From Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 602):
Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Psalm 2:11
In the last 24 hours, Russian troops shelled the Chernihiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Luhansk, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions.
A missile strike on Zaporizhzhia last night destroyed an apartment building and killed a young married couple. Multiple towns in the Kherson region were shelled. A private house in the Dnipropetrovsk region was hit.
More destruction, more casualties… At the same time, when there are no attacks on Kyiv right now, it is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the war is far away and you have nothing to worry about. You don’t even need to be in another country to distance yourself from the reality of war — it’s enough to be away from the explosions. And this false sense of security is dangerous. It lulls you to sleep, convincing you it’s not your problem, hardening your heart until the next tragedy hits close and awakens you.
Lord, help us be awake and watchful, compassionate and reasonable, strengthened in faith and ready to share Your love and hope.
But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:8-11
Voice of Ukraine 
One response to “10/19/2023 – It lulls you to sleep, convincing you it’s not your problem, hardening your heart until the next tragedy hits close and awakens you…”
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Here we have no enduring city, but we seek that which is to come… in keeping with His promise, we await a new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
— the apostle to the Hebrews/ the apostle Peter
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