News from Ukraine March 22, 2023

March 22,

Yesterday our day was busy and full of different events. In the morning our refugees gathered in the café for breakfast and we had many talks and discussions. As usual some of them wanted to talk individually, it’s a good time to listen, to pray and to encourage them in their walk with God. I want to share some stories.

Alexandra and her husband are in their late 60s, they came from Kherson region in the fall and it took them a while to get over their fear and anxiety. After a while we saw changes in them from being silent and closed they became smiling and open people who began to participate in our group activities. They began to come to the church. Yesterday I saw tears in Alexandra’s eyes and she told me that she is very upset about the family situation of her son. He and his wife have a six- month -old baby and his wife became very nervous and irritative lately. They began to argue a lot and decided to separate. It is a very sad news that breaks the heart of the mother.

Lena is from Kharkiv and she came to our town with her husband and her daughter. Her husband has a serious heart problem. Their daughter, Tanya, became a part of our youth group. They were renting an apartment but now they can’t afford it any more. Lena is upset about it. I suggested them to move to our church guest rooms. Now the situation with electricity is much better and they can comfortable live there. They will consider it and I hope will accept the offer.

Natalie and Vladimir are a nice couple, I wrote about them before. Vladimir is blind and Natalie says: “ I am his eyes”. They are very positive, always smiling and joking. They shared with me about financial problem they have and from their story I understood that they have a problem with money management. They try to invest their small savings in some ventures that sound very suspicious. They are dreamers but the reality is different. It gave me a thought that we should talk to our group about Christian prospective on money management.

From time to time we deal with people who have spiritual problems and it is especially important to let God work in such situations. Our counselor Tanya had a call from a woman who asked to help her teenage daughter who lives in fear and acts strangely. Tanya met with a girl and this is her story:
Ksusha is 15. Some months ago she was doing her home assignment and had some difficulties with it, she began to worry about her grades and right at that time the ad popped out on her laptopscreen about calming down when you are worried. It was a video with some oriental practice teaching meditation. After watching that video Ksusha saw a black cat with pink wings that began to talk to her. That cat came to her again and again, her parents did not see it. She began to see other strange creatures and could not stay alone in her room. She began to live in a constant fear. While Ksusha was telling her story, Tanya was praying, then she asked the girl to write the story and draw the creatures she sees. Then Tanya explained her about spiritual world and spiritual battles we have and suggested Ksusha to talk to God. She closed her eyes and prayed, when she opened her eyes the look of her face was different and she said that she felt freedom. It was a freedom of fears and troubles. Ksusha gave away the paper with her story and pictures drawing the final line. Tanya also talked to her mother and found out that in her youth she had some occult practice. She explained how damaging the consequences of it can be and it was a good opportunity to share about almighty God who can release people of any bondage.

Please, pray for our counselors as they work with different people. We feel that now during this war time people are more open for God and we are so excited to share the good News and accompany people on their way to God.

In Christ,
Lyuda

P.S. There are photos of our breakfast with refugees and the photo of Tanya counseling Ksusha