Siv Rapuano
A collection of monthly prayer letters
Personal testimony (autobiography of author)
Antisemitism chapter
Proactive intercession chapter (a study guide)
Purpose of book / desire of the author
To address the Christian community on the mandate to pray for Israel
To raise an awareness of today’s worldwide problem of antisemitism
To encourage the reader to take a proactive stand on behalf of Israel
To bless Israel and the Jewish people with from the heart
The book is a tribute to God’s chosen nation
To reveal the love of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for His people Israel, the “apple of His eye”
1953 Born in Stockholm, Sweden
1972 Moved to the USA / Converted to Judaism
1977 Bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University
Lives in Connecticut, husband and three children
Attends a Messianic Jewish congregation
Intercessor for Israel
Writes a globally recognized monthly prayer and teaching newsletter for the Saltshakers Messianic website (UK based)
Currently works as coordinator for a international retail company (Sweden based)
DESTINY
A JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE
“But you, Israel, are my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the descendant of Abraham my friend. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you from its farthest regions, and said to you, you are My servant, I have chosen you and not cast you away; Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you with My righteous right hand.”
(Isaiah 40:8-10)
A few years ago, God put on my heart to write down my Jewish testimony. I sat up late at night typing, wondering if I was just doing this for myself or would God use it for sharing it with others? A week later, He opened a door for me to share my life story personally with Anna, a Jewish woman from Georgia who was visiting friends up here in Connecticut. She kept asking questions and reluctantly left with her friends after mid night.
Now, a few years later, He again nudged me. He wanted me to expand on the first part of my story, to reveal His grace in my life. My hope is that you will be blessed by some little part of my testimony, not because of my life, but because of what God has done in my life by His loving grace, and that you also will desire to draw near to Him, the God of Israel. I am a life that was changed.
Back in Sweden where I grew up, my brother loved to read about American culture and society. Being only two years apart in age, we had a close relationship. We were always going places together. One day he asked if I wanted to attend presentation at the U.S. Cultural Center. Naturally I said “yes”. So it happened that we became friends with the speaker of that evening, a Harvard graduate student on research scholarship in Stockholm. After a year there, He was to return to the U.S. That spring he proposed to me. I was only eighteen years old. My whole life was to be changed with my decision top join him in marriage.
It has not been an easy road, but through all my falls and tumbles in life, I can see how God has been with me all the way, even before I became a believer. God had a purpose and a plan for me.
As I thought about my life in preparing this personal testimony, I noticed how my life in some ways paralleled that of Joseph, even as far as forgiveness and thanksgiving is concerned: I left my family in Sweden for a life in a foreign country, the U.S., adopted a new language, religion, culture, and social status. My life went through a complete transformation.
Let me share this time with you.
In 1972, I left Sweden and came to the U.S. to enter a marriage with a Jewish young man. I had just turned nineteen. I converted to Reform Judaism and was, you might say, formally introduced to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I learned about the God of Israel, assimilated into Jewish culture, observed Jewish Holy days, fasted when I was supposed to according to Jewish law, and memorized the Shabbat prayers in Hebrew. I had “religious” knowledge of God but didn’t know Him in a personal way. There was a sincere desire and willingness on my part to accept the God of Israel, and to learn about Jewish social life and Judaism. I chose to attend Brandeis, a Jewish University outside Boston where we lived. I took a year of Hebrew, learned to observe Jewish cultural and religious traditions. Yes, I even adopted the typical Yiddish words and expressions that you would here daily in the Jewish community. If you asked me of my identity, I would have answered “Jewish” without hesitation. My Star of David was my single piece of jewelry, except for my wedding ring. It was an honor to wear it.
Ruth’s words would hold true for me at this time:
“Your people will be my people, and your God, my God.”(Ruth 1:16b)
Sadly, this marriage between two young people ended after five years. It left my heart filled with bitterness, hurt, and unforgiveness. I was left without a marriage, left God, and left the Jewish community. In my grief, I walked away from everything that had been so much part of my life for my first five years in the United States.
A few years later, I became a believer in Jesus (Yeshua). I asked Him to be my Savior and Redeemer. By accepting Him into my life, I was bought by the blood of the Lamb, and my sins were forgiven. I now had become “informally’ introduced to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
From this time on, he LORD began to change my heart attitude. My love for the Jewish people was returning, since the divorce years earlier. This love has since grown so powerfully that I know only God could have restored it. I have a genuine, deep love for the Jewish people and Israel.
Only the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) can restore a love that has been lost for years, especially when the heart has deep emotional scars that never did heal.
I did not understand this until just a few years ago. Even that even after I walked away from the God of Israel in 1978, He did not “walk away” from me. He had a plan for my life, like for the people of Israel, and He had “not left me nor forsaken me”. Subsequently, over the years, He has “restored the years that the locusts had stolen”. My own identity in Judaism, now as a believer in Yeshua, came alive again. It happened over a period of years, with many confirmations along the way, so the signature of the Almighty One became evident.
God is faithful. He gave us a free will, and we can choose to walk away from Him. Yet, He remains faithful to us. The hope is found in Him, always. He brought me back to His covenant that I broke.
