God cares for his own

Rahel Landrum serving in Sydney

Mark and I recently travelled to the USA to visit churches and Mark's family. When we returned, I met with Vered, an unsaved Jewish woman whom I visit regularly. She has some serious health issues and is often anxious about them.

To encourage Vered, I shared what happened to me before the flight to the States. Prior to the long flight, just three weeks beforehand we had returned home from another long flight from the UK.

When I arrived back home, I was diagnosed with DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) and put on blood-thinning medication. My doctor told me I had to wait another week before I could fly long-haul again. This was difficult as we had meetings planned and it would have meant flying out to the States a week after Mark. I'd have had to travel alone and there was cost involved in changing the flight. So we prayed and asked friends to pray as well.

I felt peace about flying and, considering the fact that my health was improving and I was on the medication, we took the flight together as originally planned. With God’s help, I made the trip with Mark.

Not long after we arrived, we spoke at a church, who provided us with some lovely hosts to stay with. As we got acquainted, we found out the host was a doctor. I asked if he was a medical doctor or whether he had a PhD, and he confirmed he was a medical doctor. When I asked what field he specialised in, he told us he was a vein specialist!

Mark told him about my problem, and he graciously offered to do a free of charge ultrasound at his clinic the very next day.

We were pleased to find out that my condition had improved further since the previous ultrasound I had done in Sydney.

I told Vered that this was an amazing way God had taken care of me and given me peace of mind despite my health concerns. I went on to share verses from the Scriptures with her that demonstrate God’s care of those who put their trust in him and encouraged her to do the same.

Vered was amazed to see how God had organised the right person for us to stay with and acknowledged it was no coincidence that our host was a vein specialist. It gave her hope that God can help her with her health as well.

As I continue to share the gospel with Vered, please pray she will soon come to know Jesus and will put her trust in him, for both her physical and spiritual healing.

‘Why do they hate us so much?’

‘Why do they hate us so much?’ That’s what Yona, an unsaved Jewish woman, asked me when we talked about the Bondi attack at the end of last year when fifteen Jewish people were murdered and many more injured, near where we live.

I meet with Yona from time to time. Yona is Israeli but has lived in Australia for a long time. How could I give her a quick answer to the centuries-old problem of antisemitism? It didn’t just start with the attack in Bondi – or even the one which took place in Israel on 7th October 2023 – but has its roots in biblical history.

Yona offered her own take on the rising antisemitism, asking, ‘Maybe they are envious?’ I explained that it is more than that but, due to time restrictions, I told her we could have a proper conversation the next time we saw each other.

When we met again, the question was still weighing heavily on Yona’s mind and she quickly asked about it again. I told her: ‘God has a plan for us – the Jewish people – and the enemy wants to thwart his plan’. Yona wasn't expecting that answer but said it had given her something to think about.

Later, I saw a documentary on the Bondi attack. A man who was at the event said his kids were still traumatised. His five-year-old son asked him: ‘Why do they want to kill us?’ The man felt hopeless when it came to giving his son an answer.

We will never have all the answers, but we can point Jewish people like Yona to God who has both answers and hope for us. Despite the world’s hatred for us, he has demonstrated his love through Jesus, who sacrificed his life on the cross so we can spend eternity with our loving heavenly Father.

Please pray as we answer the deep questions Yona and others are asking. The hurt and fear are real, but so is the gospel opportunity. As we share the Good News, please pray our contacts will come to know Jesus as their Messiah.