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I was 13 in 1971, when I first heard that there were Jews who
believed that Yeshua was Messiah! I was shocked. And curious! I
always wondered about this man, Jesus. When I was little, I would
ask my mom why we didn't believe in Him. Her answer was that, while
He was a great teacher and a prophet, he was not our
Messiah...because Jews just didn't believe in Jesus. Exactly WHY we
didn't believe, she didn't know. It's just what she grew up hearing.
But even as a young child, I had a very strong desire to know God.
Although my parents were not yet believers in Messiah, they did
instill in me a strong belief in God...that he was reachable through
prayer. My maternal Grandmother, an orthodox Jew by upbringing, read
the Scriptures daily, and even went to a local church on Sundays as
there was no synagogue near her home. Posted in corners of her
vanity mirror and table were favorite scripture verses cut from
articles or hand-printed by her.
So at 13, when I heard there were Jews who believed in Jesus, I
wanted to explore this! It wasn't until I was about 14 that I
started attending Bible studies at Joe and Debbie Finkelstein's
home. It was there that I read in my own Tenach the prophesies about
Meshiach...His coming, His death, His purpose...and I knew Who they
were talking about!! As a kid, I had begged to attend Hebrew school
(and went)...because I was searching for God... joined my synagogue
youth group at 13...to find spiritual answers...And in all those
things, I didn't find Him. But as I read the scriptures and saw
Messiah in them, I knew I had found the answers I had been searching
for. Yeshua was ALWAYS the JEWISH Messiah, for everyone of course,
but JEWISH non-the-less!!!
So at 14 yrs old, I accepted Yeshua as my Messiah...and entered
in a personal relationship with the God I searched for all my life!
Later, after my grandmother had passed away, I found out that she,
too, was a believer in Yeshua!! A few years after I became a
believer, my parents accepted Yeshua!! God is faithful!! Faith
lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, Peter, and two children,
Scott and Jenna. |
