The story behind my trip to Israel

and why I feel it matters

(Prayer Room hours for this week are updated here. We’ve been loving seeing people take advantage of both the open hours and the reservable hours! We have more of the latter this week as several of us are traveling. Reminder: there is NO Tuesday night Scriptures, Songs, & Selah this week; it is on pause for a bit.)

My friend Jackie had these sweet cards made and passed them out for my prayer support. Thank you, Jackie!

I was up early, sipping my coffee and listening to the morning Lectio. It was January 8th, and Pete Greig’s voice was encouraging the listener to move into the year fresh, leaving behind any ill-fitting words (put on us by others or by ourselves)—words not from God.

He asked, “What is the Lord speaking over you for this next year? What are His words?” We were then led to meditate on the scriptures that talk about Jesus giving us a new name, a personal name.

Jesus, what is my name? I felt my spirit ask.

The response was surprisingly immediate. So clearly I heard an answer.

“Hadassah.”

Hadassah? Did my brain just make that up?

Again, very distinctly in my spirit, I heard, “Look it up.” I knew it was Queen Esther's Hebrew birth name, but I didn’t know what the name itself meant.

I looked it up. Hadassah means "myrtle tree.”

That might seem obscure, but to me it was a direct ping in my heart. My mind immediately went back to about a year before, when I was at a friend’s house for a “soaking” night. A soaking night is where we gather to be in the presence of the Lord, often through prayer, worship, and stillness. These are often very restful nights, and usually after about an hour or so of being dispersed throughout the house to commune individually with Jesus, we come together and pray for one another. On this particular night, as the women were praying over me, my friend said, “Lana, this might sound weird, but I asked the Lord if you were a tree, what kind would you be? And I heard Him say, ‘myrtle tree.’”

I remember thinking, “that’s cool,” but then not giving it much afterthought. There were so many other things prayed over me that night that seemed more relevant at the time. And yet the Holy Spirit didn’t let me forget! The memory came rushing back the second I saw the meaning of Hadassah.

Okay, Lord, I’m listening. What do You want to say to me about Hadassah and the myrtle tree?

I began to journal all I could about both, looking things up and finding profound resonance in the deeper meanings. The Lord took me on a little treasure hunt that day, revealing gems and connecting dots. It was an incredible time as He continued to speak identity and purpose over me. All of that would have been enough. I had no idea what was about to come.

Let me pause here and back up to about a month prior. In December, I was on a prayer walk, asking God what word He had for me for 2026. Some of you may remember that our family always asks the Lord for a word for each of us for the year, a word to help give us focus. Once again, I heard very clearly and distinctly on that walk the word “prepare.”

(In case you might think I hear from the Lord this specifically all the time, let me say this is not often the way of things. There are many times when I’m asking Him to speak into something, but get absolute silence. There are times when I’m praying over a problem and have no strong sense of what the Lord is saying about it (other than, of course, the profound direction and guidance we always have from the scriptures). Sometimes He will drop clear words into our spirits, other times there’s just an unction, and very often His written Word is enough as we wait upon Him.)

But this time, I heard it clearly, and immediately my mind went to the image of the women in the Old Testament who would spend months in bridal preparation before going before the King.

“Now when it was each young woman’s turn to go before King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women—for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with [sweet] spices and perfumes and the beauty preparations for women.” —Esther 2:12

When God spoke the name Hadassah over me, He reminded me of the word He gave me for the year, “prepare,” and that the very image that had come to my mind on the walk that day was exactly what Hadassah also had to do. And that physical picture of preparing with oil is exactly what we’re commanded to do spiritually in Matthew 25. Soak in the oil of His presence and intimacy so we will be ready and known when the Bridegroom comes.

There is so much He is showing me about why He gave me the word ‘prepare,’ and how it is not only for me but for the Bride of Christ. The layers of reflection and revelation will have to be for another post. But He’s had me in Psalm 45, Revelation 22, Matthew 3, Isaiah 40, Matthew 25.

All glorious is the bride in her inner chamber, her gowns are intertwined with gold…

The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths in the desert…

And then, on my 48th birthday, He took me to Psalm 48.

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King. Within her citadels God has made himself known as a fortress…We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness. Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments! Walk about Zion, go round her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.

It’s hard to put into words, but the further I go into the Father’s heart and intimacy with Jesus, the more I find myself praying for Israel and longing for her to come into the fullness of Romans 11. My good friend talks about a vision she had one day while in deep travailing prayer; she was given a vivid picture of that beautiful council in Acts 15 (like she was visiting it in the spirit) where the Jewish apostles and elders gathered to discern the heart of the Lord regarding the new Gentile believers who had also received the Holy Spirit, and how to navigate this new paradigm. She saw these precious Hebrew fathers in the faith seeking the Lord on behalf of the Gentiles. And she saw a wedding ring, and the finger of the Lord traced it, and she heard, “Full circle!”

She felt His invitation for us who have been grafted in to now love our brothers back and press in to seek the Lord on behalf of our roots, on behalf of Israel, so that they may see their Messiah Yeshua!

Getting back to my personal story… it was on a Thursday that I heard the Lord speak ‘Hadassah’ over me, asking me to write down all I could about both her early life and her calling later as Queen Esther, along with the symbolism and characteristics of the myrtle tree. The very next day, on a Friday, I received a text from someone I didn’t know, the leader of the Global Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem. She had gotten my name from another ministry leader who had recommended me. She wrote:

I have an opportunity that is a significant blessing, a scholarshiped trip to Israel with a group of women leaders from around the world. Unfortunatley, it is time-sensitive as the trip is happening next month. We had a cancellation and need to get the details sorted for the person taking the slot. If you’re interested, please call me right away.

I had to read it about three times to make sure my eyes were seeing correctly. Is this real? I called her immediately with my questions, getting all the information I could, and told her that typically, my husband and I take our time with decisions like this, but that we would prayerfully look it over and get back to her right away. We got off the phone, then she sent me the link to all the information. I blinked when I saw the name of the trip:

“Awakened and Empowered: The Esther Mandate.”

She later texted me, “I really feel it’s you, I hope you can come, I’ve been praying, and I sense God has an appointment for you at the Wailing Wall.”

I could give so many more details about how God confirmed this trip. And even the backstory of how He had (and has) been preparing me for it. Matt and I felt complete peace to say yes, and it wasn’t about the offer of a free trip (as many of you know, I was offered a free international trip last fall, but I turned it down, hard as it was to do, because for whatever reason the Lord didn’t give us peace about that one). I don’t fully know all that He has in mind, but one thing I keep seeing as I pray into it is my tears being sown into the physical land, tears as seeds, like in Psalm 126. I feel it ties into my word for 2026 and into the the Spirit’s yearning to prepare and unify the Bride, so together we may cry to our Bridegroom, “Come!” My friend calls Israel “the wedding venue,” and like Psalm 48 invites, I want to “walk about” the land in prayer, considering and going through her citadels, where God has “made His love known.” Full circle!

Regardless of all that He is up to with this trip, on a personal level, it’s definitely a dream come true—to visit and see with my eyes the places I have read about in the Bible for most of my life. To walk where Jesus did and to be on the soil where He was born, where He died, where He was resurrected, and where He will come again. It is just like the Father to be about layers of deeper purposes while at the same time giving us the desires of our hearts. He is so much bigger and better than we know!

I invite you to pray for me (and with me). I leave in a few days and will be gone until March 6th. Already, there’s opposition, as tensions are increasing in the Middle East and storms brewing around New Jersey, where I fly out, but my peace remains unshakeable. I desire to be in the center of God’s will, come what may. If you would like to partner with me on this trip, especially through prayer covering (some of you have asked about financial, see note below) and be added to a WhatsApp group, let me know. I will do my best to give updates there in real time as I am able!

*The bulk of this trip is COVERED—airfare to Tel Aviv, lodging, meals, activities, etc—but of course with any travel, especially international there are many additional costs involved, including my airfare to our departure city, Newark, as well as fees, tips and spending money, so any seeds you want to give will be joyfully received. You can give through 24-7 Prayer YC and earmark it for the Israel trip, or you can Venmo me directly. Thank you so much to those who have already given to this trip to bless me on my birthday!!! Blessings!

**Someone reminded me recently that my music recommendations are appreciated! I love music of all kinds. Lately, I’ve been loving the new worship album Blue Tent Live by Amanda Cook, and I’ve also enjoyed a new-to-me Liberian artist called Mon Rovia (check out Field Song—there’s a huckleberry reference!—and Bloodline). But for this post, I have to recommend the song New Jerusalem featuring Jon Guerra.