Found this beautiful explanation of faith & connected with it so much.

Thank you Miss Patricia for these wonderful words.

“I am not a Jew. I was not born a Jew. I am not trying to be a Jew. I will never be a Jew. Jewish traditions hold no allure for me whatsoever.  It is wonderful to be a Jew — but I was not made to be one.

I was born of the Nations. I was called out from the Nations, by a God who designed me to be from the Nations, to speak one of the languages of the Nations, so I could be His in full view of the Nations.

What I am is grafted into the olive tree of Israel, not of the Jews. I am called to obey the laws of the people of Israel, the Torah, not the laws of the Jews (Talmud), or walk in the ways of the Nations (humanism), or the laws of the Church (denominational doctrines and traditions).

I am not trying to be a Jew. I am not trying to be a Gentile. I am trying to be an Israelite. Because I come from the Nations, I will never look Jewish, although to the untrained eye, it will appear so because I will do some of the things that they do, the way they do it, but other things I will do in a way that looks utterly foreign to them. And that’s okay.

I look this way because I am a person who was called out of the Nations, by the Master Yeshua the Messiah of Israel, to be a part of His people, obeying His laws, and waiting for His return. I am doing my best, and it’s going to look weird to people, but that’s where patience and grace come into the picture. I have to obey the Torah of YHVH, but the way I obey it doesn’t have to look exactly the same as the way you obey it. 

Torah is a pursuit and a journey of a child with it’s Father. As each child is individually unique, so will our walk with the Father be unique. Same rules for all the children, born Jewish or born of the Nations, but at different points along the walk, we will be better and worse than others at figuring out how to live in obedience. And it’s okay for those of us from the Nations to look strange, we weren’t raised like this. It’s a struggle. A learning process. We will fail all the time, start expecting failure and realize that after 3500 years, we are all doing it wrong, but love spurs us on to try anyway — and faith tells us that YHVH greatly rejoices in our pursuit of obedience.”

∾§∾

Amen.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
{John 3:16}

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
{Ephesians 2:8-10}

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). If you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
{Galatians 3:28-29}

“Whoever believes that Yeshua is the Messiah is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith.”
{1 John 5:2-4}

“Keep alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.
Let all that you do be done in love.”
{1 Corinthians 16:13 & 14}

 HaTikvah ( Israeli National Anthem) duet with my amazing sister {who blogs at In Sun or Rain}