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I am a Jewish native of Charlotte, NC where I grew up attending one of the local synagogues. For years I prayed for God to show me how He wanted me to worship Him. I believed Jesus was a "great man" but due to the terrible condition of the world today, I couldn’t believe that He or any Messiah had come. My curiosity about "this Jesus" mounted after spending some time with my husband’s grandmother. She loved this Jesus and talked about Him like He was her best friend. She did not question my Jewish beliefs or try to convert me. I developed the utmost respect for her. For five years I sought to have the kind of loving and forgiving relationship she had with God. I searched for years but wouldn’t accept Jesus because I thought that meant rejecting being a Jew. One of my friends eventually told me about Sam and Miriam Nadler; that Sam was Jewish and believed in Jesus. I thought in order to believe in this Jesus I could no longer be Jewish and threw the phone number away. To me Jews who believed in Jesus who claimed to be Jewish were hypocrites. I was so distraught over this whole "Jesus thing" and no one was making it any better. Some Christian friends had me pray a "sinner’s prayer" with them but it meant nothing to me. They declared I was ‘in Jesus’ after reciting it, but I knew I wasn’t. In my mind, there was no way I could have this Jesus unless I gave something up - my Jewishness. One night I cried to God to send me some spiritual guidance. I specifically prayed that I did not know who to call. Then the phone rang; it was Miriam Nadler. She got my number from someone I never even met who was told by a friend to pray for me! I took this as a direct answer to my prayer and told her I believed Jesus was may savior and I wanted to become a "Christian". Miriam asked "what if you could still be Jewish and receive Jesus?" She invited me to a Messianic Sabbath service. I was scared. Everything was "so Jewish" except they would sing and pray in Yeshua’s name. I finally understood I did have to give up something in order to receive Yeshua but it wasn’t my Jewish identity. I had to be willing to acknowledge my sins and receive the forgiveness I had sought for so long. I am sure the reason why God led me to Sam and Miriam is this: God wanted me to come to Him as a Jew.
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