Tirza Ziv
I was born and raised on a kibbutz in Israel. When I was growing up, God was not an issue. He didn't exist; therefore I didn't need to think about Him. The Bible was a very thick and boring book of tales I had to read in school. Nothing else mattered except the next self-centered joy ride. Looking back, I can see God's protective hand shielding me from the many things that should/would/could have killed me.
In the military I served in a unit that rotated between a base at the Lebanese border and a base in the Gaza strip. At the Gaza strip we were stationed right across from one of the most dangerous refugee camps. As a result, I saw good friends getting hurt. I remember always being surprised by the hate these people had towards us, and they did not even know us. I never got mad, but was deeply saddened by this whole situation.
At that time I made up my mind not to continue my life in Israel. How can anyone live in a land that "eats" her inhabitants? Only now I see the part about the milk and honey (I guess I did learn something in school). As with all of God's perfect plans, I met Tamir shortly before I finished my service. I knew I was going to marry him within 5 minutes after we met. In 1994, we moved to the USA to be with my family, and got married shortly after. We had our ups and downs, but in general life was very good, or so I thought. We never lacked any material thing that we wanted or needed.
The way I see it, there are two ways of finding the truth about Yeshua: either you actively look for the truth or when it's your time, He comes after you. When Tamir started looking for the truth, I remember him asking me if I wanted to join him on this journey. I told him to leave me alone. Whatever he found out would be fine by me, as long as he didn't bring it home. One day he came and told me that he believed God is real and that Yeshua is the promised Messiah. Again, I said "good" for you, but keep it out of the house. Bless him, for almost a year he tried showing me what was wrong with our lives, without bringing Yeshua into the picture. As for me, I was too blind, hardheaded and hard hearted to know anything was wrong with my life (Can you be more Israeli than that?)
Then, within a span of 3 weeks Tamir got a new job, we had our 3rd child and we moved to Fort Worth, TX. Life was very overwhelming, but I still thought life was very good. I was looking to find a group of moms that I could befriend. I was very adamant about finding a group that did not sit around talking about Jesus all day. My dear husband said "you just might have something in common with them, don't check them off your list."
Well, I did check them off. I joined a secular mom's group and befriended the group leader. She invited me to her Bible study, because they were studying Judaism. I said I'd be happy to come and share what I know. I was so proud of myself; I would show them we (the Jews) were better. At the Bible study, I met another lady that challenged my thoughts and ideas. I was asking her many questions trying to prove her wrong. As I know now, our God is an awesome God.
Just few short weeks after I joined the group I was reading a non-related book when suddenly He got me, like a light from heaven, IT CAN NOT BE ANY OTHER WAY. God is real. He made us and loves us. I knew He must love us, because from that moment I could not stop smiling for days, now I know Yochanan (John) 3:16-18 "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. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
It was about midnight; so I waited till morning to tell Tamir. Believing in Yeshua was not a problem; it was just the next step. I did not have to do the research because I trusted Tamir, and he believed Yeshua was the Messiah. That was good enough for me.
Within less than two months of moving to TX, I was a believer, and life has never been better. Yeshua gave His life for me, and I will spend the rest of my life trying to thank Him by doing as He says.
