(Happenings from January 2020).
A lady on the Russian Social Media site connected with Natalia online and then she reached out to me. She's from Asia, but now she lives elsewhere. I was hesitant in responding at first, but Natalia responded to her and felt that she was God-sent. I said that she could need to hear something from you or you made need to hear something from her. But I explained to her my reasoning for hesitancy. Her profile is like a Christian blog. I eventually responded to her because Natalia got along well sending each other voice messages. The lady is trying to learn English and Russian. She says that she loves Jesus and that she has a passion for the Russian culture. She invited us to join in a regular Bible study with her over skype. Natalia joined her on skype for their Russian Bible study and several people from around the world joined in. She also has Bible studies in English and in other languages. Natalia told me she really enjoyed it and they invited me to join in so I will join them when I have time! Natalia shared her story to the group and the lady shared that her younger brother who also struggles with addiction to drugs.
Natalia told me that she shared this the lady:
“I would like to tell him about my past life, I was a drug addict and used almost every types of drugs and this It lasted a very long time ... Nobody believed that I would stop doing it. Everyone turned away from me. I was not accepted anywhere. The police systematically beat me. I went through all the circles of hell. All the people who surrounded me put an end to me. But God's hand they didn’t leave me. I was found by the guys from the rehabilitation Christian of the center. They told me that you have hope. God loves you. And He will never leave you. And this Christian rehabilitation center became my home. They fed me. They dressed, shod and supported and understood me. All the guys in this center were also former drug addicts and alcoholics with a terrible past. But God saved them too and gave strong hope. God taught to live anew, enjoy life and live happily! ❤And if not for God, God forbid! I don’t even know what the Lord did in my life, it’s just a MASTERPIECE! Glory to Him!”
One time, Natalia encountered a lady needed someone who will listen. She discovered that his lady has had a difficult life. She is the only person in her family still alive because of the war. She never had children and her husband died years ago to lung cancer. For a while she lived homeless. Her house is now mostly damaged from shelling. They cried together and Natalia comforted her. I pray they will cross paths again. Natalia has also been taking hospital visits to comfort former friends of hers. One of her friends is half-paralyzed. This lady was her roommate when she was in the hospital one time and they became good friends. Natalia came to her with homemade bread and shared about life.
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