Earlier that day, the man who would be hosting my dad in Oregon came up to me with an envelope. He told me that its contents were for me to use while I was with my friends in Tennessee. When I opened the envelope, I was shocked to find it full of dollars! I have never received that much money from a complete stranger before!
Because of this amazing blessing, I had a solid argument to tell my dad about allowing me to stay an extra night at the hotel. It was a win, win. He could go to Sebastian and enjoy his time with his friends, while I could stay in Jacksonville and enjoy mine.
However, the conversation was harder to win than I thought it would be. My dad didn’t want me to stay because he wanted to have daddy-daughter time, but I knew that if I would have gone to Sebastian, I would’ve been very bored and lonely. I have no friends in Sebastian and all of my close friends were at arms length, there was no way I was going to leave them so easily.
The next morning, my dad woke me up and told me that I could stay. I was overjoyed! The first thing I did was text Jacque to ask her what the plans were for the day. Before I knew it, I was leaving the hotel with Jacque and Jem’s families to spend the afternoon at the beach!
Deciding to stay an extra day was the best decision I could’ve made! It was so much fun to swim in the ocean, tan with the girls, and see my first wild dolphin! I loved almost every minute of our time at the beach and didn’t want the day to end.
I say almost every minute because there were some awkward moments with Jem. He and Gary, a guy I’ve known for years, stayed away from us for the most part. It was nice to see Jem have fun with another guy, but it would’ve been nice to have hung out more than we did. Thankfully, we made up for lost time at dinner that night.
Our afternoon at the beach went by in a flash. It felt like we had only been there an hour when in reality it had been about five! Jacque and I were relentless to leave, but it was probably a good thing we did since everyone was turning into tomatoes (Well, mostly Jem).
Dinner was so much fun! There were over twenty of us eating together, so we took up most of the restaurant. Jacque and Jem’s siblings were with us at one end of the long table, while the adults were at the other end. For the first time that weekend, there was no awkwardness. Everyone told jokes, pranked one another, and never allowed a dull moment to occur.
After asking the waiter for crayons, Jem and I started to play the game, Dots. I was so sure I was going to win, but when Jem pulled a fast one on me, I couldn’t believe it. As a response, I asked him to come closer (he was sitting across from me) and as he leaned over, I used my fry to put ketchup all over his cheek! hehe.
It was sad when dinner ended, but it didn’t mean that it was the end of the night. We still had to watch the fireworks. The plan was to go into the city to watch the bigger show, but the parents decided that it would be safer to stay at the hotel and go to the room Revive had reserved for those who attended the conference.
For those twelve minutes, everything was perfect! There was no drama, only great friends watching the fireworks together. Of course, I couldn’t stop talking during the fireworks, but that didn’t matter. Everyone was happy and there was peace for the first time since Jem and I had had our first encounter with one another. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed when the moment ended.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. In this case, the drama-free moment is what ended. A couple minutes after the fireworks were done, I had to confront a guy named Allen, who had told me that we needed to talk. I have never been so nervous after hearing those words!
Thankfully, the “talk” wasn’t too bad, just really awkward. I had pulled back from Allen when I thought he was showing too much interest in me, and I guess he’d noticed because he wanted to know if we were cool. I hated every moment of our conversation and wanted to run away as quickly as I could. I also felt really bad that Jeremy had to witness it. I’d put up with a lot of girls flirting with him, so I can imagine what he was going through as I was standing with Allen.
When the moment came to run away, I didn’t hesitate. I ran back to my group as soon as our awkward hug was over. After that, we had an hour of peace before the next dramatic situation occurred.
This situation had to do with Gary. Everything was fine until Jacque came into the room we were all chilling in and told us that Gary was crying. No one understood why he would be crying, but we all became very nervous after learning that he wanted to talk to Jem and Jacque’s parents.
Waiting is the worst feeling in the world, especially when it has to do with you and the unexpected. None of us knew what Gary could be saying to the parents, or what trouble we could get in, but that didn’t stop the nerves from rising up inside of us. So many questions circled around our minds, we couldn’t figure out why Gary would be crying and needed to talk to the parents.
Hearing the words, “Everything is fine,” has never been so irritating. After Gary had calmed down, Jem and Jacque’s moms came in to tell us that there was nothing to worry about because they had talked with Gary and straightened things out. That didn’t help the worry! All of us were interested in knowing what had happened with Gary and why the parents were acting so weird, but they refused to tell us the details.
It wouldn’t be until mid-afternoon the next day when the truth would finally be revealed to Jem and I. It took a couple of hours to put the full story together, but the end result wasn’t pretty. Gary had proclaimed that he had had a ‘vision’ about Jem doing some really bad things involving Jacque and me. Thankfully, the parents were able to shut down his spirit of jealousy (gross) and tell him that what he was feeling and seeing was wrong and not of YHVH.
I was really sad to learn about Gary’s jealousy because I had always looked at him as a brother and nothing else. He’s over ten years older than me so I thought I was safe, but I guess not. This just went to show that I have to be really careful with how friendly I am with my guy friends. You never know when one of them is going to turn out to be a pervert.
Putting Gary to one side, the rest of our last night together was a lot of fun. Dale, Jem, and Jacque came to my room to chill before we were forced to separate and go to bed. Jacque and I were hungry so we ate, while Dale scrolled through the tv guide to choice something to watch. We ended up watching Hannah Montana for an hour (haha), it was a blast!
Of course, the goodbyes were eventually bound to happen. I had to get up really early Tuesday morning to say bye to Jacque and her family since they were supposedly leaving the hotel at 6am! 7:30 was the second time I had to wake up. I almost missed saying goodbye to Jem and his family, so I shot out of my bed and ran to the lobby as fast as I could, I made it just in time.
Goodbyes never get easier. I hate saying goodbye to someone, especially when I don’t know when the next time I’ll see them will be. Jacque and her sisters have become such great friends of mine over the weekend that I didn’t want it to be time to part ways with them. Even Jem and his family have weaseled their way back into my heart (not that they ever left) and I didn’t want them to leave either. While we were all saying our goodbyes, I wished the conference would’ve lasted for a week or more.
The drive up to Tennessee was one of the shortest journeys we’ve made this trip. Time seemed to race by. It was great to be at peace and actually enjoy the journey for the first time since landing in America.
I was excited to get to Johnson City, Tennessee because the people who live there are like my extended family. Whenever I’m with them, I feel like I’m at home. Everyone is so friendly and loving that I never feel out of place; well, most of the time.
This was going to be my first time in JC without my dad. Each time we’ve come here, my dad has always come to speak, never to just hang out. This time, however, he left me here for five days while he went to another conference in Oregon. I was definitely nervous about going to the fellowship without him, but everyone was just as welcoming.
The Spirit was heavy in the room during worship on Shabbat and I could see that people were really being impacted with the words Matthew, the leader of the congregation, was saying. I was excited to be back with people with the same beliefs and me, who worshiped with their hearts on their sleeves. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a place where so many people get on their knees like they do at The Vineyard of Yahweh.
Of course, Matthew didn’t let me off the hook when it came to being a regular person attending the service. Instead, he decided that he was going to ask me to take my dad’s place to give a report from the Land of Israel and to speak, which my daddy had actually warned me about. I have never been at such a loss for words like I was at that moment! I literally had no idea what to say and could barely say anything because I was so nervous! Thankfully, I didn’t have to talk for that long and was able to get prayer for my neck.
This week, along with all the traveling I’ve done, I had my appointment with the chiropractor. The first meeting when really well and the X-Rays were able to show where the problems were. Turns out, I have two places in my upper neck that are twisted and one part of my spine that is out of place. Praise Yah the problems aren’t at the very tip of my spine, or that would’ve been even harder to fix!
In order to get as much treatment as I can before returning to Israel, we’ve booked appointments for every day the clinic is open. It’s a lot of work and very painful, but I’m praying that it will end up helping my headaches. I can’t imagine my life without headaches so if this has a chance of helping, I’ll do whatever is required of me.
As the new week begins, I’m praying that the pain in my neck, shoulders, and head will finally start to ease up. People have told me that it gets worse before getting better, so I’m hoping that the better part starts this week! I don’t want to have headaches anymore and I certainly don’t want the pain I’m feeling to stay with me for another week or more.
Please pray that the treatments I’m getting will start to get easier and decrease the pain of my headaches. At the moment, this treatment has been no fun and definitely takes a toll on my energy. I spend the rest of the day after my appointment in bed because I become so drained. Thankfully, this gave me time to catch up on my blogs and talk to old friends.
This week, I’m really pressing in on what it means to trust in YHVH. I know I’m always talking about how I need to trust in Him, but it’s a very important lesson I’m currently learning. In this season, I need to be leaning on Him for guidance and giving Him my full heart. When I’ve learned to give my whole heart over to YHVH, then He can really shape me into the woman He’s called me to be. After that, because I’m trusting in Him and have made Him my number one, then He will reveal my future ‘Prince Charming’ to me.
I won’t learn what my future holds or the person YHVH has called me to live my life with until I’ve fully grasped what He wants to do in my life. Trust is one of the most important lessons we need to learn in life. If we do not trust in YHVH, then we will never be able to trust others.
Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”