Unshakable Curiosity: A Messianic Jew’s Journey

God Hears Her Podcast 

Episode 228 – Unshakable Curiosity: A Messianic Jew’s Journey with Diane Cohen 

Elisa Morgan & Eryn Adkins with Diane Cohen 

[Music] 

Diane: And there are just some times in your life that you just feel that, absolutely, there is no way I’m getting through this. I am not. There is no way. I can’t get through it. And then when you do, the recognition is that it’s not by your efforts. You got through it because Jesus is sitting right next to you, in it with you, holding your hand, and… and you just don’t see Him. 

[Music] 

Vivian: You’re listening to God Hears Her, a podcast for women where we explore the stunning truth that God hears you. Join our community of encouraging one another and learning to lean on God through Scripture, story, and conversation at godhearsher.org. God hears her. Seek and she will find. 

Eryn: Elisa, this guest that we have on today has such a beautiful and unique testimony, and we share some mutual friends. Can you guess who they are? 

Elisa: Who? 

Eryn: The Unshakable Moxie crew. 

Elisa: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, wow. You’re kidding. So, she’s one of those girls, huh? 

Eryn: Yes… 

Elisa: Nice. Nice. 

Eryn: … and, I’m so excited to have her. Will you help me welcome… 

Elisa: Yeah. 

Eryn: … Diane to the God Hears Her podcast… 

Elisa: Hey, Diane. I’m so glad you’re here with us. You moxie girl, you. 

Diane: I like being called a girl. [laughter] 

Elisa: And so, would you… I’ve got to go right into the testimony part, Eryn. You know, tell us your story. 

Diane: Well, it’s… it’s a bit long. I always start my testimony with the fact that my mother died on February 1st, 1999, and my mother’s side of the family was Orthodox Jewish and my father’s side was Reformed Jewish. So, we children, sometimes it’s a bit like a mixed marriage, very different approaches. But… one thing was very clear and unanimous, which was we were not to say Jesus’ name in the house. It was a forbidden word. 

Elisa: Okay, so to clarify already, Orthodox and Reform are two variations of Judaism. Orthodox is more by the Law, is that correct? 

Diane: Yeah. So… it’s a big continuum. So, Orthodox would be at one end, and they are very observant Jewish people. Like, on a Sabbath, they would be very observant to not turn on lights and… and very careful of following as many rules as a human can. So, Orthodox are very observant, and Reform are more relaxed. Yes. 

Elisa: Okay… 

Eryn: Okay. 

Elisa: … thank you. All right. You had one of each in your family. 

Diane: But my grandmother lived with us, and my grandmother, my mother’s mother, had come over from Eastern Europe and had had eye witnessed her cousins being killed by the Russian Cossacks in the pogroms… 

Eryn: Oh, wow. 

Diane: … And so, with her, believe this or not… my childhood was being raised in fear. In fear of Christians. This is very true… that was my childhood… 

Elisa: Wow. [inaudible] 

Diane: … I went to elementary school. Someone fell for my horn. Someone told me I killed their God. I had that personal experience. The reason that becomes relevant is that, as my mother got older and I became her caregiver, she developed terminal cancer… she came to live with us, and we did have some talks, but I can’t say I thought there was any big transformation going on, but I remembered when I was growing up I would catch her watching Billy Graham. I’m just saying it… I’m… I catch it, two o’clock, one o’clock in the morning, you know, I’d come down, Mother what are you doing, and she goes, oh, oh no, there’s nothing else on. You know, and she’s right, there wasn’t anything else on. A hundred percent correct, but… but… but still, I… she said… and she got so embarrassed. So, put that together, put all those little pieces…  

Elisa: Yeah, yeah.  

Diane: … she died February 1st, 1999. And… because probably I was her caregiver, and we had become so inextricably close, I just could not get out of bed for like, this is six weeks. I was just devastated late, in grief. I just couldn’t… six weeks later I woke up, and I’ve written music before, but I usually write just the piano part. I went to the piano, I started writing the song. Words came to me that were… 

Elisa: Woah. 

Diane: … completely lyrics about Jesus. I didn’t say the name, but if you listen to the song, it is a gospel song, it’s so about Him and it took me over. I went… I remember getting up, I got dressed. I was driving to work, I was writing lyrics. I went my… put my head on my desk and I went, oh, I feel so much better. And that was the end of that period of grief. And I can only say that… 

Eryn: Wow. 

Diane: … when I would play that song for people, they would say, are you Jewish? Are you sure you’re Jewish? Because it’s a gospel song. It really is. I wasn’t looking for Him. This is the really interesting thing… 

Eryn: Yeah. 

Diane: … He was looking for me, I guess, really hard… 

Elisa: Yeah. Yup, yup. 

Diane: … because… for everybody, there’s nothing special about me. He is looking for absolutely every soul on this earth, and then, you know, to fast forward, because it took me so long to figure it out… and during the whole two and a half years, I just would say, I just want to understand more about Jesus and trust me, I wasn’t meaning theologically. I was meaning I wasn’t allowed to say His name. I’m a lawyer, I’m a middle aged, my kids are grown. How am I so ignorant about this major person in history? That was my motivation.  

Eryn: You used the word ignorant. Explain that a little bit. Why did you feel ignorant? 

Diane: Uneducated. So, it’s like if you… 

Eryn: Okay. 

Diane: … I went to college, and law school, and I’m well read, and I said to myself, but I don’t know why, but it is what I was saying. I just want to understand more about Jesus because I recognized that He was a major person in history. So, I had this big hole in my knowledge. So, when I say ignorant, as… well, it’s ignorant and uneducated because I didn’t try to learn about Him because I wasn’t supposed to learn about Him. I took comparative religion in college, but it… it didn’t hit me then the way it did in 1999. Yeah. The end of that year, I’m not going to take you through point by point two and a half years, just a couple. I’m visiting my brother in… 

Eryn: Okay. 

Diane: … in New England. I can’t even make this up. There was a book on the New York Times bestseller list that year called Rabbi Jesus by Bruce Chilton, and I picked it up and… I just wanted a good book to read, and I thought, well… this is a biography. It’s not a theology book. It’s a biography of Jesus. I can’t make this next part up. So, I’m sitting on the airplane going back to Columbus. Reading my book, and this woman is sitting next to me and… she’s looking over my shoulder and she said, oh, is that… what are you reading? And I… I was so defensive. I said… it’s a book called Rabbi Jesus, but I’m not going to believe I’m Jewish. You know, I don’t believe in Him. So, you know this… does that sound awful? So awful. God, You’re so patient. 

Elisa: Oh, good.  

Diane: And so, she says… she says… she goes, oh, well, I’ve written, I’ve… been studying the Bible for thirty years and I’ve written some books. What would you like to know? I’m not kidding. Her name was Lori. She’s sitting on the plane next… 

Elisa: Oh my gosh.  

Diane: … it… the random… the random seat… 

Eryn: Oh, you can’t run away from that either. 

Diane: … Nope. And I never… 

Elisa: That’s right, you’re stuck. 

Diane: … I don’t, and so she, I asked all these questions and she gave me answers, and then at the end I said, you know, I’ve never read the New Testament, but if there’s a version of it you think is good, I, you know, I’d read it. And honestly, I’d never, never went to believe in it. It was just history. I felt I needed to be educated. And then three months later, I am going through a very hard time. I’m by myself. I come home from work. This package arrives, and I never told Lori anything about my personal life at that time, but what was going on at that time was that I had been married for twenty-eight years. And… I’ve always felt it’s better for children to have two parents rather than one. I had a very challenging marriage. Let’s just put it at that. And… my husband had moved out, and I was by myself, and I’d come in from work feeling just horrible. And… this package is there at that moment. I opened it up and this book is there that she had written with a card that said, you may not remember me. We shared a plane flight home. But just as Jesus walked with me through my hard times, may He be there with you. 

Elisa: Oh my gosh. 

Diane: And then she quoted my mother’s favorite Psalm, 23, and I’m freaking out. So, I called my sister, who also was living in New England, and I said, Wendy, you’re not going to believe this. And she… and I started telling her about this book, what it’s called, and there’s silence. And my sister had become a believer in Jesus four or five years before then.  

Eryn: Wow. 

Diane: … And… Yeah… And so, she said… she said, you… this book, that person, I… she said, I’m reading… I’m holding in my hand Christian Led Women and they’re doing a review of the book. And the book was five years old, not even a new book. This all is true. So, I’m like… 

Eryn: Wow. 

Diane: … and gee, would you think that I figured it out then? Nah, it took years. It took more and more… 

Eryn: You know what I love about that, Diane? I love how you remained curious, even though… and even if it was through the lens of like, I’m not allowed to, I’ve been taught this way, you still had curiosity to, like, walk into the invitation that God was calling you. And even though you said it took years, and years, and years, and years, and years later, which I want to unpack that, I just want to say for anybody that’s listening, like, if you have a friend, you just never know the seed… 

Elisa: Right. 

Eryn: … that you’re planting… 

Elisa: So good. 

Eryn: … the question that they’re asking, the defensiveness that they have, is still some form of curiosity. And your testimony is an example of that… 

Elisa: That’s so good, Eryn.  

Eryn: … it’s so beautiful, and I’m grateful that you shared that part, and you’re so honest in saying it took a lot… lot more, and a longer time. But this was the beginning and I just… I just want to say thank you for sharing that. 

Diane: Yeah. Very true.  

Elisa: I love that God didn’t give up. He doesn’t give up, you know, and, you know, we do. We’re… we’re so unfaithful, but He just will do whatever. And I, you know, just this theme of He found you… 

Diane: Totally. 

Elisa: … and then we… we let Him find us. You know, we think we’re looking, you know, He’s the one who’s going, come here, baby. Okay? So, keep going. 

Diane: Okay, the fast forward ending of this is, I can’t even make the date up two days before 9/11 this is… 

Eryn: Okay. 

Diane: … Sunday. Two days before 9/11 that year, 2001, my sister, who I mentioned had become a believer in Jesus, we were at her church, and there had already been some lead up things of why I went to a church. I personally hadn’t been to churches for other than a couple weddings and a couple funerals maybe in my whole life except for that summer in August. And I went to her friend’s… sermon every time I was feeling, like, little goosebumps, back of my… little chills. I’m thinking, oh, you know, but I just figured it was the good music. I love music. So, we’re at my sister’s church, which has terrible music and… Sitting there, and the whole time in her service, I felt, like… like tingly arms, this is so interesting. I’m not… and I’m… you don’t know, me, I’m a lawyer. I’m not this way, like weird, but this was happening, true. And I kept saying to my sister, do you feel this? And I would, like, touch her arm, she goes, no, I don’t know what you’re talking about. But I didn’t even think then that was anything big, really… 

Eryn: Yeah. 

Diane: … And then she said to me, you know, I want to go up and… I want to go up for altar call. And I didn’t know any vocabulary. I didn’t know anything. And I… I didn’t even know what that was, and she said, I… it just… I’m just going to go up… I’ve never gone before, and it just means someone’s going to pray for me. And she’s my baby sister; she’s fourteen years younger. She said, I don’t want to go up by myself. Will you just stand next to me? I can’t make this up. And so, I, with the full intent of, like, just studying history of Jesus and helping my sister, stand next to her, and this woman named Sylvia comes over, of course, says to me, may I… may, I pray for you? She takes my hands, and I look her in the eye and I go, okay. And I just said to her the same thing I’d said for two and a half years. I said, I just want to understand more about Jesus. You know those ball… in the science museum, when you touch that globe and your hair goes like… [laughter] [high pitched ahh sounds] 

Elisa: Yes. And electricity, static electricity makes your hair fly. Yes. 

Diane: … that’s right… it was like this giant, giant hug of… electrical hug of warmth that… and I went, oh my gosh, it’s true. It’s true. And I looked at her, and it was such a shock, and she said something, I didn’t have any idea what this meant. She said, the Holy Spirit’s on you. And I didn’t know what that meant. And she said, do you want to accept Jesus as your savior? And I said, yes. And I did… 

Elisa: Oh, Diane… 

Diane: … and… 

Elisa: … Man… 

Diane: … I did. And I can only say, at that time in my life I was on the board of my synagogue, I mean, I was very Jewish community, my kids’ bar and bat mitzvah, you name it. And all I said to myself at that point, and this is the point that if I don’t make any other point this is the most important, it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks, I just said to myself, it’s true. It’s true. No matter what anyone says to me, I’ve got the rest of my life to figure out why, how, what the Bible says. I’d never read… I may have studied… It’s true. So, whatever anyone says to me, and… and I have lots of stories of what it was like going back to my community… 

Eryn: Yeah. 

Diane: … and my family, but nothing will shake my faith and… and going through sorrow because it’s true, He’s there, He’s got us, He’ll never leave us, He wants us, He loves us, He wants everybody. And it’s a… it’s… you can’t change it. You can’t make that list no matter what anyone says to you, no matter what… 

Eryn: Yeah. Diane, what advice would you have to somebody that is wrestling? Because it’s… it’s a very unique position to be in within your faith because you’re loyal to your faith, and then you’re also starting to reimagine or understand it deeper. What advice do you have for somebody that feels like they’re betraying… like, I would imagine for you, maybe there was this tug of war of I would be betraying if I actually entertained this idea that Jesus is who He says He is? 

Diane: I know it’s… it’s a really hard question, because I think had I approached it, that I might believe in it, that would’ve been a struggle… 

Eryn: Yeah. 

Diane: … but because it was such an inexplicable, unsought after reality of something I can’t explain with… like a… how would you explain it, or how would I defend it… 

Eryn: Yeah. 

Elisa: Yeah. 

Diane: … I can’t. Because it’s not of this world. It was a very overpowering way to learn of Him. So, I think what that did, it convicted me… deeply, strongly, and, you know, I think there are a couple things on that. First of all, when 9/11 happened two days later, cause for two days I’m like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. Like, how did I not know this? I… and then 9/11. And I actually think that we are just living in times that are extraordinary. I imagine that God, He is really reaching out to people that are unlikely people, to say fight for this kingdom on Earth. Just be here. You know, this is going to be a challenging time and maybe, like, I just felt like how did this happen to me? Because I would be such an unlikely candidate. You know, like, a Jewish non-believer who doesn’t even care about You. Right…? Yeah, so I thought, well, shoot, if He picked me to do this, and it’s… and… and now this world is, like, falling apart, I just think that we’re living in times where we are being asked to really dig deep and fight for Him, and be for Him, and stand up for Him, and show who He is, and share our testimonies even more so because these times are what they are.. 

Eryn: Yeah. 

Diane: … and they started kind of back then, and they’re not getting a whole lot better. 

[Music] 

Jade Gustman: Hey friends, Diane Cohen was also a guest on the newly released season two of Unshakeable Moxie, a watchable docuseries where you follow Toni Collier and Mariah Smallbone as they learn from different women about how to anchor our identity in Christ. You can watch the series at the link in our show notes, and check out the brand-new Bible study to fill out while you watch. All of that and more is linked in our show notes. Now, back to the show 

Eryn: Well, what advice would you have then to the person that is listening that feels the tug of war of wanting to people please, but also knowing the truth? 

Diane: Oh boy. I am queen of parent pleasing. That’s a great question… 

Eryn: Okay. [laughter] 

Diane: … All right. All right… okay, so I… I… I totally relate. That that was my go-to. I am a horrible parent pleaser, people pleaser, and it’s my journey in life to try to be less like that, but it’s something I fight. So, I think I was able to overcome that great tendency because I had such strong faith. So, it’s kind of like this catch twenty-two. Well, how do you have the strong faith if people around you are really pushing… 

Eryn: Right. 

Diane: … against you? Yeah. In my particular case, I think it’s because I was so convinced He’s the truth, that when my dad… okay, this is true, my dad… I… my dad said, Diane, how can you believe this? It’s one thing when your sister did, but not… you’re so rational, you’re so, you know, analytical, logical. And I said, Dad, I don’t know all the whys and wherefores. And I said, but everything that’s in the New Testament is in the Old Testament. And he said, that’s… that’s impossible. I said, no, absolutely everything. He said, okay, fine. Where’s the… where’s that virgin-birth thing? You don’t believe in the virgin birth, do you? And at that day I said, I actually don’t know where it is, but it’s in here. And you know what? This is how God will show up. I guess that my answer is God will just show up, or you hope… 

Eryn: Yeah, yeah. 

Diane: … you keep working at it, because I took the Bible, I did that and I can’t make it up. I said, Dad, look, it’s right here. And it opened to the Old Testament section that had that exact, you know, reference. So, kind of along the way, like what’s helped me is God showing up and helping me. And also, like, when I went back to my office that day, one of my partners, I’m a lawyer at a law firm… he came in, a good friend, oh, he’s on the board with me at my synagogue at the time… 

Eryn: Oh, okay. 

Diane: … And he came in and… we talked. And he… he went crazy. He said, you’ve got to be kidding. Why would you do that? How can you believe that…? 

Eryn: Yeah. 

Diane: … And I just told him what I believed, and I said, I’m going to study and figure it out, but I said, it’s true. It’s true. That day he was like, I don’t know, Diane. You know, it’s just so… it is so unbelievable. We were at a lawyer’s meeting in the downtown area at the Bar Association. You were supposed to stand up and talk about what… what… religious, what… it was called Faith in the Workplace. Probably be illegal now… 

Eryn: Oh, could… 

Diane: … Faith in the Workplace, and you stood up and you talk about where you go to… to worship. I stood up and I gave the name of the synagogue and I said, oh, and Beth Messiah in Columbus, Ohio, I’m Messianic Jewish. And his face just kind of went white. And then he came into my office, right? 

Elisa: Oh gosh.  

Diane: Yeah. But after that, that was the lunch meeting… 

Elisa: Yeah. 

Diane: … But anyway, do you know that… four years later, I went on to move to New England, he stayed there. Four or five years later, he contacted me and he said, you know, I’m on a committee… a national committee of… leaders of Jewish, mainstream Jewish leaders, and I want you and your husband to come… do a talk about Messianic Judaism. And I just about went what? Because I think sometimes when we get frustrated, or we go and we don’t convince anyone, and it seems hopeless and just… 

Elisa: Yeah. 

Diane: … you know, you’re trying to do your best, but God, you know, like you say, you’ve planted the seed, and God will take it from there. And… and… and keeping our own faith is the challenge. It’s like… 

Eryn: Yeah. 

Diane: … during those times where it’s like, where are you, God, right? 

Eryn: Yeah. I mean, I keep asking you for the advice just because I really want to help somebody that’s listening right now that may be in a situation that you were in. I think that’s the beauty of our testimony is giving other people the bravery that we had. And I… I am curious though, like, what is the advice that you have for somebody that’s in a family dynamic where your sibling believes so passionately in a different belief than you do… 

Elisa: Yeah. 

Eryn: … different religion than you do, and how do you maintain that relationship and not allow the differences… 

Elisa: That’s good. Yeah. 

Eryn: … to erode? 

Diane: What a question. I love it. And I also… would expand that too. I have very good friends now who have very different political beliefs than my own, and we may or may not have the same religious beliefs. It’s kind of all the above going on in my life right now… 

Eryn: Yeah. 

Diane: … and it’s really important, I think, to remember that it’s… I feel, it’s not our job to change a person’s mind about what they’re supposed to believe. When it comes to religion, that’s God’s work. Our job is to just, I think, be really good listeners, really try not to judge. I mean, there’s no subject that’s… off the table with my friends of diverse opinions. I don’t have an answer, cause I haven’t really figured it out myself, but my closest friends are so different than myself and we’re giving ourselves space to be who we are… 

Elisa: That’s great. 

Eryn: Yup. 

Diane: … where we are at that time… 

Elisa: A lot of respect.  

Diane: … and I… What works for me is a little bit of live and let live, like, just… just, you know, don’t avoid the subjects… I… I have this one friend right now. I’m Messianic Jewish, one of my really good friends now is Jewish. We were sitting at dinner together and… I had just gotten to know her, but not, like, deeply. We hadn’t had the deep conversations, but she seemed like someone I’d really like to get to know. We’re sitting at a… an event, and she came in and she goes, oh… Diane, you are not going to believe this. I just met these people, they’re Jewish and they say they believe in Jesus. And I’m eating. I… I… I don’t know what I was doing. I’m like, uh oh, you know, like, and she… and she went on and on about this… 

Elisa: You were like uh oh. 

Diane: … I mean, I’m thinking, oh my gosh. And so… 

Eryn: Oh, no. 

Diane: … and when she got all done, I said, I’m Messianic Jewish. And I… she just looked like, I mean, I wish I had a picture. And now fast forward… three years later, this is, like, how God… see, God is doing this. This isn’t anything I’m doing. So then, we had social reasons to get together… clubs we’re in or whatever. Subject didn’t come up, and I’m not going to bring it up. I’m not going to bring it up. If I’m failing as a good disciple, I’m sorry, but this is just what’s happening. And she brought it up. She brought it up a few times, and every time she would bring it up it was fine. And I would answer her questions, and she was curious, and I just was there was the answers… 

Elisa: Love that. 

Diane: … And we have so many other things that we’re friends on, so many other ways we were already connecting… 

Elisa: Yeah. 

Diane: … It’s not like you wear this big Messianic Jewish thing on your head. Right? 

Eryn: Yeah. 

Diane: … So then… this is really interesting…. So… and this is years, so this is why I don’t know if this is the most effective method, but I’m in this Bible study group in this community and she knew it. And there’s another Jewish person in there, actually, my cousin. And she started asking me about it, and I said, yeah, you know, I find this very informative and I really like to go. So, I… later on, of course, I’m praying, like, did I forget the most important thing? Prayer. Okay. Praying. Praying. And I said, would you like my Bible? I said, you know, you’ve asking me all these questions… 

Eryn: Aw, yeah. 

Diane: … And I gave her my Bible… 

Eryn: That’s so great. 

Diane: … And then I went…  

Elisa: Way to go. 

Diane: … And now she’s in our Bible study group. 

Elisa: Look at that. 

Eryn: That’s awesome.  

Elisa: You know, I just want to encourage people… In the Unshakeable Moxie series, Diane shares more of her testimony and I… I would encourage others to listen to that… Help us understand, Diane, I’m fascinated, I’ve known other Messianic Jews, and I love what you said about everything in the New Testament’s in the Old Testament, we just… we don’t understand how… how much God had this whole thing planned out. How do you practice your faith as a Messianic Jew? 

Diane: Oh, it’s so amazing because it… it really doesn’t need to be Christians do it this way, Jews that way. And when we share our traditions, they’re the same. I am in a Bible study group and it’s… multiple denominations of Christianity and Jewish, and then there’s kind of the one Messianic Jew. And, like…  

Elisa: That’s rich. 

Eryn: Yeah. 

Diane: … It’s amazing. Passover… the Passover in Easter parallels the forty-nine days until Pentecost is the same as our holiday Shavuot. This is so miraculously of God, that when I was explaining this one time in this Bible study group, mainstream Jewish people don’t recognize, they don’t know what Pentecost is, and the Christians in the group didn’t really know what Shavuot was, but they really are… of the same, like, the Jews would go to Jerusalem on the Christian holiday of Pentecost, it was one of the major times to go and it was a… it was a harvest holiday, and it was forty-nine days from Passover, just as you have the Easter holiday, which is sometimes moves around, but during that year, it would’ve been forty… the day… the year of Yeshua, of the outpouring of the Spirit, it would’ve been that same forty-nine days. So, Jesus when He lived, His name was Yeshua. His Hebrew name is Yeshua. And Yeshua being translated actually means salvation. So, it’s miraculous to think that there were thousands of Jewish people that went to Jerusalem, that became Pentecost and became our Shavuot. And we actually celebrate this together. It’s when Moses received the Torah. It is when the Holy Spirit was poured out. It’s that same day. That’s not an accident… 

Elisa: That’s… Yeah. 

Diane: … So, isn’t that amazing? And our services are all the above. If you came to our services, it’s a lot like a conservative Jewish service, a lot of Hebrew, the Siddur, which is our prayer book, is very similar to conservative prayer book. And we include the readings from the New Testament, from the HaBrit Ha-… we call the it the HaBrit HaChadasha, the good news. 

Elisa: Okay, so we’ve talked about Orthodox, and we’ve talked about reformed Judaism. You know, what is Messianic Judaism, and what does it mean to be a Messianic Jew? 

Diane: Okay. So… so, actually Orthodox people would say they’re Messianic because they do believe the Messiah is coming, whereas the difference between our Messianic Judaism and theirs is that we believe He’s come once and He will return… 

Elisa: Okay. 

Diane: … And Messianic Jew, the range of observances in Messianic Judaism is similar to regular Judaism. So, in our particular… way we observe it, we’re all Jewish, we haven’t changed being Jewish. We do everything we did before when we were Jewish, but we also recognize that Jesus was the greatest Jew who ever lived, and He’s divine, and He is God. And so, we also believe that as part of our Jewish… Messianic Jewish faith. 

Eryn: Okay. 

Elisa: Because he is the Messiah. 

Diane: He is, and He will return. And it’s all over our own Jewish Bible. 

Eryn: Oh, okay. So, do you practice the same traditions? 

Diane: Yep. I… yep. All the same. 

Elisa: Okay. Okay… 

Eryn: All the same. 

Elisa: … That’s so helpful. Thank you. 

Eryn: Would you close us in prayer…? Maybe for the woman that’s experiencing a loved one that’s defensive, or a loved one that’s curious, or maybe were that woman that’s defensive and, but kind of curious, maybe the woman that’s been in the position that you’ve been in or you’ve witnessed a family member or a friend in, wherever you feel called. But would you close us in prayer? 

Diane: Sure. Oh, dear Father Abba, I thank You for allowing us to have this conversation this morning, and be able to listen to You and our experiences, and be able to share how they can be real and not in our minds, but absolutely help us to know that You are a living God who has an intimate relationship with each one of us. And… and thank You for bringing the Father here through Jesus on earth to be in relationship, to know that You’re sitting with us through our times of… of doubt. And God, I just ask for anyone who has not actually felt Your presence, may they, even at this very moment, God, at this moment when… when there is silence in our hearts, and wanting, and yearning, that You would show up and give some evidence of that. And if it’s nothing other than having heard something today, or something even tomorrow, or seeing something in nature that reminds us that You’re there, I ask You, God, to make that real and… and whichever way You choose to do that. And Abba, I just thank You for being in our lives, and having the patience to know that we don’t listen sometimes, and it’s hard when we’re suffering, but we know that You’re there and… and sometimes it takes that people around us to remind us that, because we can’t on our own sometimes see it or feel it. So, strengthen our faith, strengthen our ability during the times, especially when it doesn’t seem obvious, to remind us that You never leave us. You want every one of us, You love us, and we thank You for being in our lives. We thank You. Jesus’ name. 

Eryn: Amen. 

Elisa: Amen. 

Eryn: Thank you, Diane.  

[Music] 

Elisa: Well, friends, be sure to check out our website to subscribe to our email list or check out the God Hears Her books and devotionals. Find all that and more at godhearsher.org. That’s godhearsher.org.  

Eryn: Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget, God hears you, He sees you, and He loves you because you are His. 

[Music] 

Elisa: Today’s episode was engineered by Anne Stevens and produced by Jade Gustman and Mary Jo Clark. 

Jade: We also want to thank Nicole and Melissa for all of their help and support. Thanks, everyone. 

Eryn: Our Daily Bread Ministries is a donor-supported, nonprofit ministry dedicated to making the life-changing wisdom and stories of the Bible come alive for all people around the world. 

[Music] 

Eryn: God Hears Her is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries.