Voice of Ukraine

From Lxxx (Day 127): Dear brothers and sisters, Yesterday we had a women’s Bible study here in Brasov and we talked about forgiveness. We discussed the examples of forgiveness from the Bible and had a special time sharing honestly our struggles and pains we have with some people in our lives. It was important to understand that forgiveness is a process that takes time and we go through it making certain steps dealing with our pain, empathizing with the offender, making commitment to forgive and take efforts to hold on to this commitment.

Now during the war many Christians are confused about the idea of forgiveness because we face such things that we feel is impossible to forgive and we often hear “I will never forgive them this”. It is important for us to understand that we are fighting a terrible evil and our main goal now is to survive, protect children and defeat the enemy. Then we will start recovering from injuries and traumas, rebuild the country and deal with all other things. May God direct us and give us strength to go through all of this.

Below you can read the news from my husband, Sxxxx:

“I think everyone has already heard about the massive missile strikes that hit residential areas and supermarkets in many cities, like Nikolaev, Kharkov, Kremenchug. There would have been many more casualties and destruction if our air defense systems had not shot down most of the missiles, although they are designed to fight aircraft, not missiles. Some journalists noticed that there was a similar situation when Russian troops left Kyiv and this meant the beginning of a new stage of the war. Unfortunately, this new stage does not mean its end, as Russia continues the conversation in the form of ultimatums and does not want to sit down at the negotiating table to hear the position of Ukraine and its allies.

The only place where the Russian troops have an advance now is Lugansk. And this is understandable, since it was the Lugansk region that was distinguished by its Soviet mentality. In other words, this is where our troops have the least support from the population.

If we talk about the goals of missile strikes, the enemy tries to cause depression among the population and a desire to leave the country. This is very sad, because now we see how much effort Ukrainians put in, developing their personal business and how much the involvement in the life of the state began to grow. It’s very hard to see the destruction of it all.

It will take us many efforts and years to bring joy and a sense of the future back into our lives. Perhaps only the church, which is actively involved in all spheres of Ukrainian life and has taken great responsibility for the lives of many people, is in a better position and has the best hope.

We continue our ministries, although we get tired and sometimes get sick. Please, pray for our elder Vxxxx, who is seriously ill. Though these circumstances are very hard, they help us develop the fellowship of saints and involve new people in the ministry.

We continue to cook food in our church for the defenders of our city and this week we switched to baking desserts, because they have ordinary food, but they shared with us how much they miss sweet things. So, we decided to cook some special things for them to cheer them up and show once again that we are with them and their needs are important for us.”

Please, pray for the end of the war and for the peaceful and joyful future.
In Christ,
Lxxx