I had written the Shabbat encouragement below before the passing of our incredibly beautiful Jacob Halzel yesterday. With the permission of his parents, I want to preface this week’s message with a few personal thoughts:

I remember Jacob as a small child in a stroller attending services at Ruach Israel so many years ago. From those times to when he was a much bigger child and youth I would see in his demeanor an appreciation for God’s Presence that cannot be put into words. He would make unbridled sounds of joy at times as if he could see and hear what we cannot. He seemed to be so close to our Creator, as if they were communicating on a different wave length.

I would think how it would be easy to feel sorry for Jacob, when actually, perhaps he was having the ecstatic experience we all long for but is not often attainable by us in this realm. Perhaps his being less encumbered with what makes us “normal” gave him the ability to live a life even more deeply in relationship with our Creator than we could even imagine in our limited way of perceiving the world.

I don’t know where to begin when talking about the love that he received, that was poured on him daily by his parents Gary and Betsy, and I’m sure by his siblings, too, when they were home. Their unconditional and sacrificial love of Jacob was a model for all of us as we witnessed how Yeshua loves us. The Halzels are a family like no other. In the last decade with all of the challenges of COVID and Jacob’s growing into a man’s body, even just the physical strength to tend his needs not to mention the medical challenges are not even imaginable to most of us. Yet Jacob’s parents took it all in stride with the strength of God and their faith in Him supporting them every step of the way.

All of us are grieving the loss of this amazing young man and can only find solace knowing he walks, yes walks even more closely with our Messiah Yeshua in the realm we cannot see. For Gary and Betsy, and his siblings, we are at your side to help on this hard journey of letting go of such a precious soul from our world.

Below is the message I had prepared, unfortunately still very relevant:

Who wants to talk about sickness? Surely not a fun topic. Yet it is the human condition. We all are sick at times and suffer alongside loved ones in our lives who have illnesses and conditions that pain us as well as them.

Winter is often a season of sickness given viruses having a field day in the over populated indoors and our general vulnerability. We are reminded to work harder to get our rest, eat well, and prioritize the care of our bodies, not just as divine entrustments from Him, but also, to be able to live life more fully generally.

Sometimes there are seasons of sickness unrelated to the calendar. They are just times when there seems to be a disproportionate number of those we know who are struggling for good health. So it seems at the moment.

So many in my circles are struggling with pneumonia and upper respiratory issues, eye issues, heart problems, complicated recoveries, even undiagnosed illnesses. When my prayers become so filled with praying for health for loved ones, I am reminded how profoundly our well being is affected when our loved ones, and we suffer from health challenges. I am reminded to not take good health for granted, but rather, to redouble my efforts to be mindful of this aspect of our lives in the many ways we have been blessed to be able to manage these times.

Thankfulness and gratitude – We all chuckle at the daily Jewish morning prayer thanking God our orifices work to allow us to “go to the bathroom” each day. Yet it’s no joke! We take for granted this and good health generally when everything is functioning as it should and we are not in pain. All it takes, however, is a personal bout with suffering or co-suffering with another to remind us to be thankful to God, to praise Him for this blessing rather than to take it for granted, not to mention what a miracle!!

All of our systems, circulatory and sensory, our skeletal and muscular structures, neuro and visceral system intricacies are completely Divinely created. When we suffer physically and need medical intervention for correction, we become acutely aware of the incomprehensible mastery that formed us to work well so much of the time. This knowledge does not take away the pain. The focus on this reality, however, does give us hope and encouragement that an end to suffering is likely. We give thanks and become grateful for His Mastery as Creator and Great Healer. These thoughts naturally lead to . . .

Trusting in Him – I am guilty as charged on this one. My pattern in life when ill is to be stoic. My tendency when not feeling well is to push myself and figure I can get through it. I’ve improved on this failing as I’ve gotten older, a combination of advanced age with less capability to ignore sickness and my transformed years as a believer in Yeshua to let go, let God. Having been there and still a bit stubborn, I see the issue in others, too, who may be ill with a small cough or cold and don’t slow down a bit. We are given guidance, by our bodies and others, of how to care for ourselves. The choice is ours of whether to listen to these clues which often are His promptings if we would let Him in to our busy schedules or personal desires.

It’s also a challenge to our trust in Him when things are getting worse instead of better, or next steps aren’t clear. Perhaps these times when we can’t see the bigger picture present the real challenge to trusting in Him. Whether it’s a healing or improvement we can see or not, we always are to trust in Him. We can’t and we are not to be able to figure out this mystery. Personally, when in the deepest agony of kidney stone pain last summer I felt the closest to our Creator. Not that I would want to do that again! It was an enigma. Somehow even in the suffering, if we lean into Him even harder, we come out with an even deeper feeling of His Presence, His Love, that is overwhelming. If a healing is part of that scenario, so much more the awe.

Our health as we know it can be changed in a moment. I am reminded of the Boston Marathon runners of 2013 who in an instant went from elite athletes to those without legs. Many of their stories are so inspirational as they have learned to live amazingly full lives. Many of their stories are tragic, the difference the result of a myriad of reasons.

Sometimes we have no choice over our health, other than to be the best stewards possible of this divine gift. We do have complete choice to remain centered on our Abba, who through Yeshua and as our Father tends to us daily, loving us, never leaving us, with us through all seasons as He draws us so much closer to Him during these painful times. The challenge is for us to draw steadfastly toward Him as well, for when we do, we will be well.

Shabbat shalom.

Diane