Our new home is in crisis.
I hope very much that you’ve been following the news concerning the revolution in Ukraine. If you haven’t seen anything, Google it now and learn. The situation here is extremely serious. We haven’t been talking much about it on social media simply because we are trying to use wisdom and just ask the Lord how He would have us respond online. Our hearts are with our Ukrainian brothers and sisters and they know that. We stand with them and we tell them that daily. It’s just so difficult to know what to say “online”. How can we share what is happening with wisdom, while upholding the dignity of the people? We’ve never been in a situation remotely like this and are just trying to navigate it properly, and with grace.
Tonight we could be silent no more. You simply must know the beauty of the people of Ukraine. You simply must know that they stand now for their children and their children’s children. They stand for a future. They stand for freedom. Men and woman stand right now, in Kiev, in the snow, in 3 degree (F) weather because they love their country and they see that there is no future for them and their children if they do not stand until the end. For centuries they have been beaten down- over and over- and now they have had enough. Change must come. We Americans have NO IDEA what it means to live in a country where laws can mean nothing. We have no idea what it means to live in a country where your rights can easily be stripped from you, without warning, and even if you want to flee, you have no option but to stay. We have no idea what it means to live under generations of oppression. We have no idea.
I am in awe. I am in love. I have never loved the Ukrainian people more than I do today. (And that’s saying a lot!) 🙂 They are so courageous. If I were in the same situation in the US would I stand as they do? I hope I would.
So now we pray. We love the people around us and we pray; all the while knowing that God has placed us here at this moment for a reason. When we boarded the plane in Portland, Oregon on November 12th He knew that this day would come. He was not unaware then, and He is not unaware now. God said to come serve the Ukrainian people, and here we stand until we hear otherwise.
Photos by Andrey Kolodich ©
Tonight we worshiped and prayed as a family before bed. We have explained to our kids some of what is happening here and five-year old Havalah explained it best:
“I’m two kinds of sad. I’m joy sad because this is a peaceful moment, but I’m cry sad because I don’t want anymore Ukrainians to die.”
The Ukrainians who stand in Kiev tonight, and in squares all over the country, stand for justice and hope for a better future. Tomorrow I’ll go to Romaniv to love on our boys- boys who have only known a life of injustice. I pray that justice will prevail in Ukraine in hopes that ALL people in Ukraine may have the hope of a better future. Whether they know it or not, the protestors on Maidan are standing for our boys. They stand for all the forgotten ones who can not stand for themselves. And so, in the small ways we are able we will stand for them too.
Will you join us? Stand up in prayer for those who are risking their lives for their country. Stand up in prayer for those who can not stand for themselves. Lift your voice and break the silence. Tell whoever will listen about our beloved Ukraine and her beautiful people. These are our people, the people of our hearts. May their sacrifice never be in vain.
“But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before Him.
He performs miracles that cannot be counted…
The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety…
He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth; he saves them from the clutches of the powerful.
So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.”
Job 5:8-9,11,15-16
Photos by Andrey Kolodich ©