Kelly’s Facebook page had a neat little post that I wanted to reshare.  Short and sweet but powerful…

This was written by Patricia Ann Rainey…

Who am I?

I am not a Jew. I was not born a Jew. I am not trying to be a Jew. I will never be a Jew. Jewish traditions hold no allure for me whatsoever.

I was born of the Nations. I was called out from the Nations, by the Creator who designed me to be from the Nations, to speak one of the languages of the Nations, so I could be among the Nations.

What I am is grafted into the olive tree (Romans 11) and thus I become Israel. I am not grafted into the Jews. I am called to obey the instructions/teachings of the people of Israel, the Torah! NOT the laws of the Jews (Talmud), or walk in the ways of the Nations (humanism), or the laws of the church (denominational doctrines and traditions).

I am not trying to be a Jew. I am not trying to be a Gentile. I am trying to be an Israelite. Because I come from the Nations, I will never look Jewish, although to the untrained eye, it will appear so, because I will do some of the things that they do, the way they do it perhaps, but other things I will do in a way that looks utterly foreign to them. And that’s okay!

I look this way because I am a person who was called out of the Nations, by my Master, Yeshua the Messiah of Israel, to be a part of His people, Israel, obeying His Torah (teachings), and waiting for His return.

I am doing my best, and it’s going to look weird to most people, but that’s where patience and grace come into the picture. I have to obey the Torah of YHWH, but the way I obey it doesn’t have to look exactly the same as the way others (or you) obey it.

Torah is a pursuit and a journey of a child with it’s Father. As each child is individually unique, so will our walk with the Father be unique. Same rules for all the children, but at different points along the walk, we will be better and worse than others at figuring out how to live in obedience. And it’s okay.

Most weren’t raised as Torah observers. It’s a struggle. A learning process. We will fail many times. Start expecting failure and realize that after 3500 years, we are all doing it wrong, but love spurs us on to try anyway — and faith tells us that YHWH greatly rejoices in our pursuit of obedience.

Shalom~