A Girl Named Shelley.

(Shelley Receiving the Tanakh as a gift on her birthday).

It was in 1998 that I met this Jewish girl in the ministry for the mentally challenged called “The Special Gatherings”. She has become an inspiration to spark my interest in Judaism. I have not known about my Jewish heritage if it weren’t for Shelley to cause me to start a quest in who I really am.

Shelley is probably in her late fifties, early sixties, and is living somewhere in Clearwater, Florida, which is the last I heard from her. She has moved with another lady who used to manage the apartments here in Deland, Florida. It was about the spring of 2003, which is the last I seen her. Shelley has an older sister who lives in Israel, and a brother who lives in Massachusetts.

She has grown quite well living independently in an apartment. She did have a roommate for a while, but it did not work out as planned for there was some personality conflict between the two individuals.

Yes, it has been a while since I’ve last seen or heard from Shelley. I have her sister’s email address, but I have not heard from her either.

So anyway; Shelley has been with “The Special Gatherings” ministry since 1998 after she’d come home to the group from the hospital after her mother has passed away. She was adjusting slowly to the regular life, and it was not easy for her. She has taken to knowing the members of “The Special Gatherings”. So I made it my mission to show her about the Jewish roots of Yeshua which means “Salvation in Hebrew. I did some research on Judaism and asking around in the Zola Levitt’s Ministries’ chat room, which used to be on Christian-Chat Network’s Inter-Relay Chat Network.

It has taken awhile for her to understand the Jewish roots of Yeshua, and how He has come to fulfill the Law. Yeshua has completed the Law, He made it whole by dying on the execution stake. You see? I have to use simpler terms and familiar Jewish terms to help her understand this concept.

Shelley is also quite a challenge for both Ken and me as we have set an example to live as Yeshua has taught us to live. We talked to her through teaching the Scriptures pointing Yeshua as a Messiah, and taking her to our church to learn from our pastor why Yeshua come to save the world from the penalty of death by being the sacrificial Lamb on the execution stake.

Of course, we have prayed for Shelley’s salvation and to one day get to know Yeshua personally. Right now, only the Cosmic Guidance knows if she accepted it or not. You see? She didn’t have to give up her Jewish upbringing to live in the spiritual relationship with Yeshua. I’m sure that someone may help her bring the two worlds together as one when she decides to accept Yeshua into her life.

Shelley is quite an interesting person to come across in the ministry with the mentally challenged people. She has an outgoing personality. She is pretty much a “mother-hen” to many of the members. She has such strong attention to details that surrounds her. I know that there are qualities Shelley needed to change and I’m hoping that someone will have the patience to teach her about her integrity and truthfulness. So it was quite a challenge for us as teachers, elders, and others involved in dealing with some of the personality quirks that she has.

I can tell you one example; she would just wait till at the last minute to decide to hitch a ride to church with us by calling. There was a few times that she had delayed on calling at a proper time to hitch a ride.

We have done so much for her in different ways. We have taken her to different places such as to the Jewish temples (or synagogues), a few places to eat, and to church. We have given her a few gifts, and respected her Jewish upbringing.

Shelley make a wonderful Messianic Jew if she decided to accept Yeshua as her true Messiah.

The reason why I am writing about her is that she has sparked my interest in Judaism, and not knowing that I was indeed a Jew until my grandmother has decided to tell me the truth of our family history. I have previously written a blog about my Jewish heritage called “The Puzzle In Our Lives.” It is has been edited and posted yesterday (July 16^th, 2013).

If it weren’t for Shelley to appear on the scene; I would never have known of my Jewish heritage. It was like the Cosmic Guidance has been telling me something for a long period of time till I heard it through Shelley, then, Ken and then at last, my grandmother Penny. So I am glad and thankful that the Cosmic Guidance brought Shelley into our lives to spark an interest in the Jewish roots of Yeshua.

So I believe this is about it for now and will catch you later. I hope you will enjoy this heart-warming blog entry for today.

Shalom!