Consider the Lilies

By Shoshannah Isaacs

Shoshannah Isaacs has traveled to many parts of the world. Everywhere she has been, she has seen a great need in people - even in those who seemingly have everything. She has a heart to share the truth with anyone who has had enough of living a life without a purpose, without the answers or with many problems.

She describes herself as a very ordinary woman, not one to stand out in a crowd. But her purpose she feels is to relate to other 'ordinary' people who have not yet found where they fit in life, or where life has simply become too much to bear. There are so many.

In sharing the remarkable events that have taken place in her otherwise ordinary life, because of her faith in her extraordinary God, Shoshannah's life has become extraordinary.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shoshannah Isaacs
• Release date: Mar 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463543627

Book preview

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Ark House Press

PO Box 1722, Port Orchard, WA 98366 USA

PO Box 1321, Mona Vale NSW 1660 Australia

PO Box 318 334, West Harbour, Auckland 0661 New Zealand

arkhousepress.com

© Shoshannah Isaacs 2019

Unless otherwise stated, all Scriptures are taken from the New Living Translation (Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.)

Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

Cataloguing in Publication Data:

Title: Consider the Lilies

ISBN: 978-0-6487150-1-6

Subjects: Biography;

Other Authors/Contributors: Shoshannah Isaacs

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Contents

Introduction

Foreword

Notes

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1

Beginnings - about me - The Wildflower

About Life - Mountains and Valleys

Chapter 2

Who are you? Who am I?

Who Am I? – My Early Life

Saved from the surf!

Overcomer in action

Chapter 3

The Everyday Life of a Christian Under Construction!

Learning to Walk the Walk

John

Taking Bolder Steps!

Step One

Step Two

The Paradigm Shift

The Baptism

Drama in Scotland

Chapter 4

My Father the Gardener

Weeding Day

The Train Journey

Chapter 5

Willingness - Guidance from Gideon

A lesson in Willingness

Castles and Cottages

The Castle

The Cottage

Who needs a GPS?

Chapter 6

Praying for Children, Family and Friends

Miracle for my Son

Indonesian Blessing!

Elisabeth

Caroline

Chapter 7

Patience

Our Awesome God

The story of Noah and the Ark

The Promise

The Promise Received

That Man

The Story of Harry

The Word for Today

Waiting for Things to Change.

Chapter 8

God of the Impossible!

Food, Glorious Food!

My Father’s Story

You are Banned!

Saved from death!

An Accident Waiting to Happen

Outback Miracle

Chapter 9

Emptiness

The Beirut Blessing

A Christmas Challenge

An Urgent Prayer Answered!

Flu and Salvation

Chapter 10

No Self Pity!

The Greatest Challenge

A Gift at Christmas

Woolly Wisdom

Choose Life!

Chapter 11

God of All Creation!

God of the Floods & Storms

WANTED : One Healthy Baby

Because you asked

The Falls

God’s Marbles

Chapter 12

Walking in the Prophetic

Cherie’s Story

Ella

The Accident

Delia

The Dream

Conclusion

Serving the Lord – It’s All About Jesus!

An Invitation from the Lord to you.

Introduction

Shoshannah’s book Consider the Lilies, is a comprehensive account of her life story thus far. There are rich illuminations from the word of God dotted all the way through. Her insights into the spiritual realm and exhortations to us are an inspiration.

This book carries a powerful testimony of God’s ability to protect, provide and comfort, and after reading it you come with the thought in your mind, with God all things are possible. I like the fact that both mountain top experiences and the valleys that Shoshannah has experienced are shared openly and honestly.

Thank you Shoshannah for allowing us into your life and sharing with us.

Pastor John Hannaford

Apostle, Covenant Ministries

Foreword

Miracles, unexplainable coincidences, ‘chance’ meetings, seasons of grief and exhilaration; all these stories and many more are reflected in this poignant, thoughtful and inspirational account of the life of Shoshanna. Although her journey moves the reader’s imagination from England to Australia, adventures in Africa, Scotland, central Australia, mining towns and eventually Tasmania, this story is really about a personal journey with God.

The author’s God is not limited to ancient scriptures, vast cathedrals, rituals, traditions and dogma, because He is found in an intimate, loving and personal relationship of Father to daughter.

I have known Shoshannah for over 40 years, since we shared time in the mining town church she affectionately describes and later in Adelaide and Tasmania. Her book is an encouragement for all Christians to pursue a deeper relationship with God by finding Him in people, circumstances and His creation while worshipping Him for who He is. Further, her story compels us to believe in a God who has a plan for our lives and turns up miraculously as invited.

Christopher Riemann

MEdM, BEd, Dip T, Grad Dip Ed Admin, MACEL.

School Principal

Notes

*The Bible references in these pages are all taken from the King James Version, Copyright 2000, Zondervan Corporation. Used by permission

*I would like to mention Andrew Wommack and his ministries whose teachings have had a profound effect on my faith and my understanding of God’s Word.

All his teachings can be found on his website: www.awmi.net

*The names of all those included in my book have been changed to protect their identities. Locations have been changed or excluded.

*If you have read the book and would like to comment I would love to hear from you. Also if you prayed the prayer at the end, please contact me. [e-mail]

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the many friends who have encouraged me in writing my story. There have been a few times when I almost didn’t finish this! Also, I must acknowledge those who have helped and encouraged me in earlier times whilst going through some of the most difficult periods of my life. They remain firm friends for life, even when contact is rare. So, Julie and Chris Riemann, and Hazel Pearce, I acknowledge your tremendous support during these challenges, my gratitude is immense. The prayers of many have built me up and urged me forward, including my family Hannah, Gabriel and Ethan Lee. Then I must make mention of the Pastor and his wife who became my first spiritual parents and made such an impact on me by demonstrating the love of God, Tom and Betty Alderdice. Now, in Tasmania, my church family are the most wonderful brothers and sisters I could ask for!

The most profoundly impacting relationship with my husband JR has been the reason I have come this far. The Lord has used us to believe in each other, to affirm His love for each of us and we have been able to stand for each other in times of hardship and difficulty, of which there have been many. JR quickly came to understand the true meaning of the man being the head of the family – not, as some believe to rule over the wife - but rather to provide the Lord’s covering over this household. Just as the Lord is Head of the church, so we believe that He offers the same umbrella of His covering for the man – as head of the house, to uphold over his family. It has worked so well for us. For me, simply the knowledge that I am loved by my husband, protected and cared for, whilst also having that higher covering from the Lord, has been a comfort, and one that I have never before known. I have felt safe whatever the circumstances and acknowledge this to be a blessing from God. In the face of the many negative predictions spoken over us when we married, the Lord has brought us through and melded us into an entity that no man can put asunder!

In the writing of this book, I must thank my friend Ruth Hannaford for her diligence in proof reading and making appropriate suggestions throughout. Also thank you JR for your long-suffering, while I lost patience with it all; and your skills in formatting and preparation for publishing. You have both been a huge part of this work.

Finally, I openly declare that but for the Lord Jesus Himself, I would not be writing this or anything else right now. I would be dead! The Lord Himself reached down and snatched me from the very clutches of death one night and here I am to prove His grace, His love, His power, and His enduring and sustaining care in my life. I honour Him, glorify His name, and will continue to do so every day that life on earth remains for me. He is my life! I thank and praise the Lord for saving me, lifting me and fulfilling His promises in my life. He is my rock and my shelter, His Spirit urges me forward daily and I honour His Word and His Name now and always.

Chapter 1

Beginnings - about me - The Wildflower

As we walk the path of life, we often cannot see the significance of certain experiences or situations until much later. I have found this for myself. One of the most significant things I have discovered over a long period of time, is my profound affinity for the Jewish people and their homeland - Israel. I can clearly recall as young as four years old, being taken along with my mother to do some shopping in an inner London suburb. As was the norm in the 50’s, there were many different colours and cultures represented in these areas. Many of these suburbs were, from a long time back, inhabited by West Indian folk. I loved these people with their colourful clothes and wonderful sense of rhythm and dance. Whenever there was a festival amongst them, the streets were alive with colour and song. Later when I began nursing, I worked with a number of these lovely women and found them friendly, and happy people and a pleasure and joy to work with. There were many other cultures represented in the area, but one group remained a mystery and a huge drawcard for me. It has taken years before I have pieced together an understanding of why this should be. I shall try to explain.

As a very small child, as I have said, my mother would regularly take my hand and we would walk down a particular street to a certain point and then cross the road. Nothing unusual in that. However, after passing a group of adjoining shops on the opposite side of the road, my mother always crossed back to the original side in order to catch a bus to the shops she knew. I never asked why she did this but in later years the jigsaw began to fall into place. The reason she crossed at that spot is now clear to me. The shops on that first side, along that special stretch of the street, were all owned and run by Jews. I would never have known this at that age nor understood the reasons she avoided them.

My mother was a very timid woman. She hated any kind of conflict or even confrontation. I recall that as we approached those shops, the owners, as is their way, would come out of their shops or stand in the doorways and call out their wares, much like at market stalls. So, this for my mother would have come under the category of confrontation. This she would not have handled and thus every time we approached those shops, I was dragged quickly across the road until we had passed them, before being pulled back across to wait for our bus. This would not have bothered many children but for me it was a tragic thing! Whenever we reached that spot to cross, I had a powerful sense of longing, to engage with these strange Jewish people. (At the time I had no idea they were Jews). I held such an affinity for them and longed to enter their shops and listen to their talk and just – well – enjoy it all! For years I wondered who they were and why we couldn’t speak to them. Somehow, I never asked my mother about it until much later.

Having at times as an adult, spoken at length to my father about the Jews and his time in Israel – or Palestine as it was called during the war years, I understood perhaps some of the reasons for what had happened. My father spent some time in Egypt and then in Palestine in 1944 and 1945 and was with the Royal Air Force stationed there. Initially they were guarding the ports and preventing illegal immigrants from landing and dispersing without processing. There were also riots and brawls in the streets to quell. During his time there, he and a group of others went to the cinema one evening. During that time, a bomb went off in the cinema killing a number of Dad’s friends and wounding others. Some of the wounded were shot as they tried to get out. It was later thought that a group of Jews had organized this tragic event. Sadly, my father could never forgive them and carried a very strong anti-Jewish sentiment from that time on. Doubtless this passed to my mother and may well have had a great effect on her desire to keep out of reach of them.

At times over the years my father related to me how local families had invited some of the men out for a meal in their homes when they had free time. This led to invites to go and see the place Jesus was born, as well as the Garden of Gethsemane and the tombs. He also saw Galilee and was later stationed in Tel Aviv where he developed tuberculosis and was hospitalized for some time in a Sanatorium there. From there he was invalided back to England, too sick to work for two years. He loved to speak to me of all he had seen but had no time for the Jews and never could understand the reason James and I feel so differently.

Going back in time again, I now want to share something that for me has become so significant in my life. When I was born, I was the third of four children, however, only two of us survived. Out of the four, each had English names with non-descript meanings, except for myself. For reasons known only to the Lord, my parents gave me two Christian names that are the western version of two Hebrew names. I do not look Jewish at all but my heart seems to want to lean that way. When I was young, I disliked my names intensely, but when I grew up, I actually came to love them. It was still some years before I discovered that in Hebrew one of them has a very significant meaning to me. The meaning of this name in Hebrew is a lily. The lilies we know in the west, are not those that are mentioned. These only grow in Israel in shady places near water. Those mentioned are what we might see as wildflowers. The Lord Himself spoke to the people encouraging them to consider the lilies of the field, (the wildflowers) and to see that they neither toil nor spin, (and certainly don’t worry or become anxious over how to manage!) and yet Jesus declared, Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Matthew 6:28-34.

A simple flower of the fields was picked out as something of beauty and significance without ever having to plan and concern itself over how to do what it was created to do! Millions of them bloom and grow daily amongst the crowd of others. They don’t need to stand out, they just do what they were created to do and together amount to a chorus of praise to the Lord! How I love that story! It has been a source of comfort and much joy at times in my life when I have had nothing to fall back on. Also, when it has seemed that everyone I knew and loved even, turned against me; the thought that the Lord knows and loves this small lily of the fields and understood me, gave me hope, gave me a future and a plan to follow with Him. I realized that all through my life even from the day I was born and named, the Lord had been there, quietly and carefully putting His plan into place.

Why was I the only one of four to have such names? I don’t know, but I am eternally grateful. My name may not be fashionable, or catchy but it is strong and has great meaning. It has a history that goes way back in time and I wear it proudly where I once would rather keep it quiet. It also explains to me why, as a four-year-old child, I felt such an affinity drawing me to want to go into those shops and meet the people I so desired to talk with. Apparently, somewhere in my family history there was a Jew who married into our family. Sadly, no-one from the previous generations would ever speak of it. It was not a subject for discussion and so I could never discover any more than that it happened. However, I do know that within me is such a love for my Jewish friends in Israel and elsewhere, that I have a strong desire to go there just once; and JR and I continue to pray for their eyes to be opened to Messiah Yeshua one day soon.

You will notice as you read through these stories, that there have been a few occasions where I have found myself unable to move forward, or to provide, or to achieve something necessary. You will also see that during these times, my Lord has always been there and by many different means – including the miraculous - He has provided, guided and comforted me. So, as a wildflower, or lily of the field; I move on through my life realizing that I have nothing to fear, nothing to concern me and everything to give me joy. I have a life planned for me, I don’t need to worry, just follow my Lord and do exactly what I was created for. This story of my life is a part of me doing just that!

Post Script: Recently whilst researching my family tree, I discovered that it seems a high-profile Jewish British gentleman fathered a child with one of his female servants, who was one of my ancestors. It is all beginning to make sense after all!

About Life - Mountains and Valleys

How we change in the face of circumstances! We hate the long climb up a mountain – but don’t we congratulate ourselves once we get to the top! We watch someone climbing higher, faster than ourselves. Do we compliment them? Maybe, but aren’t we secretly jealous of their swifter feet and greater enthusiasm! Oh how we complain when the valley comes into view. We don’t mind the easier route down the mountain, but the valley looks dark and sinister, and at times, you can only see one step ahead. How will we find our way and get out the other side? Our faith soars and just as easily slides according to what we can see and feel. When will we learn!

So often when we come through a difficult problem, we can look back and see that the Lord really was there all along. But how we love to whine and panic in the moment where vision is so limited and we can’t see ahead! How long will it take Lord, for us to trust all the way instead of in fits and starts according to how far ahead we can see? So often the circumstances we find ourselves in, open our eyes to see that He is giving new wisdom and understanding right there in the