Shalom Friends and Family!
I hope that this finds you all well. As I looked over our pictures for the last month, I realized that most of them were taken when we had a huge ice and snow storm (well, I know it would not be considered "huge" for those of you in the northern states, but it was for us here in TN!). I thought about sharing them here, but Hannah already shared most of them on another one of our blogs, so I did not particularly want to post them here as well! I do have a few pictures that I wanted to share, and if you would like to see more, you can do so by CLICKING HERE.
This picture was taken at our neighbor's house.
Besides living regular life, our family has been preparing for Purim! Do you celebrate Purim or have you ever even heard of it?!? If you read the book of Esther you can read all of the details regarding this festival, but in a "short" summary, when King Ahasuerus (also known as Xerxes I) was reigning in Persia (modern day Iran), he promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.
Haman hated the Jewish people and he plotted how to kill them and then he got the King's permission to make a decree to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions.
But this situation did not catch our Heavenly Father off guard ... doesn't it say in Psalm 121:4, "Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."?!?!? The Jewish/Israeli people are YHWH's chosen people (Deuteronomy 7:6) and they will NEVER be destroyed.
Queen Esther was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin. Until that time, her uncle, who had raised her as a girl, had commanded her to conceal her identity. But when this situation arose, he asked her to go before the King to plead for their lives that they might be saved. Esther replied to her uncle that it was forbidden for anyone to approach the King, unless the King summoned them. Her uncle replied, "Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther 4:13b-14.
Queen Esther listened to her uncle and she went before the King. He held out his sceptre and she made a request for him and Haman to come to a banquet where she would make her petition.
As I write this, my heart has become so excited! I have celebrated Purim my entire life and I feel as if it is a part of my life, it feels so real to me! The story comes alive in my heart and mind! As I sit here, I wonder if I should just stop my summary here and let you read the book to hear the ending!
I guess that I will say that Esther, by YHWH's wonderful plan, saved her people from Haman's evil plot, but I guess that you already knew that because the Jewish people are still alive today:) Am Israel Chai!!! Towards the end of the story, Mordecai and Esther sent out a counter-decree with the King's consent for all of the Jews to come together and fight back and destroy anyone who rose up against them (according to Haman's decree). Afterwards there were three days of rest and feasting and Mordecai and Esther made another decree that each year, Purim should be celebrated as a day of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor.
The book of Esther is a beautiful and exciting story, but it is a true and historical account and I cannot encourage you enough to read the book for yourself. There are only 10 chapters in the book and it really does not take that much time to read the book (around half an hour if you just read it through). Each year our family reads the book through with shouts of "BOOOOO" to drown out Haman's name, "YEAHHHH" for Mordecai and "AHHHHH" for Esther!
Do you think that it is a coincidence that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming to the United States Congress on the 3rd of March (two days before Purim) to speak about the danger of Iran getting their hands on a nuclear bomb??? Remember that Iran is the modern day name for "Persia"!! That's right ... the same Persia/Iran that said that they were going to annihilate all the Jews, thousands of years ago ... this is the same Persia/Iran that has said that when they get a nuclear bomb, they are going to annihilate Israel. But just like in the days of Esther, they will not be able to do it. Again, we say "Am Israel Chai" ... The People of Israel Live!!!
That is all for now. I pray you all have a blessed March and a very Chag Purim Sameach (Happy Purim)!!!
P.S. Have you all ever played a game called Fishbowl with your family or friends? If you have not, I would highly recommend it! We have out of town company visiting and this evening we decided to play Fishbowl. When we were in Israel last year a friend taught us the game and it is SO much fun! CLICK HERE for a link of how to play. We played with a couple "house rules" though. Instead of having 3 cards like the link said, we played with 5 cards each. Also, on the link it said to write down 3 names ... we wrote down:
Card #1. Person's name or a title
Card #2. Place
Card #3. Thing
Card #4. Action
Card #5. Random
Get a group of people and enjoy an evening of laughter! We laughed until it hurt ... Proverbs 17:22 says, "A merry heart does good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries the bones."
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