I was born into a Muslim family, and as a teenager, I was required to follow all the rules of Islam. At first, I wanted to obey those rules because I wanted to be like my parents. But after years of trying to do everything that was expected of me, I realized I had no real relationship with God.

I was doing everything I was told to do, yet I still felt empty. Questions began to rise in my heart:
 Why do I have to pray five times a day?
 Why do I have to follow all these rules?
 Why do I have to speak to God in Arabic when I don’t even understand it and my language is Persian?

I wanted to truly know God. I asked many people for answers, but no one could give me a response that satisfied me. They only said, “We must follow these rules because they will take us to heaven.” But I kept wondering, Where is God in all of this? How can I really know Him?

Eventually, I decided to stop following Islam because I couldn’t find God in it. I told myself, “There is a God, but I don’t know where He is.”

Years later, I came to Greece as an immigrant. Life was very difficult. One day, a friend invited me to church. I remember that first time vividly—everyone there was praying for me, and I felt something I had never experienced before. I felt that someone was telling me I was no longer alone and that He would always be with me.

After that, I wanted to keep coming to church, even though I didn’t fully understand why. One day, I asked the people there why they were so kind and helpful to others. They told me, “Because Jesus Christ loves us, and that’s why we love others.”

That answer touched my heart. I began reading the Bible, and for the first time, I found the answers I had been searching for all my life—answers about what it means to worship and who God truly is. As I read, I came to know Jesus Christ more deeply and began to see how great He is.

One day, we read Ephesians 2:8–9:
 “For by grace you have been saved through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

I remembered how in Islam, we are taught that we can go to heaven only through our good works. But here, I read that salvation is a gift from God, through Jesus Christ. That’s when I said to myself, “This is the truth I’ve been searching for all these years. Jesus is my path.”