荣耀归于神
The beginning of my Israel trip was very last minute and felt like a daze to me. My family and I decided the day before the departure day that I would join the Israel trip. At first, when the opportunity to go was offered to me, I rejected it because I didn’t feel a call to go to Israel that soon. However, with encouragement from my mom and Auntie Nancy to go, I accepted and, now, am very thankful to God and everyone who supported me to go on the trip that I was given the opportunity to visit the Holy Land.
One of the miracles I experienced during this time started a few days before the beginning of the trip. The week before, on Thursday, I had gotten my lower two bottom wisdom teeth extracted. At the time, I had no idea that on Wednesday of the next week I would be going to Israel. Interestingly, my healing process was very smooth and short. Not only did my swelling go down quickly but it wasn’t even very severe. A few days into the Israel trip, I was able to eat most foods without much problem. I think God was already preparing me to go to Israel before I knew that I would be and allowing my wisdom teeth extraction to not be something that would hinder me from going.
On the second night of the conference in Israel, Pastor Dong said that we could go up to the front of the room and pray. I went and kneeled down. At first, I couldn’t feel anything, but after I started praising God, I started thinking about Israel and the Jewish people and praying for them. At this time, I began crying and couldn’t stop as I thought about and prayed for people around the world, my family, and myself as I thought about how I have not been a faithful Christian. The crying didn’t come from myself and while this was happening, I was also trembling. I wasn’t sure what God was doing with me that night, but through this trip, I saw how important the Jewish people and Israel are to God, the importance of Christians and Jews working together and getting to know and understand each other, and how meaningful it is to go to Israel.
Throughout the entire trip, God watched over and took care of our entire group. It was miraculous how God sent cool breezes when the weather was supposed to be hot. The two places I enjoyed visiting the most were the Garden Tomb and the Mount of Beatitudes. Not only were these locations beautiful, but I felt peaceful at these places. God, through this trip, has allowed me to see and experience more of Him and has put in me a deeper connection to the Jewish people and Israel. According to God’s will, hopefully I can visit Israel again someday!
