Hello all,

I am brand spanking new to Islam.
I come from a non-religious background. My dad was brought up Catholic, but doesn't have fond memories of his schooling and felt that religion caused too much conflict. My mom wasn't really brought up with a religion.
At my primary school we had weekly bible classes where we learnt bible stories etc and at some stage I started reading the bible, completely of my own accord.
Later in life I developed the same train of thought as my dad about religion and then eventually grew strong feelings that if there was a God and he was awesome, he wouldn't send good people of other beliefs to hell purely for the reason that they didn't know about or follow him.
I always thought that if a religion ever presented itself to me and answered my many questions in a way that sat well with me, that I would then believe in a God.
Up until recently my feelings about the injustice of life continued my belief in not believing.
Just over 2 years ago my boyfriend (of 4 years now) was introduced to Islam by a good friend of his. He had a similar upbringing to me, so his interest in Islam was quite a shock to me.
I love him a lot so I thought I would definitely need to look into the religion so that I could understand better his feelings and where he was at.
I looked online at websites and excerpts of the Quran and although there were many beautiful things that I read, there were certain things that didn't sit well with me and others that presented more questions.
Friends of mine would ask "Do you think you will ever convert?" and my answer would always be "Absolutely, no way!!"
2 years on and lots of arguments and misunderstandings later we had agreed to disagree and were quite unsure where to go from there.
Whilst visiting my family alone a book turned up at my mom's house in her mailbox. It was a mail drop of "A brief understanding of the Quran" or something like that. I thought to myself "interesting coincidence" and thought I would give it a read.
That night it was like an epiphany. I was reading many things I had already read but all of a sudden I had been given an entirely new perspective on the words.
The next day I did some more online research. I came across a lot of websites that made me think "this is not right", websites that said things that I knew in my heart couldn't be right if God is so awesome. But something inside me told me to keep searching. I knew that if I could have such a radical change in feelings
that there had to be something in it.
Finally I came across this website and another website. Finally my questions were answered.
There is so much confusion out there for someone exploring Islam. Of course I would never just read one website or one book and take that one account for fact, but when so many websites state the same things, it's easy to believe that version is the only Islam. And when that version has so many contradictions, it is very easy to dismiss the religion.
Lately I have been explaining to my friends a lot of the same misunderstandings that I myself had.
I never imagined that I would ever be a religious person and I think that alone is a testament to how amazing God is. My boyfriend prayed for me to find Islam and found it I have.
Thank you God for helping me find the right path. I can't wait to learn more.