My family had always been atheists. The rest of my Bulgarian friends in our village would all trail willingly to our village church. My Ma would scoff at the idea of God, but she'd always dress smartly in her neat black suit to pay her respects to her friends and family who'd pass away at the crumbling little church.

Then one day, my Pa asked me to clear out the old barn at the side of our house. It was then that I came across a dusty, green book. It was a beautiful book, with a simple golden cross. I brought the book back to Ma, and she said that I was welcome to either keep it or throw it away. It seemed a shame to throw away such a beautiful book, that had been in my mothers possession since her school days (each pupil was given a Bible on their first day) so I decided to keep it. At first it just sat there on my bookshelf for many months, until one hot day in June. I was reaching for my diary on the shelf. The diary came out but the Bible mysteriously fell out too, landing open in my lap. As if by fate, the page had opened at the most famous verse written in the Holy Bible. It said quite clearly 'For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son to pay the price for the worlds sins' I was moved, and wanted to find out more about this loving, kind man who treated women and men equally, who was born of a virgin and who healed the sick and injured. I was shocked to later discover that Jesus Christ was murdered on the cross, nails forced through his hands and feet until he eventually died. I was amazed at the famous resurrection.

I immediately wanted to go to my local church; my family made no objections to stop me and I was warmly welcomed into the church by the rest of my village.

Now ten years on, I still love and respect my Father and His loving Son.

About Author / Additional Info: