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Open a Book and Read It! |
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Sometimes God surprises us in the most unexpected ways. For me being in ministry there is no greater joy than to hear of someone coming to faith and having the privilege of being a part of the process. This is exactly what happened several months ago when Sam and I were ministering in New York City where we met Orit (O-reet), a lovely Israeli woman. After one of our meetings she approached our literature table and picked up Sam’s discipleship book Growing in Messiah. |
 Miriam Nadler |
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Orit excitedly exclaimed, “I want to thank you and
Sam. God used this book to show me that Yeshua is my Messiah.” She then
proceeded to tell me how she came to faith. I was very encouraged to
hear how the Lord used His Word to draw Orit to faith and I thought you
would be encouraged to hear her testimony in her own words. My Eyes Are Open Now I am Israeli, and I come from a traditional Jewish home. Six years ago I came to New York City for the first time for a short visit where I met a man named Rob. When I returned to Israel we stayed in touch, and when I came back a year and a half later to attend college, Rob and I began seeing each other on a regular basis. But, because I was Jewish and Rob was Protestant our relationship had many ups and downs. After the “9/11” terrorist attack, Rob began to seek the Lord in a deeper way. As he grew in his relationship with Jesus, he recognized that we would never have a future together if I didn’t accept Jesus as my Messiah. I repeatedly told him that I would never believe in Jesus (Never say ‘never,’ right?). But Rob invited me to the congregation where he was attending and eventually I went. I was uncomfortable in the services because they spoke about Jesus nevertheless I kept attending with Rob. I met some Jewish believers along the way and I would ask them questions like: “What made you believe?” And more importantly, “How did your family respond to your faith?” Their answers were consistently the same, “I simply read the Bible and asked God to show me the truth.” I could see that these people were convinced from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah, and drew strength and wisdom from the Scriptures as to how to love their families. One of my Jewish friends shared with me how she came to believe in Yeshua; she gave me Sam’s book Growing in Messiah, and encouraged me to read it. I told her I would read it however when I arrived to my home I proceeded to place it where I put every book I received: I put it on my night stand and let it accumulate dust. A year and a half went by until October of 2003, when Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement arrived. Rob and I both knew that I could not change and accept Yeshua just to please him. Rob suggested that I use the time on Yom Kippur to think about Yeshua to ask God to show me if He is my Messiah. That evening I had some free time so I blew the dust off Growing in Messiah and began to read it, flipping back and forth to the correlating verses in the Old Testament (after all, it was ‘MY’ Bible, the one I believed in.) that were written out in both English and Hebrew. To my amazement it didn’t take me very long-- in fact I didn’t even have to finish the book before I realized that I had been wrong. I understood in my heart that the only One on this earth who fulfills all the prophecies of the Messiah is Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah). I started to cry. It was hard to stop. I asked God to forgive me and trusted in Messiah as my atonement for my sins. I was very happy for my salvation, but my tears of joy were also mingled with tears of sadness. I realized that everyone that I loved so dearly may not be heading for eternity in Heaven. I had to face it and accept it. I think this is one of the reasons it took me so long to embrace Yeshua in my life. I just didn’t want to accept the fact that unless they turn to Messiah, my whole family would be eternally separated from the God of Israel. In my new faith as God opened my eyes to the truth He also comforted me by assuring me that He loves my family more than I do and He can open their hearts to His love. I have to admit that I was still afraid of what my family would say. We have a very special bond and I didn’t want to lose it. At the same time I realized that if I really believe, I must be truthful and share what I had found. Since I lived in New York City and they were all in Israel it took me a year to tell them because I did not want to explain my new faith to them through a phone call. In October of 2004 God provided a time for me to visit my family in Israel. When I shared my faith in Yeshua with them, it was a very difficult conversation, but I was able to see how much God loves me and my family. I felt His presence and strength through the entire time there. It was a very special visit. My family do not yet agree with my faith, but the lines of communication are very much alive and I am praying for them and long for the day that we will all praise and worship our Lord Messiah together. Thank you Sam for explaining in such a clear way how Yeshua is my Messiah from the Old Testament. I hope that my story might motivate others to share the Good News of Messiah with their Jewish friends…to even share a book. God Bless, Orit. It never ceases to amaze me how God continues to use the Feasts of Israel and other celebrations such as Yom Kippur and Hanukkah to communicate the Good News of Messiah to His people. Please pray for us we continue to reach out throughout the world in 2007. Y |
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