From Ira Kapitonova Kyiv (Day 414):
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turns the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a spring of water.
Psalm 114:7-8
Many days, I feel lost in the news and the needs surrounding us. There is devastation in all spheres of society, and I get overwhelmed just thinking about everything that will need to be healed and restored. There is the active combat zone, the occupied territories, the deported, the POWs, the internally displaced, those who lost their homes, the wounded, those who lost their loved ones, those who had to seek refuge abroad… Anywhere you look, there is a need, and how do you choose whom to help first? And what if your help comes too late?
Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Mariinka (Donetsk region) are hell on earth with non-stop intense fighting. Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and towns of the Sumy and Chernihiv regions seem to have gotten used to constant explosions. The cities of the Kherson region that were liberated last fall suffer from regular shelling, and the authorities demand the evacuation of children from those areas because of the ever-present danger. I named just a few regions, but millions of human stories are behind each.
I read a story about a family who evacuated from then-occupied Kherson in the spring of 2022. Their 5-year-old daughter put a few of her favorite toys in her backpack. They had to pass a few dozen Russian checkpoints, and her little bag was searched every time. At one of the checkpoints, a Russian soldier wanted to take away her toys because he liked them and wanted to keep them for his son. This 5-year-old said, “No, these are my toys. They are not yours. You can’t take what’s not yours!” The surprised soldier let her keep her toys. I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that 5-year-olds understand this simple truth, yet the 140-million population of Russia struggles with this concept.
Lord, make your presence known in all the earth and make your enemies tremble at your sight. Make them flee in fear and despair. Make them fall to their knees in repentance. Lord, heal our land and bless our precious children who know the truth and boldly proclaim it.
Voice of Ukraine 
3 responses to “4/16/2023 – “Many days, I feel lost in the news and the needs surrounding us…””
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory
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J.R.R. Tolkien to his son in WWII:
“The utter stupid waste of war, not only material but moral and spiritual, is so staggering to those that have to endure it..
I sometimes feel appalled at the sum total of misery all over the world at this present moment: millions parted, fretting, quite apart from the torture, pain, death, bereavement, injustice… and the products will be mainly evil, historically considered.
But the historical version, of course, is not the only one. All things and deeds have value in themselves… all we know, largely by direct experience, is evil labors with great power and perpetual success- in vain, preparing always the soil for unexpected good to sprout.
And though we need all our natural courage and guts, and all our religious faith to face the evil that may befall us, still we may pray and hope. I do.”
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The Lord hears the anguished cries of Ukraine. Hear, Lord, and work great things!
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