Hi Lori Renee, sit down. I too am Jewish! I am a "completed" or "fulfilled" Jew b/c I recognize Jesus Christ as Messiah. By the time He came, the Jews were under such heavy Roman oppression that they lost sight of the fact that Messiah was to be their spiritual deliverer and instead were looking for Him to be their political deliverer.

I am a skeptic. You have to prove it to me. He fulfilled over 333 Old Testament prophecies about who Messiah would be and without Divine intervention, He couldn't have fulfilled the geneological, geographic, chronlogic, demographic etc. prophecies. Oh my gracious, check out these many sites who show the astronomical probabilities of Christ fulfilling these:
https://www.google.com/search?q=university+probability+Jesus+fulfilling+all+old+testament+prophecies&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS804US804&oq=university+probability+Jesus+fulfilling+all+old+testament+prophecies&aqs=chrome..69i57.23210j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I knew we had a God since I was 5 years old and I wanted to know Him. I was very aware there was a spiritual realm in life. I am not going to get into it, but I experienced the dark side many times over the years. Not good, very real.

Then as a teen I just had to know what people believed and why so I really did my homework. I found that most world religions believe Jesus was a great man. It's unbelievable the great things they say about Him: https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/who-is-jesus-according-to-other-religions/

I began to read a lot of apologetics aka defenders of the faith. Many of whom started out to DISprove biblical Christianity but wound up believers due to all the evidence. Biblical Christianity is an evidence based faith. It takes more faith to be an aethist.

Today, Christianity is the most persecuted faith on the planet. Christians are being slaughtered by the thousands all over the world for even having a page of the bible. The bible has been outlawed in so many countries over the years. It was even made into toilet paper in Romania when 20,000 bibles were donated in 1970's per the Wall Street Journal. The ink wouldn't come off so the words were visible on the toilet paper. For way, way too many years Christians were persecuted in communist and other countries and more. It's almost genocide in Africa now.

So I had never heard the gospel: that my sin (Hebrew word Ra meaning missing the mark-can be bad attitude, selfishness, doesn't have to be murder), but God is holy and our sin separates us from Him so Jesus paid for them on the cross; a gift I accepted. When I heard it I responded and invited Christ into my life. I meant it. My spirit/soul knew what I was hearing was truth. I stepped out in faith. There used to be a bumper sticker saying, "Christ is the Answer". I finally understood that bc my search to know God after all those years, ended. I had no more questions. And over the years since, I've sat under the best, most doctrinally sound teachers (pastors, etc.). I'm pretty cerebral (well I used to be LOL!) so have studied the bible (original language, context, etc.) and am growing and learning all the time.

I Corinthians 2:14, "The person without the Spirit ("natural man" in some versions) does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit." I get that. But when I see all the evidence, and since the Holy Spirit/Christ/God the Father indwells me, I don't have any problem understanding what I used to think was a fairy tale!

In Lee Strobel's book/movie, "The Case for Christ", one can see. Lee was an investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune. He had a law degree from Yale. I never knew investigative reporters were like dectectives! Anyway, he noticed some behavior changes in his wife. She told him it was b/c she had come to know Jesus. The first thing he thought was, "divorce". He spent the next two years going around the world trying to gether evidence to disprove biblical Christianity. He brought what he found to his favorite law professor who was an elderly Jewish aethist. After reviewing what Lee brought to him, he said there is enough evidence to prove the ressurrection of Jesus Christ, which is what the Christian faith is based on. And of course, now Lee and so many others who did the same thing, is and are now believers in Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Man it's incredible to learn this stuff!! I mean the bible was written by some 40 different authors who didn't know one another, who lived on 3 different continents over many different years and it's consistent with itself and it is still the number one best selling book in the Guiness Book of World records, some 5 billion sold! Even when it's been outlawed in so many countries for so many years.

One has to ask, why do so many risk their lives sneaking even one page of the bible into a country and why, do so many risk their lives, even to read just one page of it? The coolest pastor/teacher former MMA fighter, Voddie Baucham explains on his vidoes on YouTube, why he believes the bible. He is great and when you watch this video, I guarentee, your life will change! You can select the one you want to watch as he keeps changing it up a tad over the years. I pick the most recent but they are all excellent:
https://www.google.com/search?q=voddie+baucham+why+i+believe+thebible+youtube&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS804US804&oq=voddie+baucham+why+i+believe+thebible+youtube&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.9648j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Well I see I've written another novel. Geesh. I just can't stop! I think it's the Gabapentin plus my passion. I wondered if I should have answered your post in a private message. Lori Renee, I hope some or any of this helps. I pray you may experience the transforming love, comfort and peace of God through Christ which transcends all human understanding Philippians 4:7. You are right, it is my intimate relationship with our living God that sustains me, satiates me, and gets me through all this pain and hardship in life. I have hope and assurance as Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

In Christ's unfathomable, vast, boundless, sacrificial, unconditional love, Sunnyflower

@lorirenee1 I am replying for the very first time using my phone. My wifi is down for the moment for who knows what reason. Stupid AT&T! I just realized that I can't save what I write as I go on Connect (I can't on the laptop either but I also won't lose what I have written if I close my laptop for a while). So I will write you when my wifi comes back. Best, Hank

@lorirenee1 OK, I am on my laptop. That was weird, I'm beginning to think I need to get a different ISP if AT&T can't maintain my connection consistently, this seems to happen more and more lately.

Anyway, Lori, I think this is wonderful that you are having visions of Jesus, assuming they are experiences of feeling love, and happiness and safety. There is nothing wrong with that in my opinion. I think any experience where you have a vision of or feel the presence of God, Jesus, whatever, as long as it is accompanied by feeling of love, is great. What a gift! You are very lucky and quite special. Well, I already knew you were special, I just mean special in the sense of being on the receiving end of such blessings. I am very happy for you, you deserve this. It's my belief that God gives us strength if we ask for strength, to get through the difficulties of our lives. You certainly have the difficulties. He is providing the strength.

You are wonderful, Lori, and one of the joys I have had in my 8 months now on Connect has been getting to know you. Hank