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Finding Happiness​—But Where?

JESUS said: “Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need.” (Matthew 5:3) A sincere young girl in the Middle East was conscious of her spiritual need and was seeking to please God. Eventually, she found happiness​—but where? We will let her explain.

“I was raised in a very religious Catholic Maronite family. We children were trained to pray every evening before statues, and from childhood I had the desire to serve God.

“At the age of 17, I entered a convent to become a nun, thinking that this would be a way to satisfy my desire. However, I saw many things among the nuns that troubled me. They gossiped about one another. Students were not given enough to eat, while the nuns enjoyed the best of food. And there were immoral practices between the nuns and the priest. Bitterly disappointed, I left the convent after nine months and went back home.

“I still had a lot of unanswered questions, and when I could not find satisfying answers to them, I got to the point of not caring about religion. Then, in 1982, when I was 22, my fleshly brother and sister studied the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. My parents and I opposed them. My brother suffered a lot of persecution, beatings, and imprisonment because of his new faith. What impressed me, though, were the great changes that he made in his life. Moreover, he gave logical Bible answers to the questions that I had been asking for a long time. So I secretly started to read the Bible myself during the night.

“One day I went along to observe an assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was impressed by the love shown there. There was no difference between the rich and the poor. The Witnesses live in harmony with what they teach. I was convinced they had the truth.

“Right after the assembly, I asked one of them to study with me. I told her that I just wanted to study, not attend meetings or go out preaching. However, I soon realized that I was learning the truth. I prayed and decided to serve Jehovah. On October 28, 1983, my brother, my sister, and I were baptized. I had now found the way to satisfy the desire to serve God that I had had from childhood.

“Two months after baptism, I started auxiliary pioneering, and eight months later I became a regular pioneer. A year and a half later, I was invited to serve at the branch office of Jehovah’s Witnesses, known as Bethel, which I did on a temporary basis for two years. I was impressed by the humility shown by all. The more responsible brothers even shared in the task of washing the dishes after the evening meal.

“On March 14, 1988, I became a permanent member of the Bethel family. What a happy occasion! Yes, I found happiness. Where? Among Jehovah’s dedicated Witnesses! Now I feel like the psalmist who said: ‘A day in your courtyards is better than a thousand elsewhere.’”​—Psalm 84:10.