Taken Captive by Torah!!

I decided to blog about how we came to be walking in Torah!!  I was raised a preacher's daughter and my husband was the elder's kid.  We were in church every time the doors were opened.  I can remember as a little girl of 10 asking my daddy why we didn't keep the law.  Of course, he had all the practiced answers of how that was all done away with when "Jesus" died on the cross.  I also asked why we didn't worship on Saturday as the Bible told us to.  He told me that it changed to Sunday and that to fit in with the norm of church society, we all worship on the same day.  I always look in envy at the people worshiping on Sat.  

So anyway, life just goes on.  I married and we continued the "church" pattern.   We were involved in whatever church we happen to be attending.  We hopped around a lot.  Not because anyone was asking us to live a better life than we wanted to live or asking us to work in the church and we didn't want to.  We were searching for a set apart people.  People that actually live by some kind of standard.  People who walked the talk of the Scriptures they claim to read.  So we were never happy.  All the sermons were about how much "God" wants to bless you and give you things.  Women were dressed so skimpily that I thought I was on a street corner instead of church.  I actually had to move my family of 7 because of how short the women's dresses were in front of us.  I was angry every Sunday.  We fought all the way to church and I spent the whole time going home saying, "now, kids that is not Scriptural, or what the pastor said is wrong or he just twisted the verse to mean what he wanted it to mean."  I got tired.  Really tired.  So we left!!  

We decided to "home" church.  We would just teach our children from the Scriptures.  Nothing added or taken out.  We decided to have a home school gathering at our house to work with the horses that Yahweh had given us.  Something always kept interfering with our plans.  I would have to cancel for one reason or another.  I sent out an email to everyone on the list.  It went out to everyone but the Williams, who showed up, unexpectedly, at my door.  I told them it was canceled and they turned to leave.  I decided to invite them in to talk.  We thought that they were nice, but really odd :)   She mentioned that they didn't go to church but home churched, interesting.   They were wearing tassels on their clothes which I found to be bizarre. They were all so skinny and talked about how they were healthy eaters, whatever that meant.  So they went home and we thought, oh well.  Bev called and invited us to supper on Sunday night, which happened to be Yom Teruah, the feast of Trumpets.  I had to convince my husband to go.  I told him not to worry that we were not going to believe like they did and we certainly were not going to start eating like they did.  My husband knew me well enough to be very worried :)  So we went over and they had other odd people there with them, the Nitz family.  Every where we went in "church" circles we were the big family, not here.  They each had 7 kids.  I had lots of questions and John answered them all carefully.  I enjoyed myself and the kids really did.  It was Casey's first exposure and he just saw all the odd things about them.  John gave us a business card with a website on it before we left.  We said goodbye thinking that we will never get together again.  Little did we know!!  Britney and I came home and 3 days later looked up their website.  Man Oh Man!!!!  We were blown away!!  To say that our eyes were opened is the understatement of the year.  We each got out our Bibles and were looking at the verses he was using and were looking at each other in absolute amazement!!  I was 41 at the time and I finally had all the answers that I had been searching for practically my whole life.  Yahweh was right there telling me what I always wanted to know.  That is why I am convinced that He opens the eyes of who He wants, because I was hungry and searching for years but only found it when He was ready for me to.  

There was no turning back for Britney and I.  The kids went along, but hubby was like, "you promised."  I know I said that we wouldn't believe like them, but they are right!!  I am humbled everyday by Yahweh choosing to open our eyes to the truth of His Torah.  His law is not burdensome, it is the most freeing thing in my life.  I am free to live a life that is pleasing to Him!!  I am free to live a life set free from the bondages of sin!!  I am free to live a life that has sloughed off the traditions of man!!  I am saved by the blood of Yeshua, but I am obedient to the commands of His Father!!!  We jumped in with both feet and it was over our heads.  We tread water well.  We learned so much in the first days, weeks and months.  We gave up all the traditional and pagan holidays of man.  We embraced the Feasts of Yahweh.  It is such a blessing to read the Scriptures with my children and say, "hey, we do that" not, "now, that is no longer applied to us and we don't have to worry with all those rules and laws. We are all covered by grace and can sin all we want.  We have the get out of hell free card."  I am so glad to discover that Yeshua's blood gave me so much more than just a ticket out of damnation. 

Of course, it was not long before we switched to a healthier eating, not quite as far gone as they are, but we are eating much better than 2 years ago.  I have only bought 3 loaves of bread in that time.  We make our own from our fresh ground wheat!!  I can refer to the Williams and Nitzs families as odd, because now we are too. Yahweh has done so much in our family it is amazing.  Britney was almost 19 when we first met the Williams.  Her greatest desire was to serve Yahweh, but her next greatest was to be a wife and mother.  We had looked at several young at the churches that we attended and after watching their lives and seeing their Facebook pages, we would know they were not pure enough for her.  She was discouraged, but knew that Yahweh was in control.  The Williams came to the rescue!! :)  Yahweh worked it out so perfectly!!  Jay was the oldest son of  John and Bev.  He too was sheltered and kept himself pure and innocent.  Britney was head over heels in no time, but it took a little longer for Jay.  However, just 8 months later they were engaged.  They married in Oct. just 13mo. after meeting and nine months after that, they gave us our first grandson!!  There is nothing that could ever happen in my life that would make me turn back to the life that I had before.  To be obedient is my highest desire.  It is a privilege every week to honor His day of rest on Sat.  At sundown on Friday is the sweetest time I have ever known.   Every feast is a celebration of Yahweh's ways and shows us how Yeshua's life lines up with Yahweh's patterns.  We changed to using the true name of Yahweh.  Every religion calls their mighty one, God.  What makes us different, His name!!!  So here we are!!  Striving every day to be a pleasing sacrifice to our Creator.  Looking forward to the day that we will truly be home in the land of Israel.  Anticipating the return of our Groom!!  Rejoicing over the events in the world as it prepares the earth and His bride for the upcoming Marriage Supper of the Lamb!!!!  I am going to end this with the website that Yahweh used to open our eyes!!     itsinthere.org   Watch out!!  It could radically change your life!!!