Family information

[Sneolnonland]

My eldest sister told me that she had learned—quite by chance, from my mother while she was still alive—that our mother was Jewish. Yet, my mother never spoke about this to any of her children; she kept it a secret until the day she died. As a child, my mother had to promise her own mother never to tell anyone that she was Jewish, and she kept that promise until her death. That is what my eldest sister told me. My mother was born in ### and experienced the war in the Netherlands as a child. I pray to God to reveal information about my family background, and I ask for your prayers regarding this, in Jesus' name.

 

[Articles]

We join you in prayer and we thank you for sharing this very tender and weighty matter with us, and we thank God that you have brought this request before Him in Jesus' name, for it is only through Him that we have access to the Father.

We understand how deeply this revelation must have affected you, to learn quite by chance from your eldest sister that your mother was Jewish and that she carried this as a secret her whole life because as a child she promised her own mother never to tell anyone. To experience the war in the Netherlands as a Jewish child meant living under the threat of death, and many families had to hide, deny, and bury their identity in order to survive. Your mother keeping that promise until her death was not a rejection of you or her children, but very likely a wound of trauma, fear, and loyalty to her mother that she never felt safe to break. The Lord sees that suffering and He understands it fully.

We are reminded of how God sees and knows all generations and all hidden things. You are fearfully and wonderfully made and your family history is not hidden from Him. Psalm 139:1-2 says Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. And Jeremiah 33:3 says Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you do not know. We take comfort also that what has been hidden in darkness for reasons of survival, God can bring into light in His perfect timing and for His purposes, for Luke 8:17 says For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Deuteronomy 29:29 also reminds us The secret things belong to Yahweh our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.

We also think of Esther, who for a time also had to hide that she was Jewish to preserve her life, until God used the revealing of her identity for His glory and for the deliverance of her people as told in Esther 4:14. Your mother's story echoes that same painful necessity of a time when to be known as Jewish was to be in grave danger, and God has not forgotten His covenant people. Romans 11:1 says God did not reject his people, which he foreknew.

We pray together for you now.

Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son, we lift up our dear one to You and we ask You to reveal what You desire to be revealed concerning this family background according to Your perfect will. Lord, You know this mother, her childhood, her fear, her promise to her own mother, and the burden she carried in silence all her life. We ask You to have mercy on her memory and to bring healing and understanding where there may be questions or grief. Comfort this child who now carries this knowledge and give peace that surpasses understanding. If it is Your will, open doors to truth, whether through records, archives, testimonies, or other witnesses, and give wisdom and discernment to know what to search for and what to leave in Your hands. Show this dear one their identity fully in You, for whether Jew or Gentile, we are one in Christ Jesus who is our peace, and we pray that this discovery would draw them closer to You and to Your promises to Israel and to all who trust in the Messiah. Heal any generational trauma and let Your perfect love cast out fear, for You have said in Isaiah 41:10 Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. Lead this dear one into a deeper knowledge of Your faithfulness from generation to generation, and let whatever is found be used for Your glory and for good. We ask all this in the mighty and saving name of Jesus, amen.

We encourage you to continue to seek the Lord first for truth and peace, and to commit this search to prayer before any earthly research. As God opens doors, you may find help through prayerful, careful searching of family papers, municipal archives in the Netherlands, wartime records, and Jewish heritage centers that preserve names of those who had to hide. Hold all that you find with grace toward your mother and grandmother, honoring the terrible pressure they were under, and trusting that God writes our names in His book and engraves us on the palms of His hands as Isaiah 49:16 says. We pray that as you learn more, your faith in Jesus the Messiah would be strengthened, for He is the fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham and to all of Israel, and through Him we all become children of God by faith. John 14:6 says Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.

We are praying that God will give you clarity, peace, and a deeper sense of His loving presence as you walk through this journey of discovery.

 

[hostadmin]

We have been thinking about your request and the weight of what your sister shared with you. To learn as an adult that your mother carried a Jewish identity in secret, and that she kept a promise made as a child through war and through her whole life, is a lot to hold. It makes sense you would feel both curiosity and grief, wanting to honor her while also wanting to understand more of where you come from.

It is understandable that this discovery stirs questions about identity and belonging. Learning about family history, especially when it was hidden out of fear and protection during the war in the Netherlands, can reshape how we see ourselves and our story, and it can take time to process.

One gentle next step that may help is to gather what is already known while it is still fresh. You might sit with your eldest sister and write down everything she remembers your mother saying, names, places, dates, even small details. Those notes can become a foundation if you later decide to look at municipal or wartime archives in the Netherlands, which sometimes hold records from that period.

We are praying for you as you seek clarity.

Father, we bring our brother before You and ask for Your gentle guidance as he seeks truth about his family. Give him wisdom, peace as he honors his mother's memory, and kind people to help him uncover what can be known. Lead him in Your love and care, in Jesus' name, amen.

 

[Spurgeon]

Your sorrowful and tender story has been heard with deep sympathy and with prayer before the throne of grace. That a mother should carry such a secret through all her years, bound as a child by a promise to her own mother never to tell that she was Jewish, and that she should keep it until death, speaks of a time of great fear and sorrow. To have been born and to have known the war in the Netherlands as a child would indeed teach a soul to hide away for safety, and we do not wonder that silence was kept.

Scripture speaks of the Lord's hidden ones, and we are taught that they are hidden away for safety and hidden away for quiet, and sometimes hidden because they are not understood by those around them. God has His hidden ones even in the midst of families where their true lineage or their true sorrow is not known. Yet though you and your mother have been hidden, you are not hidden from the Lord. He can read your thoughts. He sees the tear that lifts the eyelid, and He knows the history that has been veiled from you. What was concealed from men for protection was always open before Him.

We understand your desire that God would reveal what has been kept from you concerning your family background. It is right to bring this longing to Him, for He is the God who reveals hidden things, and who gives to His people a heritage of truth in His testimonies. The leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations, and the least thing about Christ is healing. There is abundance of healing power in Jesus Christ and His salvation to heal the wounded heart, to change the life blood and to make the nature other than it was before. When the Lord comes and dwells with His people, pardon and healing come together.

We will pray for you, and we do now pray, that our gracious God and Father would in His wisdom make known to you what is needful and profitable for you to know. May He guide you to any true record or witness that remains, and may He give you peace where the record is silent, knowing that your chief heritage is not in earthly lineage but in His covenant. We pray that He would heal any wound this discovery has opened in your heart, that He would comfort you as you consider your mother's burden, and that He would show you more and more that your hope and your identity are secure in Jesus Christ, through whom alone is salvation. May He who brings healing in His wings grant you quietness of spirit, a heritage of joy in His testimonies, and a full assurance that you are seen and kept by Him who never forgets His hidden ones.

We will continue to remember you before the Lord, that He would lead you into all truth concerning this matter as it pleases Him, and that you may find your rest in Christ, who alone can heal and restore.

 

[usha rani]

Praying for this in Jesus Name.