God Bless You For Having Taken The Time To Come Here....
My Friends, I am pleased to share my own story of conversion with you. To strength those already in the faith and to encourage those who are not. Peace and Blessing of Our Lord and saviour be with you.
The Almighty God first called upon me when I was a child without thought, sense or reason. I was hardly eight. There was always the Good News Bible in my house, a book that almost mysteriously attracted me. I was born in Lahore, Pakistan into the Islamic religion, but my family wasn't Taleban-style. We always had a beautiful cross in our house and nobody openly spoke against Christianity. Little by little, I started to find a strange familiarity in the Christian faith. Finally, when my passion for the Passion of Christ had become too strong, I openly declared my faith.
"Yes, who could deny that you are Christ's letter written by us - a letter written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, carved not in slabs of stones, but in hearts of flesh."
- 2 Corinthians 3,3
That was like a declaration of war in my family. Though most people weren't informed, for fear that they may boycott all relations with me, those that did know, did attack my faith.
Yet, the Lord had cleared the way for Himself into my family.
""....the voice crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord.""
- John 1,23
My father had left us, for then we lived in a split-family. I had never known any of my paternal relatives for I had lived with my maternal ones. My paternal relatives didn't approve of my mother, so we lived close to (and sometimes with) my mother's relatives. There was only an aunt (who is elder to my mum), my only sister (who is elder to me) and a cousin (from another eldest aunt) to form 'the opposition,' for my mother didn't discourage me. Later an uncle, his wife and their son were added to the opposite group. It's ironic to note that this uncle and his family had spent most of their time in England, a Christian country.
Nevertheless, most of my visits to relatives often ended up in heated religious debates. Nevertheless I held onto the faith and didn't fall for their lies. My Bible was wrongly stolen from me, but almost miraculously, I found another in my house. My friends, you cannot imagine how pleased I was to find it.
I developed a strong hostility towards Moslems (they are about 99% of Pakistan's populace!) and I went on in my faith. However, slowly, my faith gradually began to weaken until it disappeared and I was left in darkness.
""Hear ye: Behold, the sower went out to sow. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And other some fell upon stony ground, where it had not much earth; and it shot up immediately, because it had no depth of earth. And when the sun was risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And some fell upon good ground; and brought forth fruit that grew up, and increased and yielded, one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred."" (Mk 4:3-8)
I had become like the seed that fell on the stony ground, or the seed that fell among the thorns. I reverted to Islam (I hadn't been baptised) and I abandoned my Lord and Saviour.
However, when I was eleven, again the Lord God called upon me, this time, I had not the word nor cross. Yet I was blessed with a great love for the fellow Christian. This love was intense, this love was Holy. However, it was only love and not faith. thence, it was hopeless. Thence, I denied God again and became a hard-liner Moslem again. This time, being more missionary and more faithful in the religion of Islam.
I began to despise the same God who died for me on the Cross. I viewed the Christian faith through the narrow prism of Islam and when I found it unfitting I turned against her, my Holy Church.
Yet, when I dived deeper into Islam, I found Islam to be falsehood and I was saved from the darkness by my Holy Saviour, Jesus. However, it wasn't like I changed the signal fro red to green, but after being shown the realities of a number of faiths, including the filth of paganism, I, myself, declared Christ to be my eternal Master and I submitted to Him and Him alone. From then till now and forever, there shall be no turning back. How long can we deny our Lord? He is ever Patient, ever Merciful as we pray in our chaplets:
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion -- inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself. Amen.
Let us always love Him and thank Him, for even those who don't, are saved by His Holy spirit.
This, then, is my story: God.
May The Peoples of the Nations praise Him and Adore Him. May We Honour His Kingdom, for indeed His Kingdom Shall Come. Let Us Always Work, As The Followers of Christ - a Saviour, For The Salvation Of Others. Kindly, take the time to join the faith of St. Francis in his prayer:
Lord, make me an instrument
of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying
that we are born to eternal life. Amen
may the holy spirit guide you.
