March 19, 2013

Happy Passover to all! The holiday of deliverance and freedom is upon us once more, a time to celebrate our deliverance from the tyranny and slavery of sin by the Blood of the Lamb of God, Yeshua!

On March 17th 2013 the sentencing hearing of Jack Teitel was supposed to take place at 12 PM at the District Courthouse in East Jerusalem. David and I left Ariel early to meet with some friends in Jerusalem before the hearing, and as we neared the city our lawyer texted us to say that at that moment he had received a message that the sentencing was being postponed until April 9th. We had made arrangements with many people who wanted to be there to support us and to witness the sentencing for themselves, and so we busily began to contact everyone to let them know it was not going to take place. I asked my lawyer if he was told the reason for for the postponement and he said no, he received just a message without an explanation.

Please pray for the sentencing of Jack Teitel to take place on April 9th. I pray that there will not be any kind of devilish plan being hatched by the defense attorneys to somehow lighten the sentence.

AMI NEWS

I wanted to take a time to write at a little more length about Ami.

This past February, my son turned 20 years old. It is hard to believe that already five years have passed since March 20th, 2008. It has not been easy for Ami, every day he lives with the after effects of the heinous act that was perpetrated against him by Jack Teitel. Every day he faces the scars and missing toes, the nagging ringing in his ears and the low level but persistent pain in his left hand. Every day however, the beauty of who he is shines forth brighter and brighter; a deep, gentle and compassionate person who has gone through tragedy and unspeakable suffering yet who has survived without a trace of bitterness or hatred. Just about two weeks ago, he began to experience discomfort in one of his eyes and he noticed a red spot. He went to the health services on campus that sent him to an eye specialist. She removed a small piece of ceramic from the white part of his eye, one of the many particles that are still lodged in his eyes and body from the explosion of the bomb that was hidden in a Purim gift basket.

Ami has been working very hard in college. It has been an interesting time where he has been slightly alone to think about and face many issues and to face some hard realities. However, his unique sense of humor has fully returned. We speak often over Viber (a free communication App using wifi) and at times his quick wit and keen observations have me laughing so hard I cry. He keeps up with the news from Israel and the US on a daily basis, even when faced with the pressures of basketball and studies. Basketball has been something of a disappointment for him this year, he said most of the season he sat on the bench of a losing team, but The Lord has a plan, and from the beginning of this experience the name of the game can be summed up in one word, Patience!!!

Recently The Lord spoke to me clearly. A friend from Norway was sitting at our table sharing a meal, and she was blessing us with some scriptures from the Bible. I suddenly realized that I have to surrender my mourning over Ami's injuries to Him in order to receive His comfort. I can choose to hang onto the mourning, but I will never be free from the sorrow if I do. Healing won't take place. There are so many things I have to release into His hands -a fitting theme for the Passover season.

Isaiah 61:1-3
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed MeTo preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."

May you all be abundantly blessed this Passover season,

In the Messiah,

Leah

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