This is the story of an Israeli family, shattered and taken from their homes by Hamas, and our own small role in prayer to see this family restored.
The story begins as my wife and I, with our four-year-old twins David and Hannah and 1 ½ year old baby Olive in tow, find ourselves in Jerusalem, barely one month after the war between Israel and Gaza started. We knew that the war was tearing apart families, and felt that our mission and purpose for being there as a family, was to be a witness that God “will restore families in this place”.
We were based in Jerusalem for the duration of our stay, and it was a safe place during the war, with many of Israel’s internal refugees finding refuge in the calm of the city.
Shortly after our arrival, we took our kids for their first visit to the Old City in Jerusalem. 4-year-old David was very excited to see the City of David and the Tower of David, proudly proclaiming ‘this is my city!’
We went one day to the Western Wall to pray, and I had a deep sense of anticipation that this would be an important moment. As we concluded our prayers and began leaving the Western Wall, something special caught the curious eyes of our twins. Plastered along the walls near the exist we saw poster after poster of individuals now captive in Gaza. Each poster had a picture, a name and some details about the missing person. It was heart wrenching to look at the posters and take in the enormity of what had just happened in Israel one month earlier. Our twin’s attention was especially drawn to the picture of a beautiful 3-year-old hostage called Yahel Shoham. “Daddy, tell us about this girl”, they asked. As we considered what she was going through, we were deeply moved and joined together in a simple prayer for her release.
Throughout the remainder of our stay in Israel, 4-year-old Hannah kept asking about young Yahel. Yahel’s story had obviously made an impact on Hannah, who kept describing to me in vivid detail the specifics of the photo we had seen of Yahel – even including details I hadn’t noticed! As I began to research the story of Yahel, I discovered that 10 members of her family had been taken hostage to Gaza, including her older brother Nave, her mother and father and her grandparents.
We stayed in Israel for 3 weeks, and on our last full day in the Land of Israel we got the news we had been waiting and praying for: 3-year-old Yahel had been released along with her mother and brother! What a miracle! Hannah was beaming with joy that morning as she awoke to the news. “Daddy, can we go and see her”, she asked. While we certainly couldn’t go and visit her, it was deeply touching to see how God had heard the prayers of our little kids!
The Story Continues
However, for young Yahel, the journey of heartache and loss continued after her release as her dad Tal Shoham remained captive in Gaza. The uncertainty of whether her dad was alive or not must have weighed heavily on the whole family. For her fourth birthday, Yahel’s simple wish was for her daddy to come home. Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom caught up with the family, with young Yahel showing them a picture she had made of her father with outstretched arms and a smile. Yahel explained, “He’s doing this with his arms but no one comes to him.”
Meanwhile, my family and I have been travelling around Australia, sharing about our time in Israel and our personal insights from the conflict. As we minister in churches, home groups and schools, we often relate the story of the Shoham family, while often privately wondering what would happen to her dad Tal. I must admit that I personally didn’t have much hope for any hostages left in Gaza. “How could they possible survive”, I thought to myself.
A few weeks ago, on the 5th of February, I publicly led a congregation in prayer for the release of Tal. Only a few weeks later, on the 22nd of February, we got amazing news. Tal Shoham was released – alive – and was now heading home. We soon saw pictures of Tal reunited with his young family. What a moment for this young family, and what amazing grace God has shown them.
Will you join with me as we continue the journey of praying for this family, that they may be fully healed of everything they have gone through and ultimately may come to know and experience the Messiah’s love for themselves.
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Ps Enoch Lavender was born in Australia, raised in Norway, spent time living in China and is now based on the Gold Coast of Australia. He has been studying Hebrew and the Jewish roots of our faith for the past decade, and has a keen interest in the Middle East from a Bible prophecy perspective.
Contact Enoch and Olive Tree Ministries
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