Where God Was Leading Me

By Dr Jayson Stoffman

Dr Jayson Stoffman is a pediatric oncologist in Winnipeg Manitoba. He lives there with his wife, Margriet, and son, Alex.

I grew up in a Conservative Jewish family – we observed Passover and Hanukkah, and went to Synagogue on the High Holidays.  As I grew older, I continued with most of the traditions, and worked to fit them into my increasingly busy life.  I kept up with the activities that I felt showed my relationship with God, although I probably wouldn’t have phrased it that way at the time. Fasting for Yom Kippur and keeping Kosher for Passover were my ways of demonstrating my faith.  I always said that I believed in God, but not in the requirements of organized religion.

I considered myself open-minded with respect to other beliefs, but never imagined embracing any of them for myself. In 2002, I met my future wife, Margriet, a Christian with strong faith in Jesus as the Messiah.  At the time, she was living and studying in Liverpool, England, and regularly attending church.  When she first took me along to a service at her church, called Frontline, I remember being struck by the strong sense of caring and friendship I could see and feel in the room.  I also remember telling her that I could never tell anyone I had been there.

I continued joining her at Frontline services whenever I would visit England, but always resisted participating in them.  As we grew closer, and ultimately became engaged and moved towards marriage, our different religious beliefs started to come into conflict.  I didn’t know until later that she was praying for me to come to believe in Jesus, and had faith that God would work things through in both our lives before we were married.

Five months before our wedding, we went to a conference at Margriet’s church.  I couldn’t understand the purpose of a church conference and didn’t really want to be there.  During the worship, the thought passed through my mind that, if I spent the effort participating in the service that I did resisting it, I might actually enjoy myself.  I started to join in the singing, and felt my heart open up and join in fellowship with the people around me.  I now recognize that the Spirit of God had finally managed to push open the barriers that I had put up to keep Him out.

Still, I resisted making a commitment to accept Jesus as Messiah and Lord. The Sunday before our wedding, we were at Frontline again, and I could feel a pull towards Him.  Margriet was encouraging me to take that step, and I was pleading with her that I just couldn’t do it. At the end of the service, our pastor, Nic Harding, gave an invitation to accept Christ, as he always does, but I stayed planted in my place. Then, as he walked by me, he said that he could feel that there was one more guy who needed to make that step of faith. Realizing that I couldn’t deny God’s call any more, I finally stepped forward and, with Margriet and Nic, prayed for Jesus to come into my life.  That was in June of 2005 – six days before our wedding.  Just over a year later I was baptized.

Since coming to faith in Jesus Christ, my life has been transformed in amazing and unexpected ways.  I couldn’t bring myself to tell my family about my decision until many months later.  When I did, despite the worry I had harboured about their reaction, they were supportive, if not entirely understanding. I think my mother still believes it was all Margriet’s influence that caused the positive changes she could see in my life!  I know that it was Yeshua’s influence that made the greatest difference.

Almost five years later, God has taken me to places I never would have imagined spiritually.  While maintaining my busy medical practice, I recognize as never before the importance of serving God, and am currently doing so in various capacities at my church, together with my wife.  I remain proud of my Jewish heritage, and have a new appreciation of it from my Christian perspective.  In preparing to lead our church in the Passover Seder, I was struck at the prophecies of Christ that I had missed in the Haggadah* I had read through for so many years of Passovers.

When I look back at my life, I can see now that this was always where God was leading me. As a Jewish kid and teenager, I was always more interested in showing that I believed in God rather than just doing what I was supposed to do. I just didn’t realize until much later that God was interested in the same things – he wants me to join Him in relationship and not just act the part. I’m grateful that He persisted in breaking through my barriers and resistance, and putting the people in my path to guide me down His path. I’m excited to see where my walk with Him will take me from here.

*The Haggadah is the book containing the order of service and liturgy of the Passover Seder.

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