From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 981)
Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
Psalm 80:3
The past few days have been weird. Over the weekend, Ukraine switched from daylight saving time, so the days feel really short now. With the weather slowly yet steadily getting colder, there seem to be several viruses circulating in our school, so you are always on your toes not to get sick. My son had trouble falling asleep because of his cough, so I stayed with him well past midnight a few nights in a row.
All of this left us so exhausted physically that for two nights in a row, we slept through the air raids and didn’t go to our apartment corridor. It was the first time since returning to Kyiv. Surprisingly, there were drone attacks on Kyiv those nights. In the mornings, when checking the news, I saw apartment buildings hit by drones or debris, and I couldn’t believe we slept through that. Yes, it was in a different part of Kyiv, but still. Seeing it and knowing that we didn’t even hear the alert that night was both comforting and disturbing. It reminded me that God cares for us even when we are too tired to do anything on our own.
It feels so wrong to feel so safe when there’s so much destruction around. An apartment building was hit by a bomb in Kharkiv with people possibly buried under the rubble. A 12-year-old was killed.
Yesterday, I saw a video of emergency workers gently resuscitating a cat that was rescued from a completely burned-down apartment that was hit by a Russian drone. I was weeping when I saw this gentle care for the least of God’s creation, a stark contrast to how the Russians treat human life in general.
Then we shall not turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call upon your name!
Restore us, O Lord God of hosts!
Let your face shine, that we may be saved!
Psalm 80:18-19
Voice of Ukraine 