Padina is what you would call your “model Muslim.” The young Iranian woman was born and raised on the Quran—studying and memorizing its scripture every day before school. She learned to hate Christians and even believed in the promise that killing a Christian would get her a one-way ticket to heaven—and who wouldn’t want that?
Following the daily rituals and prayers, Padina did everything in her power to be the Muslim she needed to be in order to get to life after this. But serving a false god was exhausting, and it left her feeling empty, hopeless and depressed.
After her mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclorosis, Padina found herself trapped—more depressed, and more lifeless than ever before. She devised a plan to kill herself—all the while her mother begged young Padina to also kill her. With no hope for the future, and nothing but constant emptiness, Padina agreed to kill both herself and her mother—seemingly putting an end to the misery they were trapped in.
Though she had spent her life worshiping Allah, Padina felt as though Allah was nowhere to be found in her time of disparity. She felt “so distant from Allah” and wasn’t seeing the healing she believed He could deliver.
Of course, Jesus Christ, the One True God, is the Great Physician. Padina just hadn’t found Him—yet.
While flipping through the TV one night prior to the executions of her mother and herself, Padina came across a Christian pastor evangelizing on the screen in front of her. He was encouraging Iranians and Muslims like her that there is Truth in the promise that “the Lord has a hope and future” for them.
Padina’s hateful heart toward Christians started fuming. She was so consumed by the false god she’d faithfully served that she couldn’t see the hope that the Lord had to offer her.
Her anger turned to rage when she found her mother praying a prayer of salvation on the phone with the evangelical pastor from the television program.
Rather than begging for death as she had before, Padina’s mother begged her daughter to pray with the pastor. Death had turned to light, and she had experienced the One who brings life.