Dina spoke slowly, thinking carefully as she chose her words.
Above them, seagulls flew freely, gliding past the ship as if racing it.
“I want you to believe in the God of the Jews too,” she said quietly.
“I know it may seem selfish, since He is the very God I once tried to forget. But so many things have happened, and I’ve come to realize something. We cannot live by forgetting God—and we must not try to. God is the One who gave us life.
Our God loves people the way a father loves his children.
“When I learned about the Greek gods, I couldn’t help thinking how impossible it was for such careless, unfaithful beings to be the true God. Alex and I talked about it often. He was uncertain too. He used to say again and again, ‘There must be a true God somewhere.’”
“He sometimes told me,” Luke said softly, “‘Maybe my mother’s God is the true God.’”
“Yes,” Dina replied. “Alex was truly a good man. I wanted to live longer—with him, together.”
For a while, Dina fell silent.
Luke stood up, gently placing his hand on his mother’s shoulder.
“Mom, I’m still a child,” he said, “but I’m my father’s son. I’ll protect you in his place. I promised him I would.”
He remembered his last conversation with his father.
“And I’ll find what Father couldn’t. I’ll find out where the true God is. I want to know whether what the Greek philosophers say is really true or not. It may take a long time—but one day, I promise, I’ll discover the truth.”
In her heart, Dina whispered a short prayer.
Thank you, God.
Dina sent a letter to her father and mother, though she did not know whether it ever reached them. She did not know whether they would forgive her. Since losing her husband, scenes from the days she had tried so hard to forget rose vividly in her mind, like a flame that could not be extinguished.
Talking with friends by the village well…
The joyful journeys to Jerusalem for the yearly festivals…
Singing and dancing together after Sabbath gatherings at the synagogue…
Praying to Jehovah, even as a small child…
I want to go home. I will accept any punishment…
Let me return…
Mother, Father…
I want to see you…
In her letter to her parents, Dina quoted words from the Book of Ruth.
Ruth, a woman from a foreign land, said these words to her mother-in-law Naomi after losing her Israelite husband:
“Your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.” (Ruth 1:16)
The God Ruth sought was the God Dina had known since childhood.
The God she had tried to forget.
How are you?
I am returning to Jehovah, the God of my father and mother.
Will you forgive me?
Please keep me and my son Luke close to you.
I wandered in a foreign land, but now I am returning to my God.
These words came straight from Dina’s heart.
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