Legendary singer Lily Isaacs shared her amazing testimony with BreatheCast and spoke about her memoir 'You Don't Cry Out Loud' with us. In this segment of the interview, Lily shared about her conversion from a Jewish girl from the Bronx to a Christian gospel singing mid-Westerner.

Yesterday we wrote about Isaac's childhood which was once removed from the Holocaust and her signing of a record deal to Columbia Records at a young age. Read about it here.

After her music career with Lily & Maria began to wane out, she fell in love with a traveling musician from Kentucky named Joe. After many months of back and fourth and periods of not speaking, the two decided to get hitched. However, Lily was in for a bit of a culture shock upon meeting his family in Kentucky and then moving to Ohio.

"That was an eye opener... it was like 'Little House on the Prairie,'" she explained, "It was primitive but magical."

Lily got to experience a bit of farm life, and living off the land and through the elements while with Joe's family. When they moved to Ohio upon getting married, she was able to set into more of a normal routine, but it still was very different from New York.

She said she loves the South, but NYC reminds her of life. Lily now prefers the Nashville, Tennessee area, and likes the small town community, but the city life is wonderful deep down. "I love the sounds and the hustle and bustle."

(Photo : Facebook: Lily Isaacs)

She jokes that she is like "all the other Jewish people because every 20 years I make a major change. I started off in NY, then I moved to Ohio, now I'm in Tennessee. So very shortly in 20 years if I live long enough, I'll be in Miami with all the other Jews."

Her joking aside, if it was not for that southern move, she may have never came to know Christ. Shortly after getting married Joe's brother died in a tragic car accident. Joe's family was Christian, but he was not necessarily practicing. Lily was of course raised Jewish, but was not too religious.

"I think growing up in a Jewish home we were more tied to the Jewish cause than the religion. We went to the synagogue on holy holidays, my father tried to eat kosher, we tried to observe the Sabbath as much as possible, but we were not Orthodox," she explained.

"The Old Testament we did not know. We would go to the synagogue and everything was in Hebrew. It was magical kind of, but I didn't understand. I had questions if there even was a God. I guess it was because of the pain I went through as a child - what my family had gone through. 'God if you're up there why did you let things like this happen?'"

It was then that the young Isaacs went to church to honor the family and pay respects to Joe's brother. Much to their surprise, the service was more of a celebration of life where God's presence was made known. Lily said she was not searching for a supernatural experience, but it found her.

Everyone in the church was singing and praising God, and there was so much love in the room despite the grief. It was that feeling where she became pulled in to discover who this God was. At that moment she kneeled down and cried about all the tragedies of her life.

"The moment my knees hit the floor was the moment God saw my desire to search, to understand about Jesus, about Judaism, about everything," she revealed. Lily was unsure if she was saved that night, but it opened her up. She began reading the Bible with Joe, and having discussions. Finding out Jesus was Jewish was a huge deal. "It changed my heart."

One of the biggest obstacles was still in Lily's way, breaking the news of her Christianity to her Jewish family.

"It was very painful," Lily revealed. Her cousin told his parents and then his parents told hers. She had planned out how she would tell them, but that got spoiled. Her mother called up on the phone and told her "to never come home again" and "your father would rather see you dead" among other hurtful things.

She had to move on because the joy of Jesus was keeping her alive. The church and God became her family. "Although it was painful, I felt like I had to go through it to prove my devotion to what I was doing at the time. I thank God for the strength He gave me to go through that." Eventually her family's relationship became better although they would never accept her Christianity.

Over the next decade or so the Isaacs would be tested. Lily became ill with Hepatitis, and at the same time was pregnant. She wound up having three children in the span of a few short years. This took a toll on her body as she never had time to recover.

Lily and Joe were also traveling all over the mid-west performing and ministering with their music. They went from church to church, and also for the most part lived day to day. During this time there were admittedly moments were Lily began to doubt God's grace.

"In 1981 Joe had a back injury at his job working with heavy equipment. We were struggling financially and I was working part time cleaning houses," then as he often did, "God performed miracles for us."

The next coming years would test Lily even further as she would have major back surgery only to find breast cancer six weeks later. "We were able to get through it," she said and although she asked "Lord where are you?" she tried to stay faithful.

In time Lily would learn to surrender her life and body to God's hand for healing. The next portion of her life would be the biggest trial she had gone through, and still lives with today.

Check back with BreatheCast tomorrow to read about Lily's battle with breast cancer, back surgery, and struggling through the emotional toll of illness.

Read our book review here.