My Faith Story

I really enjoy reading other people's conversion stories so I thought I'd share mine. After all, how cool is that to see God at work in so many different ways!

Dedicated to God and ALL of His faithful servants who were willing to exchange the comfort and safety of their home for uncertainty and danger of witnessing to people who never heard the Gospel.

I grew up in a family of atheist. And so did my parents. When they were little Communist Party still had a really good grasp on the society and most people lived in fear of being called the enemy of the state. If you were declared that, they would come without any warning and usually late at night, so that you would not have a chance to escape. They take you away and your family would never see you again. If both parents were under suspicion, the kids would just be put in an orphanage. It was a dark time.
My parents grew up believing in the Party Line. It's a religion in and of itself with God taken out and replaced by the current Party Leader. Though my parents never heard about God, the longing was still there in their harts. I remember when I was about 15 and we were on our yearly getaway to the Black Sea my mom saw a kid's bible on a book stand. She said she wanted to buy it. I laughed in her face. After all, who wants this bunch of old wife's tales in the house. She bought it anyway.
That fall a close friend of mine asked me to attend English lessons with her. She didn't want to go alone, they were late at night and it would be safer for two girls walk home afterwards. My parents always encouraged classes of any sort, so I went. A couple of months later her family ended up moving to Russia. And I stayed. By then I was in love with the language and the teacher (don't worry, he was 60 yo by then :) He kept saying that if we really wanted to know the language we needed to practice with native speakers.
My opportunity to practice came through another friend who introduced me to a co-mission team. It was a group of young people who came to Ukraine to teach the Bible in public schools. I wasn't interested in the Bible but I really liked the young people. They were so different not and just culturally. I didn't know what it was but I wanted to be like that. Since a very early age I took social injustice very hard. My kindergarten teach told my mom that she had a little freedom fighter of a daughter (she told me that years later, of course).
Fast forward a year. I was studying the Bible with the co-mission people, still just for the language. It's not that it sounded silly, if there really was a God, it would make a lot of sense. But I am one of those people that need tangible proof. I had been dating for a year at that point and was engage to be married (on July, 4th :) Something bothered me, though. First of all, I really wasn't in love THAT MUCH. Secondly, I knew, if there was any chance of there being a God, He would not have approved. The guy was selfish and very ambitious, the kind that doesn't need any one's help, definitely not from on high. So, one night I challenged God. I told Him that if He really existed and if He really wanted me, He would have to stop the wedding. The plans were in place, we were registered with the government to be married a month later. I didn't think anything would happen, it was just for my own peace of mind. For I had doubts.
Well, two days before the wedding my husband-to-be was drafted into the army. It was highly unusual. The drafting period ended in may when he was still a student and didn't qualify to be drafted. That year was the first year EVER when they decided to extend the drafting period just long enough for him to be done with school. Two days before the wedding he had to report.
Be careful about what you ask for for you might get it. In my mind I knew I got my answer and that meant that God was after all THERE. And he wanted me. That meant that everything the Bible said had to be true. That's how my faith journey began.

PS. In August after 15 years of not seeing her I am going to visit a friend who was on that co-mission trip and played a major role in my conversion and Christian growth.