The Grace of God In The Life Of A Twice-Born Jewess
What a privilege to share what God has done in my life! The oldest of three children, I was reared in a Jewish home by good, loving parents. Although we rarely attended synagogue, we celebrated the holidays. We never really talked about God, nor did we pray.
I was always moral because I had believed that good things came as a reward for good deeds, and bad things as punishment for wrongdoing. None of this, of course, was true. I believed in God, but as I later learned, not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I had made this one up.
In April of 1977 I married the wonderful Greek young man I had been dating since age 15. We were very happy and comfortable and never gave a moment’s thought to God.
But that summer, things changed. My sister had been dating a Bible-believing Christian and had begun attending home Bible studies. After finding a Bible at the dinner table and noting a sudden interest in giving thanks before meals, my parents worried that Carole was in a cult. So they met with the Bible study leaders, whom they found to be so upstanding and respectable that my father believed everything they showed him in the Bible about who Messiah really is. Soon my mother believed, too. Then they started attending Bible studies. George and I thought they were crazy, and we’d snicker to ourselves.
One night, Carole and two of her Christian friends came to speak to George and me about God. We listened politely, but I could not understand why I couldn’t just believe in God my way. Why did I have to accept His Son? Their reply was simple: God says that if you love Me, you must love My Son. Well, that was fine for them, but we didn’t need it.
Privately and separately, however, George and I began to read the Bible. Suddenly it was becoming important to me what God thought of my life. Pleasing Him became important.
One afternoon Dad asked if he could read something to me from the Bible. He read Isaiah 53. When he finished, I had not the slightest doubt that I had just heard a description of Jesus Christ. How surprised I was to discover that the description had come from the Old Testament! That evening at supper, Dad turned to Mom, and with tears in his eyes, said, “Gerrie and I were reading the Bible together today, and she believes it.” I soon understood the wonderful joy of answered prayer when two weeks later my husband became a believer. “To the Jew first, and then to the Greek” is a literal reality in my family.
The night after George accepted the Lord, our best friends, also Jewish, returned from their honeymoon. Noticing Bibles in our home, Ron turned to George and chided. “What is this, the Gideon Society?” That night, after a long discussion, he too believed. The number of believers multiplied miraculously that year: my sister, my parents, ourselves, our best friends, three of George’s brothers and his sister-in-Iaw. To us, it seemed to happen quickly and many marvelled at God’s amazing work. Then we discovered that my great-grandmother’s brother had been praying for his family to recognize Messiah for 75 years! To him, it had not been so quick!
I have been married almost ten years now. We have two lovely boys: Jason 6 1/2 and Josiah 2 1/2. Every day I thank God for a husband who puts God first. What an indescribable blessing!
I am still a Jew. Nothing can ever take that away from me. I believe in the Jewish Scriptures, the Jewish Messiah, and if anything, I am more familiar now with my history, my people and my God.
I can say with absolute certainty that if I were to die tonight I would be in the presence of God. If you have any doubt, if you find yourself honestly questioning the claims of Jesus Christ, talk to God about it. If you really want to know the truth, He will reveal Himself to you. As He promises in His Word:
“Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will harken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:12-13).
