{Israel: Extraordinary Eyes in Ordinary Places}

The gentlest of whispers that will have the most profound impact on our lives. Those gentle whispers make any ordinary moment extraordinary; they are the wind whispers that change everything.

It’s funny how God can you give everything, simply because He loves you, just to show you that He is still the one thing you could ever desire most. I was in Israel with the most incredible worship team led by some of the best pastors in the world, and yet I still only wanted – Jesus. 

Before I left for the trip, I actually had this vision, (it is biblical- read Luke 1:5-23 or Acts 10:9-15), where I was in a boat with Jesus. Everything was beautiful and calm around us, but he asked me a question that has been ringing in my heart for weeks: “Where are you going that you don’t need to go?” Because the truth is, there is nothing greater outside of the boat if Jesus is there in the boat with me. And it took me having been given everything to realize- Jesus is a thousands times more than enough.

The small thing is that standing on the promised land looks quite ordinary without remembering the wonder of what God has spoken. But even if you forget, you’re stillstanding on His promise. Remembering simply helps you to not stray from it. When we hold onto those golden nuggets, those words of treasure, we see with wonder “what could be” around us, and we start to create with “what is” in our hands. It is his gentle whispers that lead us into the greatest awakenings. When we are rest, we are able to hear those gentle whispers, for in our rest, we are able to wonder.

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In Israel, I saw sparrows flying everywhere. I saw vineyards and gardens and trees and seas. I was lost in wonder, but the people who lived there… they were lost in the motions. We both were walking the same ground and seeing the same things, but one of us had wonder, and the other had lost it. Because to one of us, it was everything God had spoken, and to the other, it was their ordinary, everyday life. Sparrows were common. Vineyards, gardens, and trees were what they took care of everyday. The seas were a place of income. They’ve known this since a young age. But I saw what Jesus used as metaphors in his teachings, I saw the seas miracles happened on, I saw the ruins as a beautiful mystery of what once was. Then I stopped and thought: what is it at my home that I’ve shut out as ordinary that Jesus is whispering for me to see with wonder? Because the same Jesus who is alive in Israel, is the same Jesus alive in Australia… in America… in Africa… in _______. What whispers are we missing because we close our eyes to what is around us, in doubt of what it could become? Which brings me back to the vision earlier on.

Some of us need to remember what Jesus looked like in the ordinary. We are trying to walk on the water when Jesus is in the boat. Others of us need to remember that Jesus does sometimes call us out of the boat, but it’s not to see how amazing we are, but to be amazed by who He is again. 💙  It’s honestly not about the destination, or the miracle, or how much faith you have, it’s about Jesus and coming to Him and letting Him embrace you again and again, time to time. Be careful if you find yourself saying, “If I can just be doing this, then I’d be full.” If you are thirsty, it is not a full glass that you need, it is a drink from the well of the everlasting that has been right before you all along.If you’ve lost your peace, you probably need another drink from the well. And the beautiful thing is, the well never moves. It is still, and it is available.

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I flew all the way to Israel discovering I didn’t need another promise. I only needed Jesus, for HE has been my greatest promise since the beginning. That whether I rise or fall, am still or going, am silent or singing, He is THERE. There are times where we need to stop holding our cup up to the sky waiting for rain to fill it up and instead need to just come back to the well, to the simplicity, to Him, remembering He is our portion. He is {in the boat} with us, and the well never ever runs dry. It is there that the gentlest whispers are heard, because we {see} that Jesus was close all along. Our eyes are open, our hearts are open, and our destinies are open for anything to happen at any moment. They’re the whispers that make any ordinary moment extraordinary; they are the wind whispers that change everything.