Voice of Ukraine

From Lyuda Betina in Belgorod Dnestrovsky (Day 650): As Christmas approaches, daily life becomes more meaningful and everything around us takes on meaning. The coming of Christ changes this world and brings hope and joy. And now, when there is so much grief around, people especially need the light and warmth of the gospel.

I am very grateful to God for allowing us to touch the souls of people and work with their pain and despair. Counseling, which was often rejected and not accepted in our society before, is now so important for people. We experience the greatest joy when we begin to see changes in our clients and these changes are not from us, but from the Holy Spirit, who is always with us in our work. I want to share some stories of our clients:

Our counselor George shared the story of Tamara, the mother of a fallen soldier. Her son died at war several months ago in a severe battle. He was brought home in a closed coffin. Tamara lives in a strong denial. She wants to believe that it is some mistake and her son is just missing, may be he was taken captive. Her son’s friends who survived in that battle say that everything was in fire and they did not see her son die and that gives her hope and she does not accept the fact that her son is dead. George works with Tamara individually and he hopes that she will join the group of widows that he is leading.

Angela, our counselor who is in France now, works with the refugees there. She organized a women’s club and is ministering the spiritual needs of women there. Galina is one of the ladies in her group. Right before the war started she was diagnosed with a breast cancer and she has been fighting this war since then.
It was hard for her to leave her home and then she faced another loss, she lost her hair. Galina had a very difficult childhood and still suffers from childhood traumas. Now she is restoring her dignity bit by bit and is learning to live one day at a time and be thankful for what she has.

Last week our counselor Roman had three online sessions with three different teenagers – refugees (Kiril, Stas and Dima) who live in different European countries – Germany, Ireland and Poland. Their problems turned out to be surprisingly similar. Each of them experiences loneliness, separation from their peers at school and problems with studies. We think of starting an online support group for teenagers who had to leave Ukraine.

I am consulting a woman who lives near Kiev. Her name is Ann. She survived the occupation at the very beginning of the war, when our enemy was moving towards Kiev. Her city was occupied for several weeks and then liberated. But during this time she witnessed terrible events. And although a year and a half has passed since the liberation, she mentally relives the occupation again and again. She is a Christian and was involved in children’s ministry in the church. Now many church members have left and there are no children. Ann is in great pain. I am trying to help her moving on, she starts looking into the future, starts making plans and look around. I am trying to help her see new opportunities.

Please, pray for the people we are working with, for their healing and for their hearts to be opened for the Lord.

Thank you for you support.

Please, send your donations to Pathway Ministries
E. Langston Haygood,D.Min.,Ph.D.
Pathway Ministries, Inc.
288 Huntington Parc Circle
Birmingham, AL 35226
(205)835-3325
http://www.pathwayministriesinc.com

In Christ,
Lyuda