homework or yom kippur?

i've noticed something about myself. when i have a LOT of reading to do, i tend to get more stressed out about homework. however, when my homework involves more "studying" and less reading, i handle it better. then again, i bet if you talked to ruth or heather, they might say otherwise.

all this has come to my mind because i had a lot of reading to do this weekend and now i have to study for a quiz for hebrew and it doesn't seem like as big of a deal to me. but really, i have a huge stack of vocab that i'm supposed to know and still don't and i'm working tonight and there is a lecture tonight in the miklat that we "should all go to." plus, i really want to go to this lecture because it's a woman who was one of the first members of the moshav... in other words, she was here when it all started and she's got some pretty interesting stories. i think hearing her will make me more thankful for the moshav and how much the Lord has blessed it.

this weekend was yom kippur, the day of atonement for Jewish people. for us, it was a day of prayer because EVERYthing stops in the country. everything is closed and basically everyone has a serious day of rest at home or at the synagogue. so, at the moshav we all fasted and had the option of going to prayer meetings throughout the day. since i had so much homework to do, i thought it would be wiser for me to do what i needed to do and praise the Lord in that. looking back, it would have been really nice to go to one of the prayer times and pray with the other IBEXers, but at the same time i know the Lord blessed the time i spent doing homework. although i'm sort of kicking myself for not spending the ONE time i will probably ever be in israel for yom kippur in prayer.

it was quite the experience fasting though because although i've skipped meals before, i've never done it for spiritual purposes. we had a time of worship around a campfire that night and one thing that was mentioned was that we should all be hungering and thirsting after the Lord the way we had done for food that day. as my stomach growled throughout the day my sinful nature wanted to eat, but the Lord reminded me that HE would know if i ate something just to "tide me over." He reminded me that "man does not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" Deut. 8:3

so, i'm praising the Lord in the midst of all the thoughts in my head. i don't know if i was right or wrong this weekend in my choice, but it's done and all i can do now is learn from it and praise the Lord for His perfect plan. meanwhile, i have hebrew vocab to be studying. i LOVE my hebrew class! oh yeah, i got a Hebrew/English old testament and am really excited about it! wow... i am SO blessed! what a gracious Lord to allow me to be here in the Holy Land!