Lesson Learned ? Or Lesson Learning? ... By Tommy

Shalom Y'all.

I told y'all back in August that in the near future(!) I was going to share about something that YHVH taught me while in Israel. Now a couple months have gone by since I said that and it has been almost five months since we got back from Israel.

So here it is ... learning to hear YHVH's voice and to OBEY. It is one of those things I am sure many of us struggle with.

During our walk with the Heavenly Father, there will be many times that He speaks to us and then it is up to us whether we will follow through with what He says or whether we will disobey and continue to do what we want.

One of these situations of whether or not I was going listen to what YHVH was telling me, came on our second weekend in Israel while we were staying in the desert.

Shortly before going to Israel, our family was blessed to have some out-of-state friends spend a few days at our home. After they left our place, I was communicating with one of the friends who will be dubbed 'Share' for this story. We got to talking about a song that YHVH had given Share. YHVH had given Share the lyrics, but did not give Share to have the tune to the song. After much prayer Share felt that I was the person that YHVH would give the tune to. Share asked me if I'd be willing to look at the song and see if YHVH would give me the tune to it. I said I would, but I had never been gifted to do anything like this, even though I have wanted to for a long time.

After Share sent me the lyrics and I looked over them, I felt YHVH telling me that I would get the tune while staying in the desert. I told Share what I felt YHVH told me and then Hannah and I continued to prepare to go to Israel.

Once we got to Israel and got somewhat settled in, I pulled out the paper that I had printed the lyrics on and started looking it over and tried to get a tune. At that point YHVH told me that I would receive the tune on a Shabbat and that I would use a guitar.

Well on the first Shabbat I realized that I could not do it, due to the fact that there was an Orthodox family visiting and it would offend them and our hosts if I were to play the guitar on Shabbat. It just so happened :~) that the next Shabbat our hosts went to some friends of theirs, which left Hannah and I to run the place.

It was the day before that Shabbat that I felt YHVH telling me that this would be the Shabbat that I was going to get the tune. I sent Share an email and shared what YHVH had told me.

The next day, I decided to start on the song right around 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm Israel time. After working on the song for about half an hour, YHVH had given me just about the whole tune to the song. I was missing just one or two chords and I had not been able to get the exact timing of music and lyrics. It was at this point in time when I had the opportunity of whether I was going to listen to YHVH and do what He was telling me, or whether I was going to continue with what I wanted to do.

I sat there for five or ten minutes with this almost complete song sitting in front of me and I started praying that I could get the rest of the song. That is when I heard the 'still small voice' and it said, "Ask Hannah to help".

Now that was the exact thing that I did not want to hear. Hannah has been blessed to write quite a few beautiful songs and I had never been able to before, so I wanted to do this one on my own (bad idea). So after I heard "Ask Hannah to help", I just brushed it aside and tried to continue with the song. After about another ten minutes or so of NO success and continually hearing "Ask Hannah", I finally gave in. I think I can say that was probably one of the smartest things I did while in Israel.

So I went and found Hannah and said "Looky here sister," (or something like that) "WE have to figure out how to fit this tune to these lyrics."

She sat down at the piano and I was on the guitar. Within ten minutes the song was completed :) I could hardly believe it. It then struck me that I had sat there for about half an hour wasting time NOT listening to what YHVH was telling me. I was quite humbled to say the least. However there was more in store that I did not know about.

Later that afternoon, Hannah and I video-skyped with Share's family to tell them about the song. I started telling the story of how it all came about. At one point Share interrupted me and started asking very pointed questions such as "What time did you start on the song? How long did you work on it before YHVH told you to ask Hannah?" and some more that I can't remember. After three or four questions, I said, "Ok Share, what are you getting at?"

Come to find out, Share had woken up that morning and started praying about the song and that I'd get the tune. After praying for a little while, YHVH told Share that Hannah was going to need to help me with the tune. Share was not sure how I was going to figure out that Hannah was going to help me, so instead of worrying about it too much, Share decided to just pray that YHVH would show me. And that is exactly how it happened.

Oh yeah, did I tell you that when Share was praying about the song, it was just about the same exact time that I was working on the song?

I think that that blew me away more than anything ... to see how YHVH is working in the lives of the people working for His kingdom. So in case I have not made myself clear in this book that I have written, the point I am trying to make is:

Learn to hear the voice of your Heavenly Father YHVH. He will speak to you whether you want to listen or not.

I pray that each and everyone of us will learn to listen and obey the voice of YHVH. It is extremely important in these days when just about the whole world is running away from YHVH, as to whether we will go along with the crowed or whether we will listen to the voice of YHVH. "... As for me and my house, we will serve YHVH" - Joshua 24:15. I pray that each and everyone of you reading this can say that verse.

Shabbat Shalom.

T for the two of us.

P.S. Below are the lyrics to the song. One of these days Hannah and I plan to video us children playing and singing it ... whenever that happens, we will probably post the video.

Father, Hold My Hand

Clinging to my Shepherd's hand

As I'm walking through this land

I know that I am safe with Him

He'll lead me through this shifting sand.

Without Him I would fall about,

And joy I know I'd be without

So, Father hold my hand

Alone I know I cannot stand

Oh, Father hold my hand

The road has many turns and twists,

My Shepherd knows even this

He knows where every rock and stick

As well as every thorn and pit.

I know that I am safe as long

As I cling to him all day long

So, Father hold my hand

And lead me to the promised land

Oh, Father hold my hand

And when the wolves come out at me

Your perfect plan I know I'll see.

The fire will only make me pure

Refine me and help make me sure.

As long as I cling tight to You,

I know that You will see me through

So, Father hold my hand

And lead me to Your perfect plan

Oh, Father hold my hand

Paper Clips ... by Hannah

We do have a several more posts coming up ... sharing more of our experiences in Israel and hopefully a short update on what our family has been doing in the almost five months since we have come back. In the meantime, I wanted to tell you all about a movie that we just watched today. It is actually a documentary called Paper Clips. Below is the trailer from youtube. The real film is much better quality.

This project took place in Whitwell TN ... right down the road from where we used to live in Jasper. The principal and teachers in the local middle school wanted to teach the students about the results of intolerance and prejudice and they decided to study the holocaust. The students came up with an idea to collect 6 million paper clips in memory of the 6 million (approx.) Jews that were murdered. The project expanded incredibly, and I won't give it away ... you'll have to watch it to see everything that happened! You can find the movie on Netflix, or Amazon. I highly recommend it.