BEVERLY DABBS
So, you want to know how a little Jewish girl from Brooklyn,
New York, wound up becoming a Jewish believer in Jesus, in
Montgomery, Alabama.
My parents moved to Birmingham, Alabama, from New York when I was
just 3 years old.
The south was such a big change for a Jewish
family.
It was hard to keep Kosher because there was only one small
store that sold Kosher food.
My sisters and I would ride a city bus
to synagogue to worship because my parents never bought a car.
Being New Yorkers -- city dwellers -- all their lives, they had
relied on public transportation, and were not about to change just
because they had been transplanted to the south.
As a child I had a deep love for God.
There was a yearning in my heart that was hard to describe. As a
matter of fact, this yearning actually made me want to become the
1st woman rabbi, but back when I was a child, this was impossible. Going for Hebrew lessons after school most days was just part of my
life up until my Bas Mitzvah, when I was told I turned into a woman in God's eyes.
I am mentioning all these things so you can see how
God knew about
my love for Him before I truly met Him.
I attended synagogue until I married. The man I married was not
Jewish, but neither did he attend church. It was not until I had my
first child and she turned 2 or 3 years old that I decided that my
child needed some sort of religious upbringing. I knew my husband
would not go to synagogue so we started attending a small church in
Birmingham. By some strange “coincidence,” an old Jewish friend of
mine whom I had grown up with also attended this church.
My friend introduced me to Dottie Ellwell, a woman who had a love
for the Jewish people and conducted a ministry for them. Dottie
gave me my first Bible and for the first time in my life, I read the
Old Testament and all the prophecies about the Messiah. How could I
deny what I was reading? It all pointed to Jesus.
Soon after reading these prophecies, realizing I could not deny that
Jesus was the Messiah,
I prayed with my friend Dottie, and accepted Jesus as the Messiah
that the Jews have been waiting for all these
years.
I moved from Birmingham to Montgomery. There was a time sadly when
I strayed from God, but today I can testify that never did He stray
from me. When I divorced in 1986, I felt like God had not honored
what I believed was His promise to me: to restore my marriage. I
became angry with God and that is when I strayed. Yet God is slow
to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. So not like us! I came
back to Him with an even greater appreciation for who He is and with
the knowledge that He alone knows what is best for me. No, I have
not remarried, but..
I have found all I need in
Christ our Lord. |