Rain. A blessing from Yahuah. Too little can lead to death and drought, too much can lead to utter destruction. Without any rain at all, where would we be?
“Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow upon the mountains…” Psalms 147:8
Throughout history our people always relied on Yah to send rain. Today is no different, Yahuah is the one in control. Just like a typical Mediterranean climate, here in California, we go through about 6 months of extremely hot, dry weather, and about 6 months of cool, cloudy weather with rains. For the last several years, California has been in a state of drought. The rainy season hasn’t been so rainy. This year, it rained so much that the drought seems to be coming to an end. Praise Yah! Yahuah is the one who sends the rain in its season. It’s a blessing to all those who are ready to receive it.
The question is, when it rains, will you be ready to receive it?
Many parts of California are actually flooding right now. In many places, the soil was left uncovered for so long that now it’s no longer porous and is unable to receive the rain. In our garden, we use wood chips as a covering layer. You may have heard of “The Back to Eden Method” made popular by Paul Gautschi. The wood chip mulch helps to soak up and absorb the rains when they fall, and slowly release the water and improve the soil underneath it. All praise to Yahuah, we haven’t seen any flooding here. The wood chips as a covering layer really works. We also use berms and trenches like you see in permaculture gardening. This helps the rain to sink deep into the garden, and be stored underground down near the roots of trees and other plants where water is needed the most.
Just like my husband had to work hard to build those trenches, we have to let Yah do His work in us.
My husband dug the trenches in our garden when we first moved into our home last year. Before we moved in, the ground was hard and compacted. You could visibly see lines of erosion where the rains were running away from the property down into the main road. This year is our first year seeing the berms and the trenches we dug in action. For us, the rain is a beautiful thing! As it rains, the trenches fill up, then the water sinks down into the ground where it’s needed. It makes me think of how much Yahuah wants to rain down blessings on us all.
Yah wants to pour out His Ruach, His Spirit in us! But first, just like my husband had to work hard to build trenches so that we would be ready to receive the rains, we have to let Yah do His work in our hearts so that we will be ready to receive His blessings. The Word of Yah can form our hearts into the shape of an open vessel, so that we can be filled by The Ruach Ha Chodesh, and bear much fruit.
“My Word that goes forth from My mouth – it does not return to Me empty, but shall do what I please, and shall certainly accomplish what I sent it for.” Isaiah 5:11
If you’re going through a dry season in life, don’t just let your heart wither up and become barren. Don’t let the distractions of this world pull you so far from Yah that your heart is unable to receive the rain or even hear His Word. The Spirit of Yah, The Ruach Ha Chodesh, wants to fall on you just like rain. And when it does, you will bare much fruit. So let’s keep our minds fixed on Yah; stayed on heavenly things.
‘“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares יהוה. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Read Isaiah 55:8-13
The song featured in the video above is called, “Heavenly Things.” It’s from my album called, Peace of Mind. I hope you enjoyed it! If the music and the message on today’s blog post was meaningful for you, leave a comment down below and share your thoughts. It’s always good to hear from you, Mishpacha.
And thank you all so much for your support. Especially with the release of my latest single, Living Water Flow. Every download and every stream, on every platform, Apple, Amazon, Spotify, and even on YouTube, it all makes a huge difference, and I’m truly grateful for your support. Let’s continue to keep our minds on heavenly things. See you down in the comments!
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Shalom Mishpacha. I have some good news for you! After much trial and error, I can finally officially say that there’s a new recording coming out next week. (Edit: it’s actually available now 🙂 I feel SO relieved to be in this phase of creating music again. It’s been a little over 3 years since I released any new recordings. Can you believe it’s been so long?
The reason I push myself to keep making music is because we ALL need more motivation on this spiritual journey.
With all the noise and stressful messages that surround us, we all needgentle reminders of scripture playing in our hearts and minds. That’s the reason I push myself to keep making music. We ALL need more motivation on this spiritual journey. So as long as there is breath within me, I’ll continue to use my gifts for Yahuah, and make music that helps us meditate on His Word so that we can endure till the end.
‘But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. ‘
Matthew 24:13
The reason I’m SO excited about this single is because it signifies a new chapter for me. I’ve finally reached the place where I wanted to be back in October 2020 when I first moved to California from Canada to permanently be with my husband. Back then, I thought I would just be able to push out new music and record the same way I did back in Toronto when I was still single. But if you’re married, you know! Everything changes when you get married.
When you find that balance, and you finally let go, and push perfectionism aside, it’s worth it, so worth it.
My husband has always been super supportive, in fact, he’s always wanted me to do my music full time. But maintaining a healthy marriage while immigrating to a new country, fully coming to understand my new role when I arrived, then moving out to the countryside after we purchased a new home, learning to record and mix my own tracks in the new space, not to mention planting new gardens and finding balance in life – well it all takes time – A LOT of time! For me, it took about 3 years! And the truth is I’m STILL learning. But when you find that balance, and you finally let go, and push perfectionism aside, it’s worth it, so worth it. All praise to Yahuah Most High!
So finally the phase of life my husband and I have been working towards is finally here. Everything is settled. It’s time for me to create, record, and share more and more inspiration with you. Again, I say ALL PRAISE TO YAHUAH MOST HIGH! So next week on Thursday March 2, 2023, you can click here to get the new single, Living Water Flow, based on Revelation 21 and 22. For now, you can enjoy a short little sneak peak of the final track in the video below.
If you’re looking forward to this new release, and all the music that will come out after, share in the joy, celebrate this new phase with me, and drop a comment down below! I’ll see you back here next week for the release of Living Water Flow. Your feedback means a lot, so thanks for coming on this journey with me. I’ll see you in the comments below!
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‘And he showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of Elohim and of the Lamb.’
Revelation 22:1
It’s the rainy season here in California. While some parts of the state have been flooding and experiencing terrible sink holes, by Yah’s mercy my husband and I have been blessed to see our garden soaking up all the rain. Yah has been really good and I have to give thanks.
We also spent some time away in Jamaica since last catching up with you. I’ve been feeling so renewed since coming back from our trip! While we were away, we spent most of our time swimming, snorkeling, watching sunsets, and just staring at the waves in ocean as you can see in the photo above. All that time by the water made me think of The Water of Life – The Living Water in the book of Revelation. That’s what inspired me to write this new song called “Living Water Flow.”
The focus of this scripture song comes from two of my favorite chapters in Yah’s word: Revelation 21 and Revelation 22. These chapters bring us to the end of the story, when all our troubles are over, and everything is beautiful and renewed. Scripture teaches us that Yahuah’s word is trustworthy and true. One day He’s coming back again to make everything brand new!
I pray the music and the message will motivate you to keep on walking in truth. Let’s look forward to that day when all will be renewed! Leave a comment below if the music makes you feel more peace, more hope, and a little more renewed. Enjoy the video below.
‘And I saw a renewed heaven and a renewed earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more.’ And I, Yoḥanan, saw the set-apart city, renewed Yerushalayim, coming down out of the heaven from Elohim, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the heaven saying, “See, the Booth of Elohim is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and Elohim Himself shall be with them and be their Elohim.
“And Elohim shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor mourning, nor crying. And there shall be no more pain, for the former matters have passed away.”’
And He who was sitting on the throne said, “See, I make all matters new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and trustworthy.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Taw’, the Beginning and the End. To the one who thirsts I shall give of the fountain of the water of life without payment.’
Revelation 21:1-6
“Blessed are those doing His commands, so that the authority shall be theirs unto the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city.’
Revelation 22:14
Be encouraged Mishpacha. Let’s keep on walking on this journey together! This new song hasn’t been recorded yet, but the other music that I’ve previously recorded is right here.
After you hear “Living Water Flow,” let me know if you would like me to release this song as a single down in the comments below. Or if there’s another one of my songs from YouTube or the blog that isn’t on an album yet, and you’ve been waiting for it to be recorded, let me know. My goal is to have a new recording done before the Spring feasts this year. I’d love to start with your faves! Okay, see you in the comments. Talk soon!
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Shalom Mishpacha, it’s Hadarah. I hope you’re doing well!
When things in life come up that you find you just can’t control, we all know you only have a couple of options. You can get stressed and try to solve things on your own, or you can relax, find quiet moments of shalom, and trust that Yahuah will have His way. I’m assuming that since you’re reading this blog, it’s quite likely you prefer the later.
Me too 🙂
Stress is never fun. We can always find peace of mind by trusting in the word of Yah and walking in faith. Finding ourselves in a mental space that allows our faith to grow makes all the difference in the world. Daily, I’m taking steps in my own personal life to continue growing in all the areas that need more attention. The garden is one of my most beloved places to find quiet and peace of mind.
It brings me SO much joy to share some of the quiet peaceful moments that I find in the garden with you. I hope these moments will help you find more peace of mind and balance too. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
I praythe music in the background of this video and the images on the screen will help you to feel more calm and connected to Yahuah, no matter what you’re going through right now. The song is called Have Your Way from the album Yahuah Acoustics Vol 2. You can find it, and other music that I’ve previously recorded right here.
Enjoy the video below!
“For יהוה shall comfort Tsiyon, He shall comfort all her waste places. For He makes her wilderness like Ěḏen, and her desert like the garden of יהוה. Joy and gladness are found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of song.’
Isaiah 51:3
Yah bless and keep you through all the ups and downs in your life. Yah is good and His mercy endures forever! If you read the personal story on my last post, quick update, things are going well and I’m seeing progress in all areas. May the goodness of Yahuah follow us all as we continue to walk in truth. We can talk more down in the comments! Let’s continue to encourage one another to reach our personal and spiritual goals, as we grow day by day in Yahuah.
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A few weeks ago my husband and I were having a conversation. We were talking about life, balance, and the goals we have set for ourselves and as a couple. He said to me, “A little bit of water every day makes a garden grow.”
A simple statement, but wow, it rang so real and so true. In the past several months we’ve seen areas of our property that started out as completely dry and parched land go from compact dirt to beautiful soil that is now bearing much fruit. Praise Yah! It’s the measured, steady, balanced actions that we take in our lives, both spiritually and in the physical realm, that lead us to where we want to go. I share this just to remind you, if you have goals you want to reach, don’t give up.
“A little bit of water every day makes a garden grow.”
We often underestimate the impact we can have over time if we just keep moving forward. When I look back over my life, I realize it’s the challenges I approached with small simple steps that have led to the most lasting change. I’ll share a personal story here that I hope inspires you.
My journey to health and healing
At the end of May in 2021, my husband and I got pregnant for the first time.
You may not have known this, as I have never talked about my personal health here on the blog, but at the end of May in 2021, my husband and I got pregnant for the first time. I still have pictures of the pregnancy test on my phone. You can see it above. I actually took about a million pregnancy tests lol. It was such an exciting time! All I ever wanted in life was to get married, have children, and raise them to know and love our Elohim. Sadly by the time July 2021 rolled around, the excitement had passed. My body spontaneously had a miscarriage at home. We never even got to hear a heartbeat, there was just an empty sac with no baby on the way.
Time for Change
This event triggered me to make some major changes. I know miscarriages happen to a lot of people, but for some reason, I never believed a miscarriage would happen to me. It was time to reevaluate my health. At the time, I thought I was generally healthy. And compared to most people, I probably was. Sadly, most of us grow accustomed to having less than optimal health. We accept the way we feel as normal even if we are actually sick or have symptoms of disease.
This may be TMI for the men who are reading, but I’ve had multiple fibroids in my uterus since University. I was fully aware of them since that time, but because the doctors said not to worry about them, I never did. I grew accustomed to having the fibroids, and as they grew inside of me, I just accepted the symptoms that came along with fibroids as normal. I never considered how allowing these benign tumors in my uterus could affect a future pregnancy.
I completely changed my diet and lifestyle.
Right after the miscarriage, I completely changed my diet and lifestyle. Without getting into all the details, I started becoming more mindful about reducing stress, and getting enough sleep. I learned that fibroids grow under the influence of too much estrogen, and that among other things, abdominal fat actually produces excess estrogen. I started eating more and more fresh fruits and veggies until I was eating a plant based diet. I cut out animal foods (except for Lamb at Passover) because they all carry their own set of hormones too.
Perfect is the enemy of the good
Slowly but surely, since July 2021, I lost nearly 50lbs. Praise Yah! The journey was far from perfect, but perfect is the enemy of the good! I just stayed focused on eating healthy and losing 5 lbs at a time. Finally, I’m at a healthy BMI and have been maintaining a healthy weight for several months. Because I made the changes so slowly, it feels like real and permanent change. It’s been a little over a year and I went from 204lbs down to around 155lbs. About 5 inches around my waist disappeared, and YES, the fibroids are shrinking too! So grateful to Yahuah!
In December this year 2022, Yahuah’s will be done, I will find out from the doctor just how far on this health journey I’ve come. I’ll be getting another ultrasound to see how much the fibroids have actually shrunk. My prayer is that they’ll be gone, and that Yah will have all the conditions become right so we can start trying to grow our family again. But I share all this to remind you that change doesn’t always happen all at once.
The most lasting changes happen when we take one simple step at a time.
The most lasting changes happen when we just take one step at a time. I never set out to loose 50lbs. I didn’t even realize I had that much weight to loose. Every time I reached a new 5lb goal on my journey, I praised Yah, and made the decision not to go back to where I came from.
Stay focused on progress
So today I encourage you, stay focused on progress, and DON’T GIVE UP! Just take life one step at a time. A little bit of water every day will make your garden grow. Don’t be too hard on yourself, or too extreme. If you drown yourself with a flood of things to do, or you set a goal too high to reasonably accomplish, do you think that will help you make progress? Small consistent steps day by day will get you to your goals. Whether they be spiritual or physical.
I need to apply this same principle to making music. Up to this point, I have simply just not been motivated to work on my next recording at all. If you’ve been part of this community here at Set Apart Heart since it began many years ago, you know that singing and songwriting comes fairly naturally for me. It’s a gift from Yahuah. Sadly, I’ve allowed the idea of having to become my own recording engineer to cause me in some ways to turn my back on making music. I’ve been spending all my free time in the garden because it’s safe, peaceful, calm, and everything feels natural and very very good. There’s no judgement there. But is that what Yahuah really wants?
If I face reality, the truth is, I’m just afraid of not being good enough.
The truth is, if we never challenge ourselves, we will never grow or get any stronger. I’m actually pretty good at learning new technology when I sit down and focus. But I have to sit down and stay focused! In reality, I’m just afraid of not being good enough. My previous recordings were all so clear, well balanced, and professional sounding. I fear that if I have to do it all myself, I will never measure up.
Perfect love casts out fear.
It’s time to let go of fear. 1 John 4:18 reminds us that perfect love casts out fear. So instead of trying to make a perfect recording, why not focus on perfect love? Yahuah, in His perfect love, would never punish, or be displeased with me for making a less than perfect recording. So truly, what is there to fear? Even if the recording is not technically perfect, Yah knows I’m doing my best to praise His name and lead others to do the same. So whenever the next album is released, it will be released in complete, full, and perfect love. Perfect love is always beautiful. There is no need for me to fear.
So my goal is to keep working at learning to record a little bit every day – without trying to be perfect. The same energy and focus I put into my changing my lifestyle that led me to have better health and healing in my body, is the same energy I will put into making music for the kingdom. Yahuah’s will be done, the next recording will eventually come.
What goals do you have for your life? Your health? Your spiritual growth? What can you do today that will get you a little bit closer? Leave a comment below. As a community, let’s keep on growing together. See you in the comments!
‘And for this reason do your utmost to add to your belief uprightness, to uprightness knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control endurance, to endurance reverence, to reverence brotherly affection, and to brotherly affection love. For if these are in you and increase, they cause you to be neither inactive nor without fruit in the knowledge of our Master יהושע Messiah.’
Kĕpha Bĕt (2 Peter) 1:5-8
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Shalom shalom! It’s been a VERY long time since I’ve reached out! How are you doing? I sincerely hope this message finds you well. The truth is, I haven’t been sharing music here because I haven’t been feeling very passionate about music for quite some time now. I do still have it on my heart to finish the next recording. But I always want to be honest with you.
The truth is I’ve fallen in love with gardening – in a whole new way. Yah keeps pulling me into the garden every day, and so I go! I LOVE IT OUT THERE. And it’s hard for me to go against that pull, and to sit down to focus on music. Anyone who knows me in real life can testify to this. I’ve loved growing plants for years now, but ever since we moved to our own property, my Husband and I have become SUPER passionate about all things related to growing our own fruits and veggies. It’s been SO MUCH FUN!
Brings me so much peace and joy. And the truth is I actually love gardening more than I love making music. I hate to admit this to you, because I know you’re mostly here for music, but it’s true!! I love gardening more than I love making music. This doesn’t mean I’m going to stop making music, but the truth is, I do enjoy gardening more.
I find myself feeling so much more peace and connection to Yahuah while gardening. There’s nothing like it! I think it’s because when Yah created this world, He placed us in The Garden of Eden, and at the end of time as we know it, when Isreal is fully restored, we’ll be growing gardens again! So when I’m in the garden, it just feels right – like everything is the way it’s supposed to be. Even when there are challenges with deer or ground hogs or other pests, it just feels right being in the garden and taking care of it. I’m sure those of you who are gardeners know exactly what I mean. It’s just so hard to explain the peace that being close to Yah’s creation brings. So I haven’t said much online, I’ve just been experiencing it all. I hope that today I’m able to share a tiny bit of that experience with you, and that our little family garden brings you at least a portion of the peace that it brings to me.
And יהוה Elohim took the man and put him in the garden of Ěḏen to work it and to guard it.”
Berĕshith (Genesis) 2:15 TS2009
And I shall turn back the captivity of My people Yisra’ĕl. And they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them. And they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them, and shall make gardens and eat their fruit.”
Amos 9:14 TS2009
The pictures and the videos, and background music I shared in the post today, are all coming from my heart to yours. May Yah give you peace and may you feel His love and joy today! Leave a comment below if you enjoy seeing moments like the ones in today’s video. If you do, maybe I’ll share some more. Would love to know your thoughts! Shabbat Shalom Mishpacha 🙂
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Hi there, I’m Hadarah Batyah. I sincerely believe that in order to have a spiritual walk that is authentic and true, the Word of Yahuah must be written on the inside of our hearts. That's why I write scripture songs and set apart music. Although I don’t have everything in my spiritual life all figured out, I know that Yahuah gave me the gift of music to serve Him and encourage your heart. I pray you'll be inspired by what you see on this blog. If you're curious and wanna know more- I tell it all on the About Page.
Hi there, I’m Hadarah Batyah. I sincerely believe that in order to have a spiritual walk that is authentic and true, the Word of Yahuah must be written on the inside of our hearts. That's why I write scripture songs and set apart music. Although I don’t have everything in my spiritual life all figured out, I know that Yahuah gave me the gift of music to serve Him and encourage your heart. I pray you'll be inspired by what you see on this blog. If you're curious and wanna know more- I tell it all on the