Aliza Doyle's Testimony

I was born on a kibbutz in the northern Galilee region of Israel. My family, although Jewish, were secular Jews. The Old Testament was taught at school (10 years x 4-6 hours a week), and no one ever told us that there was no God, but the emphasis was on the historical facets of the Bible, and the literary value of it.

At the age of 18 I joined the Israeli army like every other 18 year old in Israel. Eight months into my service I was notified I had to go through officer's training. One part of our training was to stand in front of 150 girls and speak on anything we want for 45 minutes. I was a very shy person, and not at all good at speaking before a crowd. Trying to come up with a topic that would be flowing with information and easy to speak on, I decided to present an argument on whether Judaism is a religion or a culture (no jokes because I kill them every time). While studying, I began to feel that there was something missing in my life. There was no spiritual side to it. So I began searching. I went to a "Yeshiva" a religious Jewish school, but was kicked out for being too intellectual about everything. Then I followed my Rabbi's advice and enrolled at Haifa University in Judaism and Talmudic studies. I was still not satisfied and at that point I decided to put the search on a back burner, buy a backpack, and go traveling in the big wide world.

After traveling for about six months, I decided to go to Hawaii and visit my aunt. I thought I did it because it was too cold to stay in Europe, but in fact God had a plan...

About two months after I got to Hawaii my aunt came home from work and told me of a woman who had come up to her and told her that Isaiah 53 talks about Jesus. She asked if, being a Bible student, I could come up with enough commentary and a better explanation to refute what the woman had said. I started to study.

To this day I can remember the moment when God opened my eyes to see the Truth. I got a New Testament and started to read the Gospel according to Matthew and then compared it with Isaiah 53. It was so obvious! Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, and the Son of God. I couldn't stop reading about Him, and I was finally satisfied. I felt like there was a big spiritual side to me that was awakened through this meeting with Jesus. Through reading more in the New Testament, I found out He wasn't only the long awaited Messiah but He came with a personal message for me. He wanted to be the King of my life, and with all the Joy I received by getting to know Him, I couldn't think of a better thing to do.

Six weeks later my aunt became a Christian too, and a few weeks later my uncle did. Shortly after, I returned to Israel.

This was 14 years ago. In all these years Jesus never failed to be the Good and Loving King that He promised to be, although I neglected many times my duties as a citizen of His Kingdom, and I learned that His love for me is not depended on my performance as a Christian. All He wants of me is that I believe in Him and accept His free gift of eternal life.