For a trip I'll never forget. I am posting my daily gratitude under 100 happy days on Facebook.
Garden of Gethsemane. picture courtesy of Doug Holt
A year ago, we returned from the trip of a lifetime. For all of our married lives we have wanted to go to Israel. We had planned once and it fell through, and that opportunity which was at a time when it was much more affordable, never returned.
Then our dear friends who had been to Israel many times and led groups before, extended an invitation for us to join them. It was impossible. The trip would cost nearly $10,000. Or was it? I had been studying principles of success for many years. I had put into practice many of those principles on a smaller basis.
I envisioned (also took action) and received everything from a sack of tomatoes, to specific cars we wanted to purchase, to improvements in our income. No, it doesn't happen in the blink of an eye, and you cannot give up. You have to have a vision for a desired outcome and then you have to take every next step toward that vision with hope, and faith to accomplish it and NEVER GIVE UP.
But this....$10,000 for a trip??? Could we make THAT happen. We thought it was worth a try. So, we put our intention "out there" that it was the desire of our hearts to take this trip and study the principles that were the most important to us; with the most eternal significance. We told our friends we would like to go, we would be praying it could happen, and they assured us, that our prayers would be answered if we held on to faith and that they would join their prayers with ours and they would see us on the trip.
The year before, I tested faith and success principles and achieved my very best month in real estate that I'd ever experienced. Could I do that again? We prayed, I worked. (My husband supports our family, my income helps with other things). Sometimes it just seemed like there was absolutely no way. Our lovely friends continued to encourage us to continue faithful.
We had a specific investment we were watching and waiting to change. We had no idea if it would work out. I had small successes in my real estate, but none like we needed. And we had a missionary out, minor medical issues, and the like.
I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that barely 2 weeks before our deadline to pay our first major portion of the trip, everything "magically" came into alignment. This was over a period of nearly a year. There is no way we could have planned the timing. We were elated that the many months of prayer and work came to fruition just as our friends believed it would.
Because of that financial miracle in our lives, we now have a lifetime of sacred memories in a sacred land with wonderful people. I will never forget our experiences in the two gardens, at the Dome of the Rock, under the temple, at the Wall, at Corrie Ten Boom's tree, on the Sea of Galilee, in Lazarus' tomb, dressed as a Bedouin at lunch, atop the city ramparts, and many, many others.
The scriptures came to life for me. I am deeply saddened one year later, as I think back to our trip, that 2/3 of the population of Israel are in bomb shelters. I pray for Israel. I am grateful for "impossible" miracles. Thank you Halversons for your loving encouragement and example. What great children we have. They fended for themselves with a little help for 18 days and they gave up their vacation so we could go. Humble and grateful. The Lord cares about what we care about. I believe in miracles.
