The beginning of the week started off really well as it was Shavuot, or as Christians call it, Pentecost. I had Sunday and Monday off school so I made sure spend them wisely.
When Monday came, I was exhausted from my day of cooking so I rested until it was time to go to work. However, when I arrived at work, everyone was shocked to see me. Turns out, I had accidentally told my boss that I couldn’t work until Thursday. (whoopsie)
After working out the confusion with my boss, I stayed and work for a couple of hours. It was nice to be back with my coworkers and practice my Hebrew. I thought I might have forgotten everything after my three day holiday, but I hadn’t.
Before I left, I gave each of my co-workers a jam donut cupcake. They went nuts! They couldn’t believe the flavors they were tasting, or that I had made them. I had been really nervous to hear their thoughts, so hearing their praises was a bit overwhelming.
Tuesday, I went back to school. I didn’t know how the week was going to be without Kate, my study buddy, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was able to understand almost everything that my teacher was saying, and wasn’t afraid to ask questions when I needed to.
I feel like I’ve made progress at Ulpan because I survived my first week without Kate guiding me through the class. My favorite day of this week was Thursday because we had a new teacher named Hannah. Hannah was one of the best teachers we’ve had at Ulpan. She explained everything so well that nobody was left bewildered.
Ending my week at Ulpan on a high was great, but it soon went downhill. Earlier in the week, I had to write a story and two situations for my Hebrew oral test, which my teacher made alterations to. All I have to do now is memorize everything before I have to take the test. That sounds easy enough, right? Wrong!
After cleaning our apartment, all the bathrooms, and the rest of the house, I was completely shattered; but I still had to start learning my story for the test. When I began reading my story, I seemed to have forgotten how to pronounce every word. Exhausted and struggling, I was on the edge and about to explode at any moment.
The explosion occurred when my dad came up the stairs and heard me practicing. Earlier that day he had corrected my reading because I was saying, “Uh” too much, but that was when I was reading in English. When it comes to reading Hebrew I have a hard time pronouncing the words, so I did not appreciate it when my dad came upstairs and corrected me for saying, “Uh.”
That night, I read part six of the devotional, Proverbial Girl: Wisdom, Values, and Being Fabulous. The theme of that day’s devotional was working hard, being consistent, and not giving up. I hate giving up, but after struggling with my story, I was very close to calling it quits. However, thanks to YHVH’s Word and this devotional, I took some deep breaths and saw just how far I’ve come.
Two things a Proverbs 31 woman is not afraid to do is work hard and be consistent. I’ve worked really hard to learn Hebrew, so giving up just before I finish would be something I would definitely regret. I just have one more mountain to climb before leaving, with my dad, to America and I believe YHVH is powerful enough to give me the strength I need to get through it.
The devotional also reminded me that I should be striving towards being like the woman in Proverbs 31. Each day I read this devotional, I was convicted for not being the woman I’m called to be.
A Proverbial girl should:
- Stop allowing things of no value to be placed on her table of life and be willing to invest quality “ingredients” on the inside.
- Never measure her worth by outward people or things.
- Trust in God to properly manage relationships that He gives her.
- Be a good friend who knows her friends’ strengths and weaknesses.
- Willing to seek out and pay the cost to be soft and beautiful towards the world.
- Unafraid to work hard and be consistent.
- Brings life to everyone around her because she knows she possesses life inside.
I never want to be a negative person or judge someone on the way they behaved over a year ago. I want to be a light to the people around me and show them how I can handle situations that have been thrown at me when I was least expecting it. It took my good, non-believing, friends to humble me and make me realize how negative and judgemental I was being.
When I heard that I may be seeing an old acquaintance, I automatically started thinking of all the drama that could happen, instead of given it to YHVH. At night, I continually think about what might happen the next day concerning Ulpan, work, or just about anything. Each time I told my mom about my worries, she would recite a verse from Matthew 6 which says, “Do not, then, worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow shall have its own worries. Each day has enough evil of itself.” (Matthew 6:34)
After realizing that worrying wasn’t going to help and would only made my perspective of things negative, I made my goal for this week be to stop worrying and to start trusting in YHVH. He knows what is going to happen so I need to trust that whatever comes is not too big for me and Him to take on, together. When I put my trust in YHVH, we make the best team. I just need to remember that everything that comes my way is to test my steadily growing faith.
We need to be ready for an attack at all times. Always be on alert. I received that wake-up call on Friday night when I had a near death experience. Ok, maybe it wasn’t near death, more like a deadly encounter with something that could’ve sent me to the hospital with serious casualties.
It was passed nine o’clock and we were just sitting down for dinner. It had been a very long day and my brain felt like it was fried. Dolce was jumping up at us as we were eating, so we figured he needed to use the bathroom. Knowing my parents were more hungry than I was, I got up to take him outside.
As I went outside, Dolce thought it was time to play and started running around the carport wanting me to chase him. I was not in the mood and just wanted to get to the side of the house, where he goes to pee, so I could go back inside and finish my tasteless dinner.
It’s always dark at the side of our house, even with the tree lights on, so I’ve never thought anything about it and often walk over there with bare feet. Last night, however, I took my time getting to the steps as I didn’t have much energy. With Dolce behind me, I went to start going down the stairs when I saw something dark and long stretched out down the steps.
My first thought was, “Oh, that’s a big, fat, stick.” But, as I carried on looking at this stick like object, a faint light went over the ‘stick’ to reveal a patterned back. I then heard the words, “That’s a snake,” and slowly backed away before yelling, “Snake! Snake!” to my dad.
If I had gone down those steps, I would’ve been bitten by one of the most poisonous snakes in Israel, the Palestinian Viper. I praise Yah that He gave me eyes to see and ears to hear that there was a snake, not a stick, lying down the steps. I am also very thankful that Dolce was not bitten as he was also standing pretty close to the legless beast.
We can’t allow ourselves to get distracted by things that aren’t worth our time. If I had taken my phone with me and didn’t look where I was going, I would probably be in the hospital right now. But because I made the decision to leave my phone inside and had a clear mind, I was able to look around and see the danger that was in front of me.
Others are not that fortunate and tend to step on the danger they didn’t realize was in front of them. As children of YHVH, we need to meditate on the Word day and night and listen to the things He wants to say to us. When we do this, we are able to identify danger before we step on it.
This week, I pray that I will have the strength to memorize my story and situations for my test, that I will start looking at my glass half full not empty, and that I will keep my ears and eyes open to the things YHVH wants to tell and show me. There will be times this week where the devil will try to distract me and try to make me stumble, so I need to train myself to be ready for the unexpected and to learn how to react correctly. How you react to situations shows the type of person you are and what you can handle, so I want to react properly and not like a hormonally crazed teenager.
I pray that you will also follow my example and strive to become the person YHVH has called you to be. I know it can be scary to do things that you think are weird and crazy, but at the end of the day, if it’s of YHVH it’ll be totally worth it! Don’t be afraid to follow Him and lean on Him when the going gets tough, He will always be there to lead and comfort you.