THAT ONE SHEEP

My heart is racing. It feels like it did when I was standing in front of 200,000+ Nigerians in Africa, coming forward to accept the Lord Jesus for the first time. Yet, this time it is only one. Suddenly I understand what Jesus meant when He said, "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off!" (Matthew 18:12-13).

Not only do I deeply relate to that Scripture today, but I also fully grasped for the first time why the Father has had me working in our small town chiropractor's office for the past several months. Many days I've questioned Him, "Is this where you really want me right now, Lord?" and I confess I haven't heard any answer. But all along He's been showing me. First I began praying for the Lord to prosper this practice where I'm working, and He began answering that prayer in showers of blessings that the doctor could not ignore! It opened the door for me to share my faith, and at this point I am openly praying with and over her for our patients and for all the hurdles that have had to be overcome. Then, last week a patient heard me speaking to someone about the Jewish roots of our faith, and she got very excited. She told me she has had a hunger to learn about this for a long time, and wondered if I'd be open to offering a Torah study for several people from her church. Two days ago another patient noticed my necklace with the name Yeshua in Hebrew letters. He recognized that it was Hebrew and asked me what it spelled, and I told him. With raised eyebrows he said, "Wow. My family is Jewish. I'd like to talk to you sometime."

You'd think all this would have been enough to convince me that I am planted exactly where Abba Father wants me - but what happened today was the event that left my heart racing. A patient who wanted to try my "Detox Recipe" that I use for chronic viruses and infections asked if she could come by my house later in the afternoon to pick up a sample. She is suffering from ear infections that won't go away. I gladly invited her to stop by. When I answered my doorbell, she stood there with her mouth open, looking at the mezzuzah and the plaque that says "Shalom" on my doorpost and exclaimed, "Are you Jewish?" I answered, "No, but I worship the Jewish Messiah Yeshua." She was genuinely shocked and responded, "My maiden name is Cohen. I don't believe in Jesus. But I didn't grow up understanding my Jewish faith either. We used to color Easter eggs in my house, and I knew we were just all confused!"

She continued to glance around my living room, eyeing the menorah and the shofar on my coffee table, and the prayer shawl that just happened to be where I left it on the couch last night. "Wow...this is amazing. But I don't worship three Gods. I think there's only one." I asked her if she'd ever read Isaiah 53. She said she's never really read the Bible at all. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, I gave her a copy of Isaiah 53 I have printed out - and a copy of Asher Intrater's article from Israel last week entitled "Head of the Church and King of Israel." Asher writes, "The mystery of the kingdom of God develops out of Yeshua's two-fold nature: both the Son of God and the son of David. It is in the perfect combination of being both divine and human that we find salvation and destiny. On the one hand He is God; on the other hand He is a Jew. Note that the mystery of the reconciliation of Israel and the Church is IN HIM."

Building bridges to bring the two families of God together is my heart's cry. That is the restoration of all Israel! That's why my heart was racing! In my living room stood a person who was about to come into the fullness of this understanding for the first time - through her Cohen family (which means "priest" in Hebrew) and through the love that was reaching out to her for the first time in the Person of Yeshua. I put His arms around her and held her. I told her we would talk again after she'd had a chance to read. And she blurted out, "I am SO excited! I've wanted to understand this all my life!"

Like I said, my heart is racing - like Yeshua, I am happier about that one sheep...!