One For Israel

Guest (Female): So this is really a difficult time. People are weary, people are struggling, people are frustrated.

Dr. Erez Soref: There's been maybe 140 missiles to the Tel Aviv area and the surroundings.

Guest (Female): So Alice, we're so happy you came here. Your situation is really a picture of what is going on with so many mothers and children and families. Could you share with us a little bit about your experience during this war?

Alice: Yeah. I'm 33. I live in Rishon LeZion, which is, as you said, the Tel Aviv area. I have three kids: five, three and a half, and one year old. They don't have any daycare system right now. They don't have anything going on right now because of the war. They've been home with me.

My husband is an essential worker, so he works 14, 15, 16 hours a day. We live on the fourth floor, and the bomb shelter is the minus-one floor, so it's running down five floors with three kids every time there's a siren. We don't have a bomb shelter in our house. Most of the people of Israel don't, actually. In the first three weeks of the war, we actually had to live in different places, in public bomb shelters.

Guest (Female): I saw a picture of you, you and the kids sleeping on mattresses in the bomb shelter.

Alice: Yeah. That was actually our building's bomb shelter. It's just impossible because the entire street is using our bomb shelter because not only that people don't have a bomb shelter in their home in apartments, a lot of homes don't have a bomb shelter for the entire building because it's a very old building.

So the entire street is coming to our bomb shelter, which is very small because it's a building of only eight residents. For actually a long time, I've been off my anti-depressant pills because I suffer from postpartum depression. Usually, I would take them, and then I will balance and go off them.

I felt like I'm having anxiety attacks and I'm feeling very, very bad. I feel like I can't be a good mom for my kids anymore. So I had to go back, go to my psychiatrist, get the prescription, and go back to the pills.

Dr. Erez Soref: In one way, it's been like this for the past two and a half years, right? In a way, we are used to it, which is a terrible thing to get used to.

Alice: Absolutely. And the kids, they are incredible, but they're also scared. These alarms are always—my son is five years old, and he already knows to go and put shoes on his little brother, open the door, and call the elevator. He's just five, and he already knows the procedure of rocket firing and sirens going off.

So we have the early alert warning on our phone, and that gives you like five minutes, maybe seven, to put on your shoes, get the kids go, and go down calmly. Today, it was like that in the morning at 6:40 AM. Then we came up, and I started dressing the kids, and then just the siren went off without the previous alert.

It gives you a minute to go down. So I picked up all three and just started running barefoot and everything. I didn't care. I didn't take my phone, didn't take the kids, didn't lock the house, nothing. And I fell with the kids. Praise God, no harm was done to them. I hit my foot very bad. It's a very stressful time. I would say that I cry a lot.

Guest (Female): You're describing before, just from the Iran war. And like you said, this started two and a half years ago. So this trauma, this exhaustion, this everything, it's an ongoing situation for the past couple of years.

What keeps you going? Obviously, the depression and things that happen—and I think many of us struggle with depressions, with anxieties, with issues that really keep us down at times. This is actually a human experience. We're not superhumans. What keeps you going?

Alice: Actually, it's a good question because on 7th of October when it all started, two and a half years ago, my husband, he's a reserve duty soldier. So he was taken away just like most of the Israeli men on that day. Back then, I had two kids, much smaller.

I just realized at this period of time that there is absolutely no one I can lean on except Christ. Absolutely no one. It was the best lesson for me as a mom, as a woman, as a wife, that my husband is a gift from the Lord. Yes, he is our anchor and he's the leader of the house, but the Lord is still above him.

He's still the one who holds my family and he's the one who's in control. My life and my kids' life and his life is in God's hands. One of the biggest experiences I had in the first few months after the 7th of October was one of the nights I was alone with my kids. They were sleeping and it was so quiet.

This quiet actually made me go to a panic attack or anxiety attack, which I've never had before, by the way. I never experienced an anxiety attack before that day. I knew that it was that because of the dry mouth, heart racing, me being sweaty. I realized I'm having a panic attack or anxiety attack.

So I've been holding my son, and it's so quiet, and I'm just expecting and waiting for this siren. And so I hear the Lord just telling me, "You were depending on your husband for everything for too long. Now this is time you learn to depend on me."

And why I say that? Because my husband wasn't home for three months. They would not let reserve duty soldiers go back home after 7th of October. Everybody was panicking. So they put troops everywhere and they were afraid to let them go home because they thought the entire region was going to come to war.

So for three months, it was just me and the kids alone. And again, no bomb shelter. It's the same apartment we've been living in back then; we still live in there now. And the Lord taught me that He is the only one that is in charge of my life, of my kids' life, of my husband's life, and that there is absolutely nothing I can do except leaning on Him.

I'm sorry, I'm tearing up. But it was the best lesson that I could ever get during a time like this. And when the war started, the last Iranian war in June, my daughter was just three months old. This time now, with everything that's going on, I know that God's word is true and that nothing is a surprise for us because it's all there. He is in control and I believe that He's in control of my life and my kids' life.

Guest (Female): Wow. This is really something maybe that would encourage women all over the world. They might not be through a war with Iran or whatever, but they have very difficult circumstances and challenges that it seems impossible to go on. What message would you give them?

Alice: I work with women in our congregation that are also single mothers. We have a lot of single mothers. We have all that statistics about the dad being a Christian and the percentage of the kids becoming Christian. They're very, very scared for their future, for the kids' future.

Actually recently, we know that Chuck Norris died. And so he said, Chuck Norris said that his mom actually was the one that kept him close to faith, close to God. And we have many examples like that. So if we are the mothers holding on to the Lord, to His word, to His promises—if He gave us our children, because He can give them to us and He can not give them to us.

So if He gave us this gift of being mothers to our children, He will see us through this journey. One of the best pieces of advice that you ever gave me as a new mom, and I will never forget that, I remember telling you after my second birth, I told you I don't have time to pray, I don't have time to read the Bible. I'm tired. I don't want to read the Bible.

And you said the Lord has a special place for mothers. And even if you just say, "Hallelujah, Jesus, Amen," that's all you can, it's enough. And so that really gave me freedom to say, "Okay, I don't have to fast for three days and read the Bible for 40 minutes every morning. I just have to rest in the Lord's hands because this is the only place I can rest right now as a mom."

Guest (Female): And I think as a mom, as a grownup, as a grandmother—and I think it's true for all of us. Life is not going to get simpler or easier. Times will get harder, and I think your message is so powerful, Alice, today. Thank you for taking the time to come and encourage us and encourage any mother that's watching today.

I hope this message has been really encouraging to you. And for anyone who is really joining us and watching us and praying for Israel, thank you for loving us by your prayers. The prayers of those who care are priceless.