41 Arab Women leaders from across the land gathered at the Golden Crown Hotel on Mount Precipice, Nazareth for the first day of training after the pandemic. They were joined by several precious Messianic Jewish sisters.

Rania Sayegh welcomed the women and introduced the theme for the training:

“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame.”
Song of Songs 8:6

She led everyone in a prophetic act of exchanging the red roses that they had received at the beginning.

Jesra Adrenally led the opening time of worship with songs of adoration and longing for the bridegroom, Jesus, to return. Rose Obied then spoke about the love of the Father from the parable of the prodigal son. She challenged us not to be motivated by duty, as the older son had been, but to receive the Father’s love. When we are filled with the Father’s love, we will not see the faults in others but rather find ways to encourage and build one another up. It was only the love of the Father that brought the prodigal home.

Rania Sayegh continued this session on the need for the bride to be filled with the Holy Spirit, “that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” Ephesians 5:27. The troubles in this world will increase but each birth-pang or trouble only makes us stronger. God wants to anoint His bride with wine and oil. She shared her recent vision of the bride in the field of wheat. The Jewish sisters shared the differences between Jewish and Arabic wedding customs, especially as an orthodox Jewish bride will enter the wedding ceremony without her face covered so as not to repeat Laban’s deception (Genesis 29:21-30)! Wine and oil are mentioned in connection to the harvest and the threshing floor in Psalm 140:15 and Joel 2:24. This threshing floor separates the bride from the thoughts of this world. She separates herself from Babel. If we don’t go to the threshing floor, we can’t enter into His glory. Also, in 2 Samuel 24:16, the plague stopped at the threshing floor. This later became the site of the Temple. Each of the women there received the challenge to turn every line of Song of Songs into a prayer.

Ikhlas Sadran led the worship for the second session with songs of love for our bridegroom Jesus.

Chaya Mizrachi and her daughter Oiel blessed the women and prayed for Orna Grinman before she began to speak. Orna then shared about the journey of the Shunamite in Song of Songs. Communication is the most important part of a marriage. The bride and groom start their life together by saying “I do” – so also, we start our journey with Yeshua by saying that we want to be part of His bride. Intimacy can be on our hearts but there is still a long journey to get there! Song of Songs traces the journey of the Shunamite from her initial desire, through hills and valleys to the fulfilment of their covenant of love. Throughout the journey, the bride becomes more aware of herself – her identity, calling and responsibility – and the condition of her heart and that of those around her. Orna encouraged each leader to consider their place in the Body of Messiah. We are each a part but what part are we? A finger, a part of the circulation system, an ear?

After the final session, one of the Arab women, Lena, shared a recent dream in which she had been walking with her children through an area like a swamp. As she walked, she began to sink into the swamp and felt that the water would swallow her up. She cried out to the Lord for help and all of a sudden a woman appeared with dark curly hair, wearing a dark orange shirt. The woman made a hole in the mountain which became a tunnel. Lena walked through this tunnel to safety. When she arrived at the hotel on the morning of the gathering, she saw Rania wearing this same colored top and she felt that this meeting would be part of the path of freedom for her.

The gathering ended with Celeste Dabbagh sharing a beautiful painting of an oil lamp that she had painted during the lockdowns.