Craig Pinley
CARY, NC (December 18, 2000) – “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2)
Susan Blanton spent her entire life looking for the Messiah, having been raised an Orthodox Jew. Only in the past two months, however, has she been able to experience what it truly means to find Him. Blanton celebrated her new faith in Jesus Christ December 3 by being baptized at Redeemer Covenant Church in Cary, North Carolina.
Blanton gave her testimony at two worship services following a pre-church baptism in the Jacuzzi in the YMCA facility that serves as Redeemer’s church building. Pastor Thomas Rousseau suggested that Blanton’s story is a most appropriate way to begin the Advent season. “For me, a testimony (like Blanton’s) is worth 100 sermons.”
Blanton gave her testimony at two worship services following a pre-church baptism in the Jacuzzi in the YMCA facility that serves as Redeemer’s church building. Pastor Thomas Rousseau suggested that Blanton’s story is a most appropriate way to begin the Advent season. “For me, a testimony (like Blanton’s) is worth 100 sermons.”
Blanton grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and celebrated the Sabbath from Friday night until Saturday night, like any good Orthodox Jew would do. Due to restrictions that were part of her kosher home, foods like pepperoni pizza and cheeseburgers were not part of her life until she was 21 years old.
Susan met her Catholic husband in 1979 and they were engaged two years later knowing that Susan’s family did not approve of the marriage. When her husband was not welcomed into her family’s home, her husband asked her father, “Will the day I get married change who I am to you?”
The day Susan married Joe (1982) did signal a change. Instead of dealing only with her faith as an Orthodox Jew, she now had the traditions of the Catholic faith to consider. She said that during her first 18 years of marriage, “We celebrated everything. We had religion, but I had no faith.”
The birth of triplets in 1992 added to the confusion. Even as she taught her children Hebrew, Susan and Joe had no church home. Through a neighbor, Susan attended a Christmas season church service and she began to think more about her faith. “I brought the kids and I had such a good time I didn’t want to leave.”
In May 2000, Blanton attended a women’s retreat and the experience of a Sunday morning worship service awed her. “The women were singing hymns I didn’t know, but it was like they were singing them to me,” she said. “I said to myself that God was in the house that morning. I couldn’t wait to talk to Joe about it.
Not long after, Blanton experienced a special prayer service at Redeemer Covenant Church and that led to more questions. “It was the first time I had seen anything like this before and I had all sorts of questions about prayer,” she recalled. “Who do I pray to? What do I pray? I wondered if I was praying right and I spent the whole night practicing how to pray.”
During the fall, Blanton went out for coffee with a friend from church and came home a new person. Having Jesus Christ as her personal savior makes this holiday season different from any she has experienced.
“I have a grace that I really have never had before,” said Blanton, who works at a cafeteria at a local school. “And I can see that spilling out through my family. I hear them humming hymns and talking about God and everything is real and new to me. I never knew the meaning of Christmas until this year. It’s kind of like when you’re just married, that sense of joy during the honeymoon period. That’s how I feel about my newfound Christianity and my new church family.”
Copyright © 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.