Martha Ross

I, the co-owner of the Facebook page The Amish Way, was born and raised Old Order Amish in the Middlefield, Ohio Amish community, which is the fourth largest Amish community in the world. Being Amish was all I knew for the first 22 years of my life. I was taught how to be Amish, how to stay Amish, and how to follow what everyone else in our community did.

But I wasn’t your average Amish girl—though I didn’t know how to be anything else except what I was told to be. I had a lot of questions about the things the Amish do. Many things seemed off, and they just didn’t feel right. But in the Amish, we are taught not to question. Questioning is considered rebellious. So, I gave up asking until the time came when I thought my questions would finally be answered—when I would be ready to join the Amish church. In our community, that usually happens around the age of 20.

One day, I went with my sister-in-law to one of my relatives’ houses. We were talking about Amish traditions. I don’t remember exactly what the topic was, but it was something the Amish really don’t have answers for. Once again, I was told, “You just have to do what you’re supposed to do. A lot of things are not for us humans to know, so we can’t know. We just have to do what we’re told.” But that was not a valid answer to me. That was the same answer I had gotten all my life! I could not make a commitment to the Amish church without knowing the simple answers to the questions in my heart.

The summer before I turned 21, I moved out of my parents’ house. They were not happy about it, but I was still in their same church district, completely Amish, and at that time had no plans of ever leaving. What I did gain, though, was a little more freedom to search for answers outside the Amish, since I had found none inside.

I bought a Bible translation in English that I could actually read and understand. I also had a phone, so I found a Bible study on YouTube. I was very cautious about it because I did not want to be deceived. I just wanted real answers. I had never heard anyone else in the world explain the Bible before, so I wanted to see what true Christians had to say and compare it with what I read in the Bible myself.

That Bible study was amazing. It was a simple explanation of Scripture, and everything began to make sense. I had known nothing about the Bible before. I didn’t even realize it had different books written by different men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. But as I listened, and read the Bible for myself, it all started to come together. My questions began to be answered.

I searched for every question I ever had in every possible way I could think of—things people probably never thought to search before. As I kept reading and learning, I began to develop a personal relationship with Jesus. I got saved, and the Holy Spirit came to live inside me. With His guidance, I was able to discern truth from lies. And with that, I finally experienced something I had never known before: peace.

It was a long journey to reach that point, because what I learned from the Bible was completely opposite from what I had been taught in the Amish all my life. The Amish told me one thing, but the Bible told me another. That was very confusing, and it made the journey difficult. But thank you, Jesus, for showing me the Way!