John 3:16-17"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.
John 3:16-17
I have to warn you...when I started to upload my pictures tonight, I fully intended on sharing our Easter egg fun!! But I felt the need to tell you a story little about myself. Ever since I was a child, I have always loved Easter. I'm not sure if it was the chocolate bunnies, or the stale peeps that my grandmother always brought me and my 2 brothers. All I knew, was that I loved it because I LOVE CHOCOLATE!! Um, that's good enough right?? The one {very important} detail that I never knew, was WHAT it meant! I grew up in a Jewish home, and I was never really taught the meaning of Christian holidays. I was just told that we don't celebrate them. In all honesty, I wasn't taught the meaning of ANY of the holidays {not even the Jewish ones}! I just knew that on Passover, we were going to have a lot of company, a lot of food, a long Seder, a good amount of us kids getting into trouble because we were bored {which didn't change much as adults!}, and that one of us LUCKY kids was gonna get a dollar for finding the hidden matzah...WHOO HOO!! When I started junior high, I switched school districts, and {there} I had a good mixture of Jewish and Christian friends. As a lot of my friends, and even my twin brother, were getting bar/bat mitzvahed I just wanted to show up for the party. I didn't feel a connection. I wanted to, but just didn't. When high school started, I didn't need to FEEL Jewish, just saying your Jewish meant I got to stay home from school on the high holidays! I began to go to a youth group with some of my friends. I, for the first time in my life, felt the connection that I needed and was missing. I would go to church with my friends any chance that I could. I wanted to know so badly HOW my friends knew that they believed in Jesus, and HOW they had such strong faith....and WHY I didn't even know what made me Jewish! I'll fast forward through my {not so proud} young adult years, to when I met my husband. He was the first adult, that wasn't one of my friends parents ;-), that went to church, had a strong faith, and believed what he believed "Because that's what the bible says!" I remember we would talk for hours about God, Jesus, the Bible, the differences in the beliefs of Judaism and Christianity, and so on and so on. He was raised in a strong Christian home, and it was never questioned. My 2 brothers have NEVER questioned being Jewish. Maybe I wasn't listening in Sunday School!! Anyway, I started my journey with God, when I met my husband, almost 12 years ago. I had SO much I wanted to learn, and SO many questions. I questioned faith, which proved at times to be hard for my husband to understand when HIS faith was so strong. I remember a time as a kid praying to Jesus, {I didn't even know how to pray} because I thought that's what I should do {since my Christian friends seemed to KNOW God could hear THEM}. I made the decision before my son was born, to become a born again Christian. I asked my mom and dad {and any other family member that would listen} "Why are YOU Jewish??" "Is it because your parents' told you that you are?" "What do you believe?" "WHY do you believe what you believe" "Why don't you believe that Jesus is the Savior?" My questions went on and on. And none of the answers were what I was looking for. I'm not sure any of them truly knew why or what they believed....just that they are Jewish. That just wasn't enough for me. I knew that when I found myself saying, "I believe it because it's what the Bible says".... I was a true Christ follower. I still always have questions, and still struggle at times with faith, but what I DON'T question is....Jesus was the Son of God, He died on the cross for our sins, and that through Christ, I will have Eternal Life. My family doesn't agree with me {and that's OK} but they do respect my decision. They know that is wasn't overnight and that is wasn't for my husband. One thing that I loved growing up was the traditions of the holidays we had as a family....the thing I know now that I was missing in all of that was...the meaning of our traditions! My husband and I now have our own traditions for our family. The kids love the Easter bunny, love dying eggs, love the candy {who doesn't!}, love the food and family, and most of all....we ALL know what we are celebrating!!
Do you and your family have special traditions?? I'd love to hear them!! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Easter!!
Beautiful, beautiful story of your faith. You really do have an incrdible heritage. I love learning the meaning behind why Christ came and so much even from the Old Testament which is truly the story of the God's relationship with his chosen children, the Jewish/Hebrews. You have a special treausre. Thanks for sharing. Thankful he died and he arose! He is risen; He is risen indeed.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your journey of faith. The Jewish traditions take on such deep meaning in the light of Christ. This Easter must be a time of sharing testimony because I also shared about a very personal encounter with God as a result of a little bout with skin cancer.
ReplyDeleteWhat a powerful testimony.
ReplyDeletenice post thanks for sharing...looking for to visit more blessings...
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