
I Once was lost, now I’M FOUND…
Always striving to feel accepted and loved, everything Padina did only left her feeling like something was missing. How can you do everything you know to be right, everything you have been told and trained in the religious schools, and yet still feel unloved by god? Why is god so distant? Why doesn’t he hear me?
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“I hated Christians. I was told if you killed a Christian you got a one-way ticket to heaven. When I would hear about Christians being persecuted, it would make me happy.”
All the religious teachings and service rituals only produced more hatred in Padina’s heart, which was completely closed to hearing about Jesus. When her depression became so great that she attempted suicide, she knew deep inside that Allah had not done anything for her. She had no peace, no joy, and no hope for her future… until Jesus.
When Padina was about to commit suicide, everything changed. That night she heard a message on the television from a pastor who said that Jesus wanted to come and bring her hope and a future. But this actually angered her at first. The possibility that the God she was taught to hate could actually be the one who holds the keys to her freedom. What a risk she would have to take to believe that her heart could finally feel the love and acceptance that she could never get from Allah.
When Padina agreed to give Jesus a chance, she had no idea how serious Jesus was. He was indeed after her heart, and that very night He came and healed her mother of terminal multiple sclerosis. He so intimately and personally showed His love to her by speaking to the deepest cry of her heart—the healing of her mother.
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“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?”
When we read transformational stories like Padina’s, we are once again reminded of the power of God’s love. His power is so great that it can soften even the hardest heart. Perhaps you are thinking of someone you know, maybe at work or school, and you think to yourself, ‘This is the last person that would ever come to Jesus! Even that person—the love of the Father can effect.
When you think about Muslims, keep this perspective in mind that even the hardest heart is never too difficult for God to reach! Let’s believe and pray that God will woo many more to His heart this winter. Thank you for supporting our efforts in the most difficult to reach places.
Click below to read Padina’s full testimony on our Stories page.

#UNTILJESUS