From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 697):
O you who love the Lord, hate evil!
He preserves the lives of his saints;
he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 97:10
Our brain is fascinating. Sometimes, a faint smell or an accidental image can take you to the depths of your memories and discover something you never thought was meaningful to you.
At other times, your mind would try playing tricks on you, making up stories to replace the sad reality:
Your friends are living across the ocean now? That’s because they decided to take an extended vacation there (not because they had to seek refuge from war).
You are looking up protective gear for your friend? Oh, you must be confused. It should be protective gear for a computer game character. It can’t be for real!
Your friends are making trench candles? It must be some sort of fun craft, not a necessity. Trenches? In the 21st century? In Ukraine? No, it’s something from World War I.
I had something like this going on in the back of my mind last week. Almost two years into the full-scale war, and it’s still hard to comprehend that it is happening. May we never get used to it! May it never become normal to us!
Voice of Ukraine 
2 responses to “1/22/2024 – O you who love the Lord, hate evil!He preserves the lives of his saints…”
“Paradise” by the band Coldplay:
When she was just a girl, she expected the world
But it flew away from her reach
So she ran away in her sleep and dreamed of
paradise
Every time she closed her eyes
When she was just a girl, she expected the world
But it flew away from her reach and the bullets catch in her teeth
Life goes on, it gets so heavy
The wheel breaks the butterfly, every tear a waterfall
In the night, the stormy night, she’d close her eyes
In the night, the stormy night, away she’d fly
And dream of
paradise
She’d dream of
paradise
And so lying underneath those stormy skies
She’d say, “oh
I know the sun must set to rise”
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Our Father in heaven,
Deliver us from evil.
Give us today our daily bread.
Lead us not into temptation.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory
Now and forever
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