First of all, Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead, defeating death for all of us. Thanks be to God! And as He has called us to Himself, he calls us to the fellowship of His sufferings, to die to our errant self-will, with the promise that we will rise with Him and enter His glory.
What love! St Isaac the Syrian: Preaching the Astonishing Love of God
Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and do it. Agreeing with concepts is not sufficient; exercising our faith by acts of devotion and love is how abiding in Christ and participating and growing in Divine Life happen. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for God is at work in us, willing and working according to His good pleasure, (Phillipians 2) transforming our very being. The plan behind the situations into which God leads us may not make sense to us- there will be sufferings, which are a participation in Christ and the pattern of life He showed forth- but we can be confident of the Lord’s kind and loving intentions.
Ultimately, its not our deeds that save us, but God’s work on and in our hearts which transforms us into his likeness, so that on the day of reckoning, He will say, “I know you; your deeds reflect the Divine Image in which you were made. Though you had lost it, you received My Son and His ways in all the situations I led you through in order to restore My likeness in you. In you I see My only begotten Son; you bear the family resemblance. So come, and share in the eternal, Divine joy. Enter in!
The resources listed on the right of the page specifically address this. On a practical, realistic note, consider the essay which lists the real reasons to become an Orthodox Christian and the many wrong reasons some choose to do so: ON BECOMING AND REMAINING AN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN (from Orthodox England)
For information, Discover Orthodox Christianity & First Visit to an Orthodox Church: Twelve Things I Wish I’d Known
On a more in-depth level, the book Bread & Water, Wine & Oil: An Orthodox Christian Experience of God, Archimandrite Meletios Webber, (Conciliar Press: Ben Lomand, CA, 2007.) https://www.conciliarpress.com/bread-water-wine-oil.html
Two of the Twelve Posts derive from Father Meletios’ book, Bread & Water, Wine & Oil: “Orthodoxy is nothing less than a relationship with God.” and the final post, “The Mind, the Heart, & Mystery” . Beyond the quest for certainty lies something more important- our hearts. Not our feelings, but the core of our being. The Greek word for this is “Nous.” The mind with all its judgments, imaginations, and fears must submit to our heart, where the image of God resides, where the Kingdom of God is.
We are called not simply know facts, but to be, through our relationship with Christ, through our life in Christ, true to who we are- made in the image of God, reflecting the likeness of God: forgiven, forgiving, repentant, deified, worshipping the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
In St. John 17:20-26, Jesus prays for those who have received the deposit of faith passed down from the Twelve, the Apostles, that we may be one, that the Father’s love may be in us, and that Christ Himself may dwell in and among us:
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Impelled by the Scriptures into the Orthodox Church 
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