Back on September 10th, at our Church-Plant Graduation Party, a few people shared aobut their experiences at True Life and what God has done. 

Marissa Rubenstein decided to write something up and offered to let me (Pastor Chris) share it with all of you. 

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Hello Everyone, 

So many of you know me as True Life's resident Jew!  I have been with True Life since they opened their doors.  I actually attended Relevant Church a few times trying to get someone else out of an unhealthy church and after hearing Chris speak I somehow I ended up crying and feeling connected so I stuck with it.  

Let me get some questions out of the way...Yes I am Jewish, no I am not converting to Christianity(or getting baptized), and sorry but I do not believe Jesus is the Messiah.  So for those of you who don't me you're probably wondering well then what the heck am I doing here?  Let me start off by saying that even though I may not believe the same as all of you, I respect whatever it is you choose to believe as I would hope you would do the same with me.  

Pastor Chris and True Life came into my life at a very interesting time.  In 2011 I was hit by a drunk driver and my life had been forever changed.  In 2012 I had a 2 level back fusion surgery, ended up in a rehab to learn how to walk all over again, dress myself, and many every day things that were no longer simple for me. One month after surgery my mother was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer.  As the years went by her cancer spread to her liver and then to her lungs to then be stage 4.  My mother fought hard for a little over 4 years and by the grace of God I can finally say she will be cancer free for 2 years in January! In August of 2016 my father was rushed to the hospital only to find out that he had a large infected abscess inside of him and had emergency surgery that he almost died from.  We found out that a doctor had left a stent inside of his rectum when he had surgery 17 years ago for his colon cancer and it has been eroding inside of him ever since and would eventually kill him if we didn't get it out.  After months of healing from being in ICU and transferred from one hospital to another, about 8 months later in June 2017 Sloan Kettering performed this never before massive surgery on my father to remove the stent and his entire rectum.  The result, all our prayers were answered and not only did he survive the surgery but it went according to plan.

Needless to say life has been very tough for my family and through the years and I am grateful to True Life and people like Chris, Mamma Nancy, Stephanie, Pam, Nanci Schiavo, and many others who were always there for me, praying for me, hugging me, and simply loving me.  So again why you ask do I go to TLC?  I personally struggle with the tragedies that have happened in my families life as well as my own.  I question God, I struggle with my belief in him and having the hope that things will be ok.  I've always been a fairly positive happy person but after losing my brother years ago that all changed. I was mad at God, I didn't have the same hope I used to have and then when all the stuff hit in 2011 and on it just got worse for me.  For whatever reason God put me in Relevant to meet Chris which led me to TLC.

Since day one I have felt as though church has been my safe place, my haven, my release.  I tend to keep things inside and brush them under the rug but every time I came to church I would find myself crying and talking to god during worship.  I would also end up talking to Mamma Nancy about everything and she would talk to me as if I was her daughter and then she would pray over me and I would cry some more.  It just all felt so right and yet I wasn't there for the religious aspect if that makes sense.  I feel I was brought to True Life for the spiritual aspect in my life.  Listening to Chris's sermons was honestly more like a history lesson for me, which was cool but I mostly couldn't relate but found it all very interesting.  Then there were so many times in the past year or so when I would say how did Chris do that?  How did he know what I was going through and his sermon was all about what I was feeling and/or experiencing...it was crazy!  Then I realized that wasn't Chris, it was God.  

For me to stand here today and be able to say that I truly believe certain things are because of God is huge!  When you have so much tragedy and it's constant for years and years in your life, you lose any faith or belief you ever had.  I love to see so many of you at church and how you believe with such ease...I am envious of that.  I want to one day be able to say Yes Lord, you are so much bigger than everything in my life and this is your world, your journey you have planned for me and you will get me through it all.  I will one day have complete faith in him, I'm getting there slowly but surely.  

In conclusion, I want to thank you Chris for embracing and loving on this Jewish girl who step foot in your church and you accepted me just as I am.  You were the first person in my life to defend me in a certain situation when I thought nobody ever would.  You showed me love from day one and never pushed me away or in any other direction.  You simply accepted me for who I am, my beliefs, and non-beliefs and for that I will be forever grateful to you and this beautiful church I can call home.  The cherry on top of this beautiful story is that the night after this church plant officially became an official church, my mother told me she was so happy that I had found a place where I can go to to be open, talk about things, and release the struggles and sadness that I carry with me.  Needless to say my parents were very confused and not the happiest to hear their daughter was attending church and to top it off..greeting!!!  LOL  Years have passed and to hear my mother say she was happy for me and grateful to the people of true life meant more to me than she would ever know.  

I look forward to seeing what God has in store for True Life and myself.