Beyond the Broadcast: Our Bold New Season Begins. Watch Now ->
Beyond the Broadcast: Our Bold New Season Begins. Watch Now ->
Shelby Saemann wasn’t seeking God, but He was seeking her.
Born to an interfaith couple, Shelby grew up with a variety of religious influences. Her mother’s conservative Jewish upbringing helped create a strong Jewish influence in Shelby’s family. They celebrated the Jewish High Holidays, and family filled the house for Chanukah parties each year.
Her father was raised in a traditional Protestant denomination. He grew up learning a lot about the Bible. Still, in Shelby’s family, the Christian influence centered more on the secular traditions of the holidays, such as “Santa at Christmas and serving ham at Easter.”
As for spirituality, being raised in Hawaii, Shelby was surrounded by a lot of occult influences. She was initially drawn to practices like “spiritual readings” and “energy movement.”
When it came to Jesus, Shelby grew into adulthood knowing nothing about Him. And she’d come to see organized religion as something bad.
Later, she moved to the Los Angeles area and eventually landed in a season of depression. She felt no passion, no purpose, and no direction in her life. She wasn’t looking for spiritual answers; she was just enduring.
And then, Jesus came to her in the night.
“He woke me from my sleep,” she recounts.
Shelby described her experience on the “Jewish Voice with Jonathan Bernis” show, saying that she saw an “overwhelming white light” and then “a man within the light.”
She didn’t know who the Man was at the time, but she remembers feeling both frightened and comforted. “It was like I was terrified but in the safest moment of my life at the same exact time.” She said it felt like “being on the edge of a mountain” and “held by the warmest embrace.” The Man in the light told her, “I am the truth. I am God.”
Shelby didn’t know who this Man was, but she went straight to the Bible to investigate. As she spent time studying it – actually trying to disprove a growing hunch – just the opposite happened. Reading the gospel of John solidified for her that “the truth” who visited her was her Messiah, Jesus.
Considering John’s many references to Yeshua as light, it’s no surprise that God used this gospel to clarify Shelby’s visitation. The book of John refers to Jesus as: the light of men, a light shining in the darkness, the true light which gives light to every man, the light of the world, and a light that has come into the world (John 1:4, 5, 9, 8:12, 9:5, and 12:46). Shelby was convinced.
Next came the questions. She grappled with the surprising reality that “Oh, my gosh! I’m a Jewish person who just met Jesus.” Questions swirled in her mind that she couldn’t immediately reconcile. “Am I no longer Jewish?” What does it even mean that I’m Jewish and believe in Jesus?”
Through studying various content by Rabbi Jonathan Bernis and Jewish Voice Ministries, she says she learned, “My Messiah didn’t take away from my Judaism; He fulfilled my Judaism.”
Sometime after that, she came across a Facebook post by JVMI’s partner-congregation, Heritage LA. A word she’d never heard before caught her attention: interfaith. As she checked out the Heritage website, she discovered a whole community of people just like her – people with a mixed Jewish and Christian heritage. She said to herself, “I’ve got to find these people!”
Shelby has been a part of Heritage LA since she found the congregation during the COVID pandemic. Today, Shelby is a dog trainer, and she notes that it was God who called her to the profession. She remembers pondering the unusual move, saying, “I’m leaving an ordinary job to go work full time with dogs?” She added, “It seemed a little bizarre at the time, but it really has led my life into so many blessings.”
When asked what her job has taught her, Shelby replied, “Dog training itself reflects, in so many ways, the relationship we have with God.” She explained: “The order, the structure, and how that actually becomes so freeing for us and allows us to be versions of ourselves that aren’t crippled with depression or anxiety – it’s the very same thing for dogs. It’s been really beautiful bringing that into people’s homes.”
Watch Shelby tell her story on Jewish Voice’s new streaming-only show. Click below, or watch on any of the following platforms:
Shelby Saemann tells the story of her middle-of-the-night visitation from Jesus and how it changed her life.
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