The Greatest Adventure
It was exciting, and a little bit scary. I thought it was the greatest adventure I would ever experience, but the adventure was just beginning.
I was sixteen years old. My parents had decided to move our family from our home in Jordan to begin a new life in Canada. I left behind everything I knew when we got on that plane.
Our new home was very different from the country we’d left behind. It looked and sounded different. It was big and open and there seemed to be fewer people. It was very cold in the winter.
I settled into school and began to make friends, and soon I was ready to graduate and go on to the university. But my parents had decided not to stay.
Staying alone, in a new country without my family, was one of the hardest things I have ever done.
I knew it was the best thing for my education–not having to transfer credits back to Jordan and re-do some of my courses before I could go on to university there–but it was very lonely.
At university, though, I made friends with the girl across the hall from me in my dormitory. She had family close by and I often went to spend weekends with them. Most of the things they did and said were new to me. I was raised in a Muslim home; my new friend and her family went to a church on Sunday. We talked a lot about these differences, but I didn’t want to know about something that was not part of who I was. Her faith just didn’t seem relevant to me.
After graduation, I focused all of my energy on my career. I missed my family and my culture, but I was determined to succeed in my chosen profession. I moved to another part of Canada to pursue my goals and really forgot about spiritual concerns or issues.
Then, more than ten years after they had first left, my family decided to return to Canada. They moved to the city where I was living and I thought that I would now have everything I needed. I thought that I would settle into security, but instead my life was turned upside-down. My father became seriously ill and was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
As I watched my father deal with his illness and the prospect of his death, I couldn’t help but be scared at the prospect of life without him. I also started to think again about life after death and that also frightened me, as I wasn’t sure if my dad had done all the things required of him to enter heaven according to our Muslim beliefs. I found little comfort in my career or in God. My life seemed to be collapsing around my ears.
A good friend and colleague saw my anxiety and recommended a self-help program to me, to help me “get control” of my life. But the more I tried to get control, the more guilty I felt about not exercising sufficient self-control.
I moved again, to pursue a master’s degree and my questions were still fresh in my mind. Back in university, I met another friend who went to church. I had come full circle.
I learned about what my new friend believed; I still couldn’t reconcile her faith in Jesus with what I had been taught as a child. “That is you,” I told her. “This is me.” Yet I struggled with doubts. I struggled with guilt. I had money, a career, family–all the pieces were in place, but it wasn’t enough.
Eventually, my need for answers outweighed my misgivings about Christianity. I arranged with a friend from work to go to a church we had picked at random from the phone book. When my co-worker failed to arrive, I considered leaving. Then a very nice man met me at the door and introduced himself to me. I think he knew that I didn’t really know what I was doing there.
It turned out that this nice man, Tim, was the minister of the church. Tim welcomed me right away; I sensed a genuineness about him. He demonstrated a gentleness and sincerity which shocked me–I had been around religious people growing up, but this man was different from them. He befriended me, and let me ask all of the questions I had been storing up. How could Jesus be the Son of God? How could there be a Son of God, a Father God and a Holy Spirit if there was only one true God? If Jesus was God, how could He allow Himself to be put to death? I had to examine what I had been taught to believe; to challenge my faith.
I struggled with my questions, yet I continued to attend Tim’s church for about a year and a half. I knew that what I was doing would distress my family. Tim let me ask my questions and he gave me real answers. Somehow the answers always came back to one person–Jesus.
God was real, and through Jesus I could know Him personally. He knew everything about me before I was ever born. He loved me so much that He sent His Son to die in my place–whatever I had done, Jesus had already paid the price for it. He offered me eternal life–Jesus’ death meant that I could have eternal life. He was the comfort and the security I was looking for. And I had to make a decision.
Tim explained that anyone could come to know Jesus, just by asking Him to come into their life. I made my decision and I have not looked back. I can explain what I believe intellectually, but I have also experienced the reality of my relationship with Jesus. There is truth here, but there is power, too.
My excitement about my faith in Jesus has been difficult to contain. This, I think, is what offended my father the most. He was hurt, but also angered by my desire to tell other people about Jesus. When I told him that I wanted to return to Jordan on a trip to share with people about Jesus, he threatened to report me to the authorities there and have me arrested. I did not think our relationship could recover from that, but God has turned it around slowly. Today my relationship with my dad is better than before and is far more honest than it has ever been.
When my younger sister became ill, I had the opportunity to look after her in my home. My family could see that my faith had changed, but my love for them had not. God is beginning to rebuild that relationship.
I have gone from a place where I had everything, but felt empty inside, to a place where I know that God meets all of my needs–physical, emotional, financial.
Take a look at your life. How would you describe it? Contented? Rushed? Exciting? Stressful? Moving forward? Holding back? For many of us it’s all of the above at times. There are things we dream of doing one day, there are things we wish we could forget. In the Bible, it says that Jesus came to make all things new. What would your life look like if you could start over with a clean slate?
Living with hope
If you are looking for peace, there is a way to balance your life. No one can be perfect, or have a perfect life. But every one of us has the opportunity to experience perfect grace through a personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer. Praying is simply talking to God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. Here’s a suggested prayer:
Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Savior and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be.
Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? You can pray it right now, and Jesus Christ will come into your life, just as He promised.
Is this the life for you?
If you invited Christ into your life, thank God often that He is in your life, that He will never leave you and that you have eternal life. As you learn more about your relationship with God, and how much He loves you, you’ll experience life to the fullest.
