Author: Dvora Elisheva

WHO I AM I am a writer: I've been writing since I was a kid and am quite sad that all the writing from my childhood days has been lost. However, it might be a good thing since my closet is already packed with old diaries and literally 100s of unpublished poems and not a few non-Biblical stories, a few drawings, a small stack of songs. Most of my creativity is expended on my work where I also work as an editor and rewrite countless scientific papers in the effort to make them publishable. Of course, junk in junk out, so not all of the papers I have worked on were published, but most of them have been. I am a child of God: I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was around 9-10 years old (maybe younger). I've never been able to track down the exact date of the Billy Graham crusade held on the Boston Commons in the 1960s where I accepted Jesus (so if you know, please tell me!). Since then my life has been a rather complex path that has led me here and there. But being honest, I do believe that the fact that I still belong to the Lord, and am still following Him is more a mark of HIS faithfulness than mine, and a reflection of His wonderful grace and mercy upon me, every day, for as long as I've lived and for every day He gives me ahead. I live in Haifa, Israel: You may be surprised to find out that not everyone wants to live in Jerusalem! I look forward to living there -- in the new Jerusalem. But for now, it's a crazy city with what I find to be a very heavy spiritual atmosphere. I am thankful that God has planted me in Haifa, which I also think is the most beautiful city in Israel -- we have the Carmel mountain range, the Mediterranean Sea, and a unique population of people that has made Haifa renowned for coexistence -- Yes, Arabs and Jews CAN live together in peace and we do so in Haifa. I have a ministry in a Chinese Church in Haifa, Israel: I teach English using the Bible as a textbook for a Chinese Church in Haifa. I've been doing that since 1996. It is an amazing honor and privilege for me to be involved in this ministry and it takes a top priority in my life. I am a widow: Actually, I never really believed I would get married but shortly after I turned 53 I married a very special man whom I met over the Internet during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. We married in 2007, but he suffered a couple of strokes and died in 2010. I've written about that experience a lot on my blog in my book. About what I've written and published: Under my pen name, Dvora Elisheva, I've published a book about my life. It touches on multiple aspects of my life that I won't go into detail here, but only mention. In Part 1 I talk about what it was like growing up in a very dysfunctional Christian home, some abuse that I suffered, and the ways God protected me. In Part 2 I talk about how God brought me to Israel and how He led me to the Chinese Church and some of my experiences there, and during a life-changing trip to China. Part 3 probably should have been a separate book and it was the most difficult for me to write. I share about my diagnosis with DID -- dissociative identity disorder - on the lower spectrum (not multiple personalities) and the path of the Lord in the path to ongoing wholeness. Part 4 tells about how I met my husband, a little about our marriage (which included leaving Israel, I thought forever), and a lot about his death; and part 5 shares how God brought me back to Israel and back into the Chinese ministry. I have a feeling I should have done each section as a separate book... since this book is terribly difficult to classify. It is about faith, hope, abuse, recovery, dissociative disorder, internet dating, grief, death, loss, and restoration. I also write articles for the Messianic Times about different aspects of Israeli life or interviews with people of interest. So that's me in a nutshell. I look forward to connecting with you. Blessings to you on your journey!