinking we would see Olivia and our other beloved pets again.

But, we have this hope: we can see those we have lost–every child, mother, father, sibling, and friend–in Heaven. All we need is to put our faith and trust in the One who died and rose again to give us eternal life–Jesus the Messiah.

I pray you know Jesus as your Savior and Lord!

If this spoke to you or feel someone can relate to my story, please share it.

Thank you!

The Coat, the First Couple, and the Lamb

The Coat, the First Couple, and the Lamb

by | Jan 7, 2020 | Uncategorized

I feel as though it’s been a while since I have written on my blog. I hope you had a great Christmas and I pray blessings on your new year.

This past Sunday I was talking to friends after church and one commented on my husband’s leather coat. She said it reminded her of the ’70s. I laughed and told her it was that old. My husband throws nothing away. But he has taken very good care of this coat so it does not look old at all.

Somehow our conversation drifted to Adam and Eve. My friend commented about God making clothes to cover Adam and Eve and the blood spilled to make those clothes.

According to Hebrew tradition[i], God did not just kill any animal to clothe the first couple, He killed the serpent who deceived them. It was this skin that’s believed to be the clothes Adam and Eve wore. This garment, passed down through generations, was eventually worn by John the Baptist.

God doesn’t make clothes that wear out.

Speaking of clothes, when the garments of the priests wore out, the priests tore them and used them for other things because they could throw none of them away. God made these clothes holy.

These pieces of cloth were used to wrap around the scrolls of the Torah, or Law to protect them from dirt and wear and tear.

The priests used other strips of the cloth for torch wicks within the Temple.

Yet, they used others for the sacrificial lambs. There was a group of shepherds known as Levitical shepherds who worked for the high priest. They lived in Bethlehem and raised sheep for the Temple sacrifices.

As new lambs were born, the shepherds swaddled them with cloth from the old priestly garments to protect them from cuts and bare spots in their wool.

They needed to be perfect.

The night Yeshua was born, it was these shepherds who the angels visited with the Good News. They were told there would be a sign, a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths….

Hebrew tradition shows that Mary would have wrapped Yeshua in the same priestly cloths as the sacrificial lambs. That was the sign these shepherds understood.

God gave another sign or clue way back in Genesis. This sign is easy for us to miss– but the Jewish people who heard the story of Abraham and Isaac didn’t miss it.

Abraham was told by God to take his only son Isaac and sacrifice him.

Genesis 22:1-2 ESV: After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”  He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 

After getting everything ready for the sacrifice, Isaac asked his father, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Genesis 22:7-8 ESV.

But, did God provide a lamb? Genesis 22:13-14 tells us.

“And Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.  So Abraham called the name of that place, ‘The Lord will provide.’”

Does it matter that God provided a ram instead of a lamb? Yes, it does.

The rabbis read these stories aloud to the Jewish people, so they recognized that God provided a ram instead of a lamb. Since God did not provide the lamb in this situation, the Jewish people waited for Him to provide the Lamb.

That is why in John 1:29, John’s announcement is very important!

“The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” ESV

Only John called Yeshua a Lamb. He was the expected Lamb and prophet the Jewish people were waiting for.

Let me know your thoughts.

1 I have learned much from a man named Rev. Aaron Eime, who
is Deacon and Director of Research and Education at Christ
Church, Jerusalem and studied at the Hebrew University. Originally
from Australia, he is a dedicated Bible teacher exploring the
Hebraic Roots of the Christian Faith.

I believe he speaks and/or reads Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Latin. (You
can google his name and watch different videos recorded of his speaking
engagements here in the US and Canada.) I’ve seen him a few times when he’s come to the Cleveland area.

Most of what he teaches comes from the Jewish tradition, meaning some of
these facts and beliefs were recorded by Jewish scribes and historians in
sources other than the Bible.

While every New Testament is the same around the world, the Old
Testament is not. As the disciples of Yeshua spread the Gospel, they also left
some of their own writings where they served. As a result there are other books included in other country’s Bibles, some places have sixteen additional Old Testament books.