"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I
set you apart . . . Jeremiah 1:5
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for
welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. . . Jeremiah
29:11-13

My dad grew up in a home with parents who came to New York from
Puerto Rico in the late 1920’s, both of my grandparents were strong
evangelicals. My grandpa was truly a man of faith, who had become a
believer in his early twenties. He was completely devoted to the Lord
and lived out his faith daily. My mom’s parents met on the ship from
Puerto Rico to New York City. My mom was raised as a nominal
Catholic, but had no real allegiance to Catholicism. She became
aProtestant when she married my dad, though neither were practicing.
I was raised attending the Christian Missionary Alliance Spanish
Evangelical church that my dad’s parents attended.

By providence, the chaos in the NYC Public School system prompted
my parents to enroll me in the Ethical Culture School at age five where
I attended grades K-6. It was a private school, which embodied an
ethical education and semi-religious movement. Ethical, at the time
had a predominately Jewish enrollment, so I grew up learning about
the Jewish Holidays, learning songs in Hebrew, eating Jewish foods
and socializing with Jewish friends. I attended Rhodes Preparatory
School for Junior High and High School where the student population
was a bit more mixed. Most of my friends were Jewish and I often
spent Shabbat nights at sleep overs with my observant friends.

My parents divorced when I was ten which shattered my secure
childhood, and I spiraled down into insecurity, abandonment, and the
grief of loss. Another blow came when at the age of twelve my born-
again grandparents moved back to Puerto Rico and with that I stopped
attending church. Somewhere in the back of my mind the things of
God that my grandpa faithfully taught me through the Psalms and
other Bible passages kept speaking to me. Yet, the older I became the
more foolish, and out of touch the things my grandpa said appeared to
be. He seemed very old fashioned, not hip or aware of the way things
“really were” (1Cor. 1:18)

As the years rolled on I became more uncertain and felt lost about life.
The faster I ran away from God the worse I felt. I did not make the
connection between running away from God and the pain I was
experiencing. I went through my “Jesus is dead” phase, and spouted
that faith was merely a crutch for the weak who could not face life on
their own. I was strong; I didn’t need God.

I had many Jewish friends throughout my life and even worked for a
Jewish non-profit organization, the National Conference on Soviet
Jewry. I was very comfortable in the midst of Jewishness and even
began considering converting to Judaism. My family had a Jewish
attorney friend, Moshe who had been raised in an Orthodox Jewish
home and practiced Judaism, but still sensed that something was
missing. Yom Kippur was a very significant time for him, as he
faithfully fasted to atone for the sins he had committed during the
previous year. Another friend of his, who had become a believer
challenged Moshe by telling him that Yeshua is the Messiah and that
the full atonement came through Him. Moshe was determined to show
this friend how wrong she was by settimg out to study the Tenach, (the
Old Testament) exhaustively in a manner that only a lawyer could. As
he delved into the Tenach, he found his long awaited Jewish Messiah,
Yeshua, Jesus. What spoke more to me than the words he shared with
me was the immense change I saw in him, not only in his life but in
his countenance. He was truly a new creation. Still, I resisted the
gentle and persistent loving-draw of the Ruach Ha’kodesh, the Spirit
of God. I wanted to have fun and everyone knew God was no fun!
Like the prodigal son God allowed me to find myself in the proverbial
pig pen. As the Frank Sinatra song goes, I was all about doing it “My
way”. My way, Oy Vey!!

On August 30, 1981, Moshe invited me to a gathering of believers at
his home. I watched Moshe share through tears, how that week a
client had committed suicide after reaching a very low point in life.
Moshe shared that this client would spend eternity separated from
God because he died without accepting the gift of reconciliation that
God had provided for all of us, through faith in Jesus. I too was at the
lowest point of my life, and I prayed and received Jesus, as my
Rescuer, Savior, Redeemer and Lord. I saw that God had an eternal
plan for me specifically and was intimately acquainted with me, since
He planned for me, and formed me, and that my life had meaning and
significance, to God, if to no one else.

I was blessed to be immediately welcomed into a congregation which
embraced a Jewish perspective of the New Testament and learned my
newly found faith through Jewish eyes. Moshe and others in the
congregation discipled me and taught me how to walk in the Newness
of Life. God raised me up with a heart for Jewish people from
childhood through the exposure I had in school from K-12. I loved
His Chosen People my entire life and like Ruth now I had been
welcomed into relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob.

Until then I had believed the World’s empty promises as I rejected the
faithful promises of God. But God had given me the secret to life
through Messiah Yeshua. That connection with Him and my
familiarity with Jewish culture helped me to share that “secret” with
the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel.

Now I finally understood the conviction of my grandfather and his
passion to please God rather than man, even at the cost of being seen
as foolish by those he loved in his family. At my baptism my
grandfather stood and shared that he began praying for my eternal soul
when he learned that my mom was pregnant with me. For twenty-six
years not only did he see no answer to that prayer, he saw me moving
further away from God! Yet, he continually and faithfully prayed for
me knowing that God is faithful and outside of time. I am grateful that
God allowed my grandpa to see the fruit of his prayers and that we
were able to fellowship and study God’s Word together for seventeen
years before my grandpa went home to be with Lord at age 102.

One year after coming to faith I met my future husband Jacob, at a
Messianic Rosh Hashanah Service. We both shared the same desire to
grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and to dedicate
ourselves to serve Him in ministry. Jacob is my best friend and we feel
honored that we are able to co-labor together. I have a deep passion to
build up the body and share various Jewish perspectives of our faith,
which sadly has been overlooked too often in Christendom.