From June 22 to 29, my Croatian friend Tomislav and I took a trip to Israel. We flew from Bucharest to Tel Aviv and picked up a rental car upon arrival. On our first day, a Saturday, we attended a one-day seminar hosted by a Christian ministry we were familiar with. We wanted to connect with fellow Christians, and we ended up spending the day with several of them.
The following day, Sunday, we invited three of our new friends to join us on a day trip to Jerusalem. The same five of us extended our adventures into Monday, visiting Jericho, the Jordan River, the Ein Gedi oasis, and the Dead Sea at Ein Bokek. It was at the Dead Sea that we bumped into Erika and Christina, two Hungarian girls we had met at the Saturday seminar. It was quite the coincidence!
As the day drew to a close, two of our friends left for Eilat, a city in southern Israel, while we drove back to Tel Aviv with the other friend and the two Hungarian girls. The next morning, all five of us decided to visit Jerusalem again. By noon, Christina and our male friend chose to stay in Jerusalem, while Erika joined us for the rest of the day at the Dead Sea. On our way there, we grabbed lunch at a roadside restaurant and made a pit stop at the famous Masada fortress.
Floating in the Dead Sea at Ein Bokek, I was soaking up the evening atmosphere and having a quiet conversation with God. Out of nowhere, a clear thought hit me: I should give Erika all the money in my wallet. Throughout the day, I had felt that God wanted me to help Erika financially, but I wasn’t sure if this was truly from Him. To be certain, I set a sign before Him: if either Tomislav or Erika suggested we go to McDonald’s after leaving the beach—a thought sparked by the bright logo I’d spotted on a nearby mall while floating—I would know the thought came from God.
Not long after, I left the water and stretched out on a beach chair next to Tomislav. Barely a minute later, he suggested we head to the mall after swimming to use their free Wi-Fi and catch up with folks back in Romania. Trying to hide my grin, I asked him where in the mall he was thinking of going. He responded, “We can go to McDonald’s, or maybe somewhere else.” I then shared with him the sign I had set before the Lord, and we both ended up laughing and marveling at how amazingly God works. Tomislav then revealed that he had only been to McDonald’s three times in his entire life and wouldn’t usually consider it!
Divine inspiration had been at play throughout the day. That morning, while we were heading from our Airbnb to the car, we stopped at a local supermarket where I bought some water and withdrew 500 shekels from an ATM. As we walked toward the car, which I had parked a few blocks down the road the night before, we passed another ATM. On a whim, which hadn’t happened on previous days, I felt compelled to withdraw more money. While most ATMs in Israel cap at 500 or 600 shekels, this one had a limit of 1500, so I took out 1000. Looking back, I can see that this too was God’s hand guiding me.
The divine inspiration continued at McDonald’s after our Dead Sea swim. I used one of the brand-new self-service consoles to order our meals, and without thinking, I chose to pay by card, although I typically prefer cash for these sorts of things. It dawned on me moments later that if I’d paid in cash, Erika would have been the one covering the meal since I had decided to give her all the cash in my wallet. While counting the cash, I realized I had 950 shekels and 48 dollars, which totals about 320 dollars.
When I gave Erika the money, she was very moved and confessed that she had been out of cash for the past few days, to the point that she couldn’t afford a plane ticket back to Hungary. She had been staying at someone’s house for free recently, but that was definitely a short-term fix. With the cash I gave her, she finally had enough to book her flight.
Before her trip to Israel, she had been working for a while in England, but she felt a strong call to leave that job and move to Israel. As to what she was doing in Israel, that’s a story for another time. The point of this journal entry is to illustrate that God is able to miraculously provide for His children.