Hard to believe that in less than a week we will be in Oxford, England! And we still need to drive more than 1,000 miles here! God has been so good to us. Protected us on the road. Given us good health. We’ve had several days to visit relatives on our way south, and that has been refreshing. Thank you for praying with us through all of this.
I’m sure you are wondering about the attacks in Ukraine. There was one bad one in central Ukraine and 25 people killed with the bombing of a train station. Who knows how many threats were aborted by Ukrainian vigilance. But overall I did not see a strong increase in the random attacks that take place all the time. Our city had more warning sirens on Wednesday than normal, but I’m sure everyone was on high alert.
And now there is more and more focus on the nuclear reactor in southeastern Ukraine. And Belarus becomes bellicose towards the west, claiming that they are being threatened. So they prepare aircraft to carry Russian nuclear weapons. No, no end in sight. Putin wants to boost their army by 130,000 troops in 2023. According to Ukrainian statistics over 46,000 Russian troops have been killed. Our church in Rivne had its first casualty last week. And almost every week there are at least two soldiers from our area that have died in this conflict.
And now people’s thoughts move towards autumn when the temperatures drop. Many areas in the east do not have gas and electricity. Dan and Priscilla have received a request for housing etc for a group of 50 people because of these concerns. And that will be repeated in the coming months as people who have stayed in the east soon face winter weather.
Specific prayer requests
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We do continue to treasure your prayers as we travel. The car sounds “rough” even though it was fully serviced before we started on this last portion.
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Somehow we do not have contact with this last church we are visiting. It feels strange when you are travelling so far, hoping that they are still expecting us. No response to our emails. Pray that the Lord’s will will be done in this.
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Continue to pray for Dan and Pris as they grow quite weary from the constant pressures and stress. But they press on, as does their team working in the other town to rebuild physically and touch people’s lives spiritually.
I have been reading a few meditations on joy—again. Today the devotional focused on the fact that we must learn to walk through the pain, to walk through the negative emotions, because joy is on the other side. We often (usually?) want to hide from the pain, but God allows it in our lives for a purpose, having a lot to do with character development. And…there is joy on the other side. We see that from Christ Himself in Hebrews 12:2: “Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne.” GNB Jesus is our example, and He wants us to have His joy. He wants to make our joy complete (John 15:11) But He told His disciples that when they were facing fear and uncertainty and the crashing of all their earthly dreams.
Many people’s dreams in Ukraine have crashed around their them. Life remains in tumult and uncertainty. Pray that tens of thousands who know Christ personally will stay encouraged and reach out for the joy Christ has for them. And pray that tens of thousands will choose to follow Christ and find the joy He has for them that will last for all eternity! Despite the ups and downs of this earthly life.
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