Our Difficult Parting

November 11, 2022

Dear Friend,

On September 20 we packed up Sasha’s belongings and drove to her father’s home here in Haifa. As Sasha left our home, Heidi said her goodbyes. I prayed for her and said my goodbyes after helping her father carry all her belongings up the stairs to her new home. The goodbyes were difficult after seven years – from kindergarten to 7th grade – of Sasha being a part of our family.

A few weeks later, during the Sukkot vacation, our youth group hiked and camped in the Golan. One of our elders asked Sasha about joining them. Her mother (who has custody on most weekends and holidays) reluctantly agreed to let her go camping with the group. Sasha enjoyed some time as a recently promoted “youth” with her friends.

This past Friday, Sasha was home with her father. She called Heidi and asked to join our family for Kabbalat Shabbat and we saw her for the first time since she’d left. We enjoyed the evening. But what she shared on the drive home made it was clear that life has changed dramatically for her. She’d resented the limits placed on her phone usage while living with us, but she’d recently asked Dasha to help her reinstate them. Without limits and help, she hasn’t been getting to school or finishing her homework. She feels the need for someone who really cares to help set and keep boundaries which she now views as essential to succeed.

She also hasn’t made new friends at school. She believes all they are interested in is getting her to give them money (which she doesn’t have). Shabbat morning, she asked her brother to bring her to the congregation. It was good to see her appreciate being there and talking with some of her friends. We pray for her to come to know the Lord, to make good choices in her difficult situation and to develop self-discipline as well as receive the loving help she needs to succeed.

In the days following Sasha’s departure Heidi and I found ourselves struggling with colds that turned into sinus infections, probably due to the stress of change. Preparing for and handling our weekly home groups, the young adults’ meetings and the study of Romans has added a lot to our schedule. We’re adding a new member to our Beit Eliyahu team with whom Heidi is needing to spend regular time. And we each have several other one-on-one situations to which we’ve committed, keeping our schedule quite full.

Several couples’ marriages in our congregation are under significant strain. Heidi has been meeting one of the wives frequently over the past months. Her husband is depressed, has been threatening to divorce her and, until this past week, has refused to believe that he or they need to get any help. In answer to prayer, this week he finally agreed to meet for coffee to begin talking. But there is a long way to go before healing comes to him and their marriage. All the couples need prayer to both seek help and to trust the Lord to change their hearts as well as that of their spouse.

Ministry succeeds when people experience the power of the Holy Spirit renewing their inner man day by day. In my English-speaking home group, we finished Philippians chapter 3 this week. We talked about the apostle Paul’s aspiration to know the Messiah and the power of His resurrection. As we talked, one of the group members was struck by the fact that his ambition wasn’t to do something, but rather to be someone who displays growing sanctification. This insight into the life we are called to live had never occurred to her before as her focus has been on what the Lord wanted her to do.

My Hebrew-speaking group just finished studying 2 Corinthians chapter 4, which presents another side to this message. Before discussing his motivation to share the gospel with others as an ambassador for the Messiah in chapter 5, Paul describes how his perspective is shaped by the daily inner renewal which allows him to view life’s difficulties as “light” and “momentary” (4:16-17). It was his personal experience of God’s sanctifying power, making him be someone in whom that power was manifest, that kept him and his team from burning out in ministry.

Several of the men that I meet with struggle with bitterness and anger that stem from the abuses they’ve experienced, which is made worse by their prideful responses to those hurts. In some cases, it has kept them from developing relationships that would lead to marriage, while in others they are letting it destroy the relationship they have with their wife. But it is exciting to see growth in several of their lives as they escape powerful addictions to sin that are controlling them. We are praying to see supernatural change that allows relationships to form, grow and transform.

The last Shabbat of October we enjoyed “Community Day” as a congregation. The Lord gave us good weather as we traveled to the Baptist Village to spend the day together as an entire congregation. Over 350 men, women and children attended and enjoyed a time that included icebreakers designed to help meet others in the congregation, teaching and testimonies that challenged hearts, a shared meal together and a time of fun-and-games. I felt that the time broke down barriers and helped people connect with each other in ways that will deepen the bonds between us, allowing relationships to grow and providing opportunity for lives to be transformed.

My greatest prayer and concern for our team and the congregation at Beit Eliyahu is that we would each see the transforming power of God at work in our lives. As we reflect His image more and more each day, we bring glory to Him that draws others to the gospel. And it is His power which can sustains us throughout all our activities and meetings so that we will not “lose heart” (2 Corinthians 4:1, 16) as we share our hope with others.

As you pray for us here, please be asking the Lord to:

• Reveal Himself to Sasha in a way that brings her to trust Him, helping her see the truth about her family and friends while giving her the personal discipline and support she needs.

• Work in the hearts of those whose marriages are struggling, that the Lord would pour out His love for their spouse in their hearts, giving them His hope for their relationship and keeping them from divorce.

• Free the hearts held in bitterness and anger, restoring the joy, peace and hope of their salvation in a growing experience of God’s power at work to change their hearts and lives.

• Give our leaders an eternal perspective based on the power of the Messiah at work in their lives, that we live as examples to the congregation of what it means to know Him.

• Give Heidi total relief from the pain in her trigeminal nerve which continues to limit her, especially in these time of personal and family stress.

Thank you once again for your faithfulness to pray for us and stand behind us in the ministry here. There have been times during the past months when we’ve both felt overwhelmed. We are so grateful to know that you’re with us before the throne of grace. We truly appreciate you!

Yours in the Messiah,