Voice of Ukraine

From Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (The 59th night of the war is coming):

Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning (Psalm 30: 5)

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday in Ukraine (in ruzzia too). Our government tried to negotiate with ruzzia a cease-fire for Easter but ruzzians refused. Apparently ruzzian orthodox priests are saying it’s not a sin to kill Ukrainians during Easter, as long as the killers don’t eat meat during the great lent.

This is going to be a very different Easter for Ukrainians. The majority of Ukrainians identify themselves culturally with the Orthodox church and follow some rituals around Easter time but the rest of the year live a life of agnostics. Last two months God became closer to everyone’s heart. In danger and suffering, we tend to turn to Him. Because of curfew going to midnight or sunrise service will not be possible so hopefully, instead of following rituals people will be sincerely turning in prayers to God. I know we all have one prayer in common – for the soonest defeat of ruzzian army!

Since I have so many new friends on FB that I never met in person, let me share a little more about my own spiritual journey, even if briefly. I grew up in a typical Soviet family, my father was a Communist and I grew up without even a concept of God. After I graduated from high school in 1988 I tried to enter a University in Leningrad and failed. So I ended up working for one year in the city office of the Youth League of the Communist Party. My first encounter with Christians was in the spring of 1989 on the night before Easter when together with other staff of the office of the Youth League of Communist Party I was raiding the local Orthodox church, taking the names of any young people who came to Orthodox church for Easter service. If a University student was caught he would be expelled from University. School kids would be also reported to schools. I was a part of the regime that persecuted Christians. In a way I was like Saul before he had his encounter with Christ.

In the fall of that year I entered Gorlovka Institute of Foreign Languages and in 1992 I heard the gospel for the first time in my life from American missionaries. That was when I understood the meaning of Easter, I heard about Christ dying on the cross for the sins of humanity and for my sins and about His resurrection that gave every Christ-follower a true hope, a guarantee that in the end, it will all be well because Christ has overcome Evil and Death. This knowledge has been giving us strength, especially during the last two months of the war.

Psalm 27:1
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

The Lord is our light!

Our Briana is fascinated and drawn to light, especially Christmas lights! She might be crying waiting for us to figure out the reason for her distress, but when she sees the Christmas lights she gets distracted from whatever is making her cry. She calms down and studies the light.

That’s a great reminder to us how especially in distress we should focus on the Light, on God and when we do that He gives us peace that surpasses understanding. Maybe this be the experience for our whole nation! May we all say, The LORD is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear?