Plans?

 

Sid and I are settling into our Florida routines. We’ll be here for the next several months as we see what each day brings.

 

It was never on my plan to spend winters in Florida, but it was on Sid’s. The irony is that where we live when here is actually in the community where my relatives live. Looking back to 2015 when we just stopped by to visit them on our way back from Key West, I now see how our presence here was part of a much bigger plan, His, not Sid’s or mine.

 

Over the recent years here an inter-generational schism with my Florida family has healed. Sid and I were here to assist my elderly uncle after the death of my aunt. We were here to support my cousin’s battle with multiple myeloma and be part of her journey back to health after surviving a near death experience. Her ability to now live vibrantly, walk more than 20,000 steps daily, and teach line dancing is a miracle.

 

Perhaps the most amazing part of this journey, however, has been the formation of a Bible study group that is currently in its fourth year. It began after my cousin survived pneumonia, MRSA, and sepsis which occurred the day after her stem cell transplant to treat the multiple myeloma, a day when she would have had no natural defenses against any one of those life threatening illnesses, let alone all three! Her immediate family had been called in to allow the doctors to “pull the plug” and thankfully the decision was made to keep her on life support (and in a coma for months).

 

During her recovery after her rehabilitation and return home my cousin was motivated to start the Bible study group not by her near death experience, but rather, by the comments of a “friend” who when she learned of my cousin’s brush with death told her she had cried since she had feared my cousin was going to go to hell since she didn’t believe in Jesus. As our Abba uses all for the good, this off putting statement became the catalyst for the formation of the Bible study group which to this day is a source of immeasurable inspiration to all who participate. It is a safe place to share faith conversations in a no judgment zone steeped in knowledge, resources, and multi-denominational  experiences and perspectives. Mostly, as my cousin says each week, “God is in this room!”

 

I participate in the group remotely when not here. These past two weeks I have been able to be on site now that Sid and I have arrived in Florida. The group is quite unique in that it has members of multiple religions – Jewish, Catholic (Roman and Eastern Orthodox), Jehovah’s Witness, and various Protestant denominations. We each have our own versions of the Bible which diversity leads to amazingly fruitful discussions based on the often quite different translations. The Tree of Life Bible I use as well as my Messianic Jewish perspective provide a unique bridge for conversations that let all of us see insights otherwise very obscured by each person’s individual religious background and particular Bible.

 

This week’s meeting was not atypical as the Jewish members were pushing hard on how we can be so sure Yeshua is the promised Messiah. Many passages on point, especially from the Psalms and Prophets. are so compelling even in the “Jewish Bible”. Yet it is difficult to overcome two thousand years of anti-Semitism, a topic that is also discussed without fear of reprisal, but rather, one that is acknowledged by all in the room even if its existence seems off base to this particular group of Christians.

 

My conversations with those in the group, especially the Jewish members, is not limited to just the Bible study time. Just today I had a great beach walk with one and the subject came up again – how do I know He is who He said He was? Ironically, or beautifully synchronized, I told her I woke up this very morning with some interesting thoughts, ones I feel are from Him . . .

 

The proof that Yeshua/Jesus is the promised Messiah is evidenced by the group of Christians sitting in that room just a couple days ago at Bible study who were so loving to my friend as a Jewish “non-believer”. She, like I, had experienced anti-Semitism over our lifetimes. It is real and surely still exists. Yet how miraculous is it that this group of Christians, as part of a growing number of others like-minded, in these days, sees the Jewishness of Jesus, better understands the Jewish roots of their faith, wants to know and understand the original language and translations! We can’t change nor ignore history, and yet, we are living in changing times on this subject vis-à-vis interfaith knowledge and dialogue even if the times are challenging regarding anti-Semitism, generally.

 

I told my Jewish friend that believing as a Jewish person in Yeshua has an emotional hurdle to overcome which often makes it difficult to believe even if the Biblical and historical proof is overwhelming. Mankind has done much to damage Jewish people’s ability to heal from the hurt and fear due to missteps in the name of the Christian faith. She even shared with me that she wonders if the group really wants her there given her not believing in Jesus. I shared with her that the love she feels in that room is the proof that Yeshua is real. These Christians have Yeshua’s love in their hearts. That is real. The fact that an entire group of Christians of so many different varieties could have these dialogues, that they can love and accept each other and even the Jewish people who don’t yet know Him IS what it means to believe in Jesus. That morning thought was so powerful when received and so enigmatically meaningful to her as well, especially given her concern that they may not want her there.

 

The other insight was why NOT believe in Him? Were it not for the emotional hurdle sown by millennia of anti-Semitism, is there any other piece of history that we know happened that is so questioned for veracity??!! She and the other Jewish members of the group do not doubt the historicity of Jesus nor much of the New Testament documentation of Yeshua’s life, even His miracles and healings. The inability to take the leap of faith, or believe in Him as Meshiach with that much basis for believing is fueled by the emotional divide of anti-Semitism, not by the facts. I suggested to her that had she been born Christian she probably would not have doubted who He is so strongly. She was raised, as Jewish people are, to understand that Jews are just not supposed to believe in Him. Is that such a great reason to reject the truth that He is the promised Messiah with so much evidence to the contrary?

 

At that same Bible study session this week we shared experiences of when we followed the Ruach, the Holy Spirit, doing something that we never planned to do but did anyway even if it made no sense at the time. Living in Florida for a few months each year near my previously alienated side of the family definitely falls in that category!  The bonus of the Bible study group is like manna from Heaven! I am grateful beyond words for following His leading of this chapter of my journey.

 

As you think about your plans I hope you leave the most room for those you never even imagined, for those through prayer and open hearts you feel are His promptings. For when we follow the Ruach, when we set aside our wish list for His direction for each of us, what a life! Truly, one we could never imagine!

 

Shabbat shalom.

Diane

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