Finding Jesus.

I’ve been on the world race for a couple months now and I’d love to share with you guys how I went from being raised Muslim to becoming a believer in Jesus as my savior. If any of my blogs get read from start to finish, I pray this is the one you choose to stick with till the end. I’ll try to not drag it out too much since it’s a blog but also would love to have a conversation with you to share more details 🙂 My hope in sharing my testimony is that it brings more people to know Jesus, to ask questions, and to seek The Truth. 

For those that don’t know, I was raised in a Muslim home. My dad’s side of the family is from Pakistan and my mom’s side of the family was raised catholic on an island called Curaçao. Both my parents moved to the states for college, met, fell in love, got married, then out came my brother and I. 

Growing up I was exposed to both religions, Christianity and Muslim. On holidays like Easter, Christmas, and Thanksgiving we wouldn’t celebrate anything inside our home but we’d always go over to my aunt’s house that evening for dinner with the family. When Eid would come around, which is a celebration that takes place after Ramadan, we would spend time at my uncle’s house from my dad’s side celebrating with his side of the family. Eid would happen twice a year. 

Sophomore year in high school, I started seeing a boy… we all know where this goes. We fell in love, and I sure as heck believed this was the man I’m going to marry (typical high school girl). This boy was a very devout follower of Jesus. When we were on dates he would pull out his Bible and ask me what I believed in, he’d pause movies we were watching to explain how it related to Christianity, the whole shebang. He would invite me to church but I wasn’t allowed to go (and truthfully I’m not sure I cared to go). I just brushed off our conversations about religion in order to keep the peace of our relationship. 

We broke up senior year and I was about as depressed as one could get. I spent a lot of time numbing the pain with worldly things; drinking, partying, etc. (if you’ve been in this place, you know it can only last so long and also doesn’t actually heal you). I started searching for answers, I wanted to know why the heck we were on this earth, what’s my purpose in life, etc. It can’t just be to work, raise a family, etc. I started to pray, but I didn’t really know who I was praying to or if anyone was listening. I prayed one day before work, “Jesus if you’re real, show yourself to me.” At the time, I didn’t realize how powerful this prayer was, cause He sure as heck showed up. 

I’m sitting at work, (I worked at a bakery at the time) minding my own business, when a woman walks in and starts telling me about how she got hit by a train, was pronounced dead on the scene, and came back to life. She told me while she was dead she spent time with Jesus in heaven. She talked about how much God loved me, hears me, and sees me… I know, it sounded just as suspicious to me as well. I for sure thought this lady was making stuff up. She told me more about how God is real and alive, and everything she saw while she was in heaven. I asked her a couple questions but also just brushed it off.. that couldn’t be God answering my prayer to reveal Himself to me? 

I ended up doing some research and found a news article that night about this woman who did indeed get hit by a train, was pronounced dead, and did come back to life. I also graduated high school with her granddaughter and I reached out to her to see if the story checked out and she confirmed it really did happen and her grandma always tells people about it so they can come to know God as well. 

I was still a little suspicious but I was also open to it possibly being the truth. I got invited to a local church called Antioch my freshman year of college and started going to “dip my toes in the water” and see if this is what I, Sarah Durrani really believe to be the truth. I remember feeling so uncomfy during the whole sermon because it wasn’t something I was used to but I kept going. A couple Sundays in, we’re worshipping and I remember seeing a vision of Jesus, with His arms wide open to me, waiting for me to accept Him into my life. In that moment, my whole body felt a love and peace it had NEVER expierenced before and I broke down into tears. I had never had a vision before that but in that moment I knew God was asking me to follow Him. 

After that, I spent time researching other religions, reading books, reaching out to people wiser than me who had different outlooks. I have a deep conviction to know the truth (especially when it comes to a life in eternity) and I wasn’t about to come out as Christian to my muslim family, and my atheist friends if this wasn’t 100% what I believed to be true for myself. 

Welp, fast forward 5 years and I can whole heartedly say I have no regrets. I still stand firm in my decision, and I’m not turning back. My heart / life (who I am as a person, my passions, desires, life and heart) has taken a 180 since devoting my life to Jesus and I would LOVE nothing more than to share more details about conversations I’ve had, more experiences with God that I’ve had, and continue to have, what next steps I took, etc. There is so much more that happened between that vision I had of Jesus and where I’m at today and I’d love to share that with you!!