It is quieter now. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took a lot of control in a southern Israel city, near the Mediterranean coast. There are no sirens in [our city], but there are still sirens in the center of the country. We constantly hear loud explosions as the Israeli army attacks terrorists in the nearby city. We see God’s mighty hand, He fights for Israel and He will deliver us from our enemies.
I spoke recently with Tanya. She attends a congregation in a city near the Mediterranean coast border. She told me how the Lord is working through her church . . .
When the war began, I was very scared, like many others, and I had a desire to go to a safer place. I was invited to live in another apartment, and when I was about to leave, at that moment the Lord spoke to my heart: “Tanya, I will protect you, and you serve Me.” Immediately after that I calmed down, and together with the brothers and sisters from our church we organized a group that helps people in need. We deliver food—our food delivery ministry is an important outreach, but people appreciate us spending time with them more than food. They are grateful that we do not forget them during the war and can spend some time with them. People feel lonely and are afraid that they will be forgotten and left all alone.
We tell every person that we are Christians, but sadly we don’t have much time to talk with these people because each of us works and delivers food to the needy in the evening after work. We start delivering food around 6 p.m., when it’s already dark outside. We’re driving under fire, each of us has 25 addresses. Navigators do not always work correctly, so this makes our food delivery even more difficult. [Here], not all houses have numbers; in the beginning it was very difficult to find addresses. We are also afraid at such moments, but the Lord really works with people through this ministry. Many Jews have developed a fear of Christians; this fear appeared a long time ago, over many generations. And when this war happened, we came to people with food and openly said that we are Christians, that we are Jews who believe in the Messiah Jesus.
We have been changing the thinking of the Jews. We exchange fear for trust. We tell them that many Christians from different countries help us financially so that we can buy food and distribute it to those in need. And people’s attitude towards Christians is changing, especially among older people who survived the Holocaust. They treated Christians as enemies, but now they see that Christians truly love them. Through our service, their attitude towards Christ changes. We all help Jews see that Jesus is not their enemy, He is their Savior.