J
anwillem v.d. Hoeven had already invited John a few times come to Israel. He knew John was a lavish praiser, and he could see him right at the front, dancing and singing at the great Jerusalem march held each year. John, however, kept saying to me, you go now, it is much too expensive to make this trip together. If I then suggested that he go alone, he didn't like it either. We had been there together in our younger years and that was enough for him. But every time I came to Israel, the first thing Jan Willem asked me was; Where's John?
So one day I got him to the point that he had decided to come along. So I ordered the plane tickets, and informed Jan Willem that John would come along to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles! But what happened completely unexpectedly? One day we got into such a fight that neither of us wanted to make the trip anymore. How could we be a blessing? I canceled the trip and still had to pay quite a bit for it. A disappointment but also sad of course and I didn't understand why this had to happen?
Shortly afterwards I had a speaking engagement at one of Aglow's departments. Due to a renovation of the coffee room, the meetings had been moved to the large Church Hall. After my speech, I sat down in the back of the room to think about the message I had brought. Suddenly my eyes were drawn to beautiful stained glass windows that could be seen at the front of the church at the top. Windows with Hebrew letters. I don't know Hebrew but something caught my attention. Suddenly in my mind I heard the voice of the Lord say; Adrie, come to Israel, I would like to see you there. What do Yoy say Lord? I had to process this! But why did it happen that I had to cancel our trip? I didn't understand this.
That same evening I attended an introductory evening at Fia's home with leaders from different churches. It was a nice evening and afterwards we stayed to talk with some acquaintances when one of them said; Frans, {the husband of a friend of mine} is not going to Israel. If someone wants to take over their ticket, I can arrange it that way. My heart thumped in my throat. This was a helping hand from the Lord. When I got home I told this to John, and he thought so too and that I should seize this opportunity. And so it happened that I unexpectedly came to sleep in a room with my dear friend Anneke, Frans's wife, and was allowed to experience a great journey.
One evening, it was at the end of Yom Kippur that Anneke and I went to the Temple Square. We first joined the women who always stood or sat to the righ t of the wall. There was a large screen between the women and men. The women always read or pray in silence. But we were full of fire and desire to express this too. The Jewish men who were standing in front of the partition were praying fervently and that attracted us much more. We wanted to pray with them. Now we could hear them but hardly see them behind the high partition. So we decided to put two chairs on a table and hook up so close to these men full of fire. We began to praise and invoke the Lord loudly for the very tense time Israel was in at that time. It must have been a strange sight and actually very inappropriate. Yet no one stopped us. So I was also allowed to go to the Feast of Tabernacles this year.
After the end of Yom Kippur and the Shabbat with a lot of sound from the many Rams horns, the men all got a glass of wine, which we could see from our place. Suddenly one of those who had been standing close to us turned around and handed Anneke and me a glass of wine over the wall. What a special blessing this was for us It was as if heaven had literally connected us with the Jewish People .
L
ike many divorces, ours wasn't easy. I had some small furniture picked up from our house to make my attic a little more cozy. That had not gone down well with him, to say the least. Until now we had also managed to withdraw a figure of money monthly from our joint account, which I then gave to my sister as an allowance for my maintenance. I had no longer had contact with him, he had entered another world. Those who had met him once or twice hardly recognized him. The divorce had to be arranged as soon as possible, that was certain for me.
On the advice of my brother-in-law I could hire a good lawyer, and John had to do this too. This is how our 1st meeting after months took place in court. As he passed me in the hallway, a chill ran through me. There was nothing left of John but a shadow. After a few sessions, I got a good result because there was evidence that Johnd was no longer in control due to his drugs and alcohol use. and things were no longer paid on time. There was no question of alimony yet, but a large piece of salary was transferred from John to me purely to be able to pay the monthly costs of our house and other additional annual bills. This confirmed the words of Isaiah 54:17 prophesied by the old sister in Carmel. I was allowed to rely on God's help and assistance for the future.