We are on our way…
What a lesson in the Fruit of the Spirit “Patience”! Sitting here thinking through how to “craft” this update, it is a little hard to NOT go into a sermon on “Long-suffering”. I am thinking of this defining moment when I heard a teaching by Derek Prince on The Fruit of the Spirit “long-suffering” and his incredibly simple and heart shifting explanation was “the only way to truly establish the fruit of the Spirit long-suffering is to suffer long.” I will never forget that lesson. It made me realize so much about how important words really are and how easily we miss the gravity of what THE WORD is telling us because we do not take the time to get it RIGHT.
To spare you an incredibly long read, I will just let you know the two frames of thought that came to me when I heard those words that implored me to dissect what I say, and what Jesus says and change my language.
1: Suffering: Suffering has nothing to do with where I am struggling.
2: Long: THIS duration here has to be intentionally defined as perseverance and not endurance.
If you feel compelled to have a conversation about these thoughts, I would love to have it with you as it truly defines not just this season, but the day to day of the past nearly four years of my families life.
This season in particular, has been a “whole nutha level” as my friend Rob Rogers would say, of learning what it is to actively wait, let go of control, and remember intentionally that, God has everything figured out and is not surprised by anything. We have been waiting since January for our visas to be approved, only to find out in June that NO visas were being approved, or really even looked at. And after prayer, Steph came to me and said “We need to be in Israel June 10th”. And because of where our Visas were (no where near the MOI) we were able to go on tourist visas while the rest of the families that were in limbo with us could not. We felt honored, and really felt the Lord building this joy of this “invitation” in us as we were praying and then planning.
So we left on June 9th, and it was an onslaught of opposition trying to get there. We sat down in Austin, and 20 minutes later I get a text saying our flight was delayed to JFK. Long story short, we missed multiple flights, were rerouted, switched airlines, and still even on the way to Tel Aviv from Paris (no we didn’t see anything cool) I was half way expecting to be turned around mid flight and land in Egypt, or Scotland, anywhere OTHER THAN Israel. But lo and behold we made it! But our bags did not. It would be another 20 days before our last bag (mine) would make it. But we didn’t care, we were there, we wanted sleep, and we were done. Seven hours later, at 0300 A.M. as I was laying there wide awake, adrenaline dumped, and nearly hallucinating we get a text that Israel is about to attack Iran. I read it and thought literally nothing. Thus began the 12 day war. I don’t know how many planes made it in after us, but it was few, we made it in by the Grace of God and the skin on our teeth.
Yes, a war within a war. This is what God sent us into, with such an incredible, elating, beautiful invitation in the midst of our visas not being processed. And let me tell you, it was one of the most humbling, beautiful, and glorious times I have ever experienced. It would take me days to share everything, but the gist is this. We were in unspeakable joy, and peace beyond understanding and we got the be with people in some of the most trying times emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Bomb shelter after bomb shelter we got to simply be present and love on people that were at their wits end, scared, frantic, and hopeless. It wasn’t us, it wasn’t our calm or experience that was helping people. It was literally something beyond us that people were seeing with these strangers sheltering in place with them and the comforter, the prince of peace, Jehovah Shalom coming in the room and shifting the atmosphere. I can’t explain it, but I was there watching it happen.
We got connected with other families and organizations during this time that really opened up a new avenue of where we can help develop leaders, sow hope, and bring freedom while we are in Israel. One of them being something that Stephanie is so excited about because Youth is such a huge passion and calling for her, is helping further establish kids and youth camp counselors and organize the functionality of the camps. It was truly this “break” in all of the waves of calamity that were taking place where we got to go for a week, help with a camp, sit back, pray, and see the Lord knit our hearts to what He was doing and give us insight to where we can help and the founders of it simply said “yes”.
We are also working out a contract to rent our apartment in Jerusalem. Which is a WHOLE story in and of itself. Yes, I know what you’re thinking “if I come visit, can I stay with them”. That is one amazing thing about it, we have an extra room for you. We just need to a heads up to plan out the trip.
There is so much more, I could go on and on. I will do another couple of updates as things become concrete and I can share more details but there are some incredible things that are in the works that are truly mind blowing for me. And here is the thing I really want to emphasize. We could not do it without you. I mean that with all of the sincerity that I can muster! YOUR PRAYERS, they are truly powerful. We are seeing doors open that do not make natural sense, which only leaves one explanation. God is hearing you intercede for the people of Israel to hear the GOOD NEWS, and to have a place in there hearts for TRUTH to be sown and begin to grow and break up hard ground, hurts, and stubbornness so that they may be soft and ready to receive healing and freedom. THAT IS WHAT YOUR PRAYERS ARE DOING! I cannot wait to share with specificity the impacts I have watched unfold.
So what do we need?
We need your prayers still, we know what we are getting into, and we are ready. We need prayer to stay, we need you praying for our hearts to be continually softened, our eyes continually open, and our faith continually growing so that in the midst of all of the circumstances we may STAY.
We need finances still. We are currently $1500 a month away from our bottom line in monthly support. So if you know someone that may want to partner, we would love to be in contact so we can share this mission with them and they may pray and hear what the Lord says for them.
At some point, we will need people. We will need people to commit to multiple things going on. One being kids camp. So if you feel like “I NEED TO HELP WITH KIDS CAMP”. Reach out to us so that we may have you in mind when the time comes.
—We need you to know how much we cherish you. We are honored to have you in our lives, on this mission, and as family in the Kingdom of God. We love you, and are praying for you.
The Pulaski Family.
