I got a Facebook message from a friend, a friend I’ve never actually met in person. She is a refugee. And she’s a mother, like me. Now my life had some pretty upsetting upheavals this last year, but Nina’s…
This year, Nina, her husband Andrey and their four children found themselves in a warzone. Bullets, bombs and invaders in the streets made their home in Donetsk, Ukraine unlivable. We’d known Nina’s husband Andrey, a driver for Donetsk Christian University where Harold & Darlene Sala had taught, for years. When the Russian-backed rebels reached Donetsk, all classes ended and the university soon became a barracks. Nina and Andrey, like thousands of others, became pawns in a power play, losing their homes, their jobs, their security, their way of life and even 3,000 of their friends and countrymen.
Nina’s family found refuge thousand of miles away in one floor of an apartment near the capital city of Kyiv. They were allowed to stay for a year. But the year’s almost up and the heating bill takes $200 of the $350 a month Nina’s husband and oldest son are able to earn. The little ones have been sick. They can’t return but it’s too expensive to stay…
“We are very heavy,” she admits. But she’s thankful!
“We are thankful to God for a church where we find communion. All churches here accept very much the families driven out of Donetsk and Lygansk. We are thankful for the prayers and help of others, that our children did not have to know war, that Andrey and David have permanent work…that God showed us how further to live.”
“We pray,” she says, “that God will bless you.”
I want to say, “really, forget about me, Nina.” So this, then, is “Giving thanks in all circumstances” (Philippians 8:13).
Thank you, Nina. I will pray that God will bless you! More than that, I’m going to send you some financial help this Christmas week. If you would like to join me, go to guidelines.org/donate and choose Ukraine Relief at the bottom of the pull-down menu. Or, call our offices. 100% of these funds go straight to the recipients.
Merry Christmas! And be thankful…
Bonnie Sala Craddick