Voice of Ukraine

From Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 396):

Oh sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
Psalm 96:1‭-‬2

They say that spring comes and brings new life. Well, in a way, this spring has given me my old life back—the pre-war feeling of purpose and belonging. I have the joy and privilege to spend the next few days with my YWAM friends, learning from each other and encouraging each other. I haven’t had this opportunity since the beginning of the full-scale war, and it’s one of the things I’ve missed the most.

Worshipping God together, praying for each other, catching up with longtime friends, meeting new people, and serving others with what I have — this has given me so much joy that I was ready to forget about this war just a day. I was ready to forget the news that Russia is considering planting some tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus or that Avdiivka is almost completely destroyed after recent shellings. Yet war has seeped into every aspect of our lives, and it’s with you, even if you are unaware of it. It’s with you when your friends mention family members they haven’t seen in over a year. It’s with you when you discuss the uncertainty of tomorrow. It’s with you when you share your “war memories” and praise God for being alive today.

This war has uprooted many of us, and many of us are wilting like flowers that have been carelessly plucked out and left to the mercy of the elements. Yet we are not abandoned, for we can always choose to come to the well of living water, and drink from it, and be refreshed by it, and let our roots soak up this much-needed nourishment, and with this, we can live the life in abundance even in the midst of war.
Let all who are thirsty come to the well.

Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:14)