I believe in Yeshua as the communicator between God the Creator and myself, and in the Holy Spirit as the source of my creative inspirations and the gentle urgings that come into my mind. Like when I need to write a grant proposal for the nonprofit agency where I work—to better help the fragile, premature babies who were less than 3-1/2 pounds at birth—and out of nowhere comes this idea of how to write it. Or when I can’t find the building I’m looking for because I’m still new in this city, am about to give up, and this little voice in my head says, “Turn around and go the other way.”
And I believe in prayer—lots of it! I’ve seen people healed from all kinds of medical conditions and emotional trauma. One man had a significant spot on his chest x-ray and a few of us prayed for him at church. He felt lots of heat near his heart, and his x-ray that week came out totally clear! When my godson Alexander was being born after his mother had been in labor for three days, I could feel the prayers of my friends as I sat in the labor room, coaching. As little Alexander’s vital signs kept creeping up toward the red line on the fetal monitor, I’d start silently praying harder and his levels would drop down again—never crossing the red line! He’ll be 6 this spring and is a healthy, intelligent, sensitive and talented child who speaks three languages! Once when I was in my office praying for a sweet, 10-year-old girl in intensive care who had been through years of mostly successful leukemia treatment, I saw a vision of three angels tenderly lifting her. Later that day, I received an e-mail saying that she had passed at that exact time when I saw the vision. A young woman I know, who was emotionally and physically abused by her ex-husband, was transformed through a series of prayers into a smiling, trusting, joyful woman of faith. Now she prays for others.
I believe in going to synagogue AND church. I love hearing the Cantor chant the beautiful prayers honoring God, watching the flickering candle flame as the Rabbi reads from the Torah and enjoying the dignity, integrity, intelligence and humor of the congregation. I’m still learning Hebrew since my family wasn’t religious, and I take delight in remembering the words to the traditional songs when I get them right. At church, I enjoy the contemporary lyrics that are founded in the psalms. And I love praying with people at the back of the sanctuary at the end of the service.
Mostly, I believe in trying to follow where the Lord is taking me. Since I started doing that eight years ago this weekend, my life has been filled with adventure, challenge, hope, love, rejection, growth and struggle—but it’s never been boring! And I expect, Lord willing, that it will remain full for all of my days.