Four years, two months, and twenty-four days ago, I made a life-altering decision. It was the second day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. My six kids and I were sheltering in a basement in Western Ukraine because of frequent air-raid sirens. Meanwhile, my husband was 230 miles away, trapped in Kyiv.
I prayed but received no answers besides the assurance that Jesus would be beside me, no matter what happened.
I was paralyzed by fear. What if my husband didn’t survive? What if Russian bombs found us before he did? What if Russian troops swooped down from Belarus to attack Western Ukraine? I prayed but received no answers besides the assurance that Jesus would be beside me, no matter what happened. Not knowing what else to do, I took my children and fled.
Now we’re living in the EU, serving Ukrainian refugees all over the country of Hungary, and it feels like we could soon face a similar crisis. Once again, Russia seems poised to attack our region of the world. As Kremlin rhetoric becomes increasingly anti-NATO, once again, I find myself wrestling with sobering what-ifs.
It would soothe my spirit to know I and my family would survive whatever storm is brewing, but in my experience, God rarely grants such prior knowledge.
Today I came to Jeremiah 45 in my daily Bible reading. In it, God gives the scribe Baruch a promise. God says He will preserve Baruch’s life, no matter where he goes. Baruch had transcribed all of Jeremiah’s prophecies against the nation of Judah. He knew they were on a collision course with God’s judgment, and he may have been terrified of the future. It must have been a great comfort to know he would survive whatever hardships were coming. How kind of God to give him this reassurance!
I would love to have similar reassurance. It would soothe my spirit to know I and my family would survive whatever storm is brewing, but in my experience, God rarely grants such prior knowledge. But He has given me promises I can claim: His peace (John 14:27) and His presence (Matthew 28:20). I know to the depths of my soul He will be with us no matter what we face. His presence will carry us through everything—even death itself, if it comes to that. When I allow that truth to sink into my heart, it is deeply comforting.
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Unlike the United States, Ukraine does not have many dark-skinned people, or Asians, for that matter. It's a fairly homogenous white society, which means that anyone of non-European descent stands out and might be exposed to ridicule, or worse. However, although I'm half Japanese, I've been fortunate.