Story of My Life

 As I write this, Rosh Hashanah begins tomorrow evening. I get SO excited when it's time to celebrate one of God's holidays again! These holidays have changed my life, and I strongly believe that anyone who chooses to learn about them and celebrate them will be greatly blessed. God gave these special times to us in order to draw closer to us, and in order to teach us about Himself and His ways. When we keep these appointments with Him, our lives begin to have a new rhythm - His rhythm. We learn to let Him order our lives, which makes it much easier to keep our focus on Him and how we can live our lives to bear His image and shine His light to others. And as a bonus, these times are rehearsals or shadows of things to come, and they all point to Jesus/Yeshua! In 2020 we have extra challenges when it comes to celebrating the Biblical holidays because all of these times call for "a holy convocation", which means getting together with others to celebrate. Normally, my husb...

As I write this, the holiday of Pentecost is coming up in just a few days, on Sunday. Although I grew up attending mostly Pentecostal churches, it has only been in recent years that I have begun to understand what this holiday is all about and just how significant it is. What I knew about Pentecost was that it was an event that happened in the New Testament in the book of Acts, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the believers in Jesus/Yeshua. There was a loud sound of a rushing wind, tongues of fire came and rested on their heads, and they spoke in languages they did not know. As a result, many people who heard them speaking also became believers in Yeshua. Here's what I didn't know: Pentecost is another name for a Biblical Holiday that has been celebrated since the Old Testament! It is also known by the Hebrew name of "Shavuot", which means "weeks". In English it is often called the Feast (or Festival) of Weeks or the Firstfruits of the Wheat. You can f...

Tonight at sundown, Purim begins. Have you heard of it? For most of my life, I really hadn't.  I may have heard the word, but I had no idea what it was.  Then I found out I already knew the story of Purim; in fact, it's one of my favorite stories ever!   If you've ever read the book of Esther in the Bible, then you know the story of Purim.  I  love this story, because it is  a real live "fairy tale", complete with a king, a girl who becomes a queen and her courageous guardian, an evil villain, and a happily ever after ending.    Purim is the holiday that celebrates this story.  This holiday is full of joy and celebration, with parties, costumes, parades and fun.  It is also a holiday full of hidden meaning.    At Purim we wear masks and costumes to symbolize the hidden meaning of the holiday.  The Hebrew meaning of Esther's name itself is "hidden".  She was urged by Mordecai (her guardian and rel...

To celebrate our 31st anniversary, Robert and I decided to spend the weekend in one of our favorite places: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. We have been wanting to stay in the Red Caboose Motel in Strasburg, ever since we learned it existed, so we booked a 2 night stay.  This place is so cute! It's made up of 38 cabooses, a mail car, a baggage car, and 2 dining cars. They're celebrating their 50th season this year! We stayed in a couple's half caboose. There are also family cabooses that sleep up to 6 people, and they even have a honeymoon caboose! We stayed in Caboose Number 2. Inside, it was comfy and cozy. We could hear the clip-clop of horses' hooves, and see the Amish buggies go by from our window. I think more buggies went by than cars! After exploring the area around the hotel (they even have a cute little petting zoo), we went for a drive.  We love to drive around this area, and see all of the ...

Since I started learning about the Biblical Holidays about 11 (or 12?) years ago, every time one comes around I am amazed at how much these appointed times are teaching me.  I am growing and learning each time I celebrate one of these special, set-apart times, because each one is full of symbolism that reveals God's intricate plan, His wisdom, His goodness, and His unfathomable love for us. Over the years, these holy-days have set a new rhythm to my days, weeks, months, and years.  I am learning to center my life around what God wants, and what His plan is rather than my own. These "appointed times" ("moedim" in Hebrew) are spelled out in Leviticus 23, and can be found throughout the whole Bible. But there is an important time that is not mentioned in that passage, so it often gets overlooked. It plays an integral part in God's calendar, and He calls His people to celebrate it every month.  In Hebrew it is called Rosh Chodesh, which means the head of th...