No Cent for Life

Hello, I briefly wanted to share about a ministry God has me involved for a while already. His ways are amazing! Almost three years ago in summer I started thinking of how exactly God wanted to use me and if there was any particular place and people that I could be used by God for His glory. I didn't really feel any specific calling - I loved working with kids during camp time but coming back to everyday life I still knew that there was supposed to be some place for me to by used. The thoughts about ministering to kids (mainly sick ones) who didn't really have much time started to crawling in my head. I thought about little ones who had AIDS and could not live normal life and needed Jesus to save them. In September 2009 pastor Jake announced that people from our local baptist church called him and asked if there were people in our church willing to participate in the ministry to the kids with AIDS. I went to meet the lady from the baptist church to find out more about kids and the hospital. I prayed that it would be the right place for me to be. Finally it was time for me to go there for the first time and as i was approaching the hospital I could not figure out why it is located in the suburbs of our little city and not in the center as the rest of medical clinics for kids. Finally i got it: it was TB center, place where people with tuberculosis (TB) were treated. TB is huge in Ukraine and spreads rapidly now (it's droplet spread), the treatment takes lots of time and money and basically you can't get rid of it if you ever get it, it is the desease of people who are inclined to consume or consume alcohol and drugs, or live in very poor conditions. It was a bummer, I didn't know if this is what God really wanted me to do, I was afraid to get TB, afraid to stay there. At the same time there was something that didn't let me stop thinking of the kids in TB center. I talked to pastor who told me that I needed to pray for God's will to be clear and if the desire to go there still doesn't leave me - it is God's will indeed. So I prayed, and prayed, and prayed, then I prayed more - I really hoped that God would change His mind and "it can't be Your Will, right? You don't really want me there, it's too far away (too dark, too abandoned, too dirty, too dangerous, too ealy, too late, i'm sick and can't go now, i'm too tired etc.) - i pretty much took my time trying to make up the decision of God instead of Him. Somehow it didn't work out. God was clear about His decision: He kept reminding me that those little ones could have never seen Jesus in people in their lives, they all came from bad families where they were abused and mistreated. They didn't have much time. They were all coming from bad background, were left by their parents. Many of them were taken from home in order for social services to figure out the situation there so the kids usually went from the hospital straight to an orphanage. Left all alone, being abused, being mistreated, being sick they were there in a sad and gloomy place. God encouraged me to keep on coming and ministering to those kids. I wanted to share two verses that kept up the fire buring in my heart: Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter (Proverbs 24:11) And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord. Colossians 4:17 As time went by God brought people to this ministry and it was an answer to my prayers. More than that - God gave a desire to people to support and around 15 windows and later on a new playground were installed in TB hospital. God is faithful: there is a team of 4 going to the hospital on the regular basis and we'll probably have more :)
God is doing great work there. I've been given a privilege to serve there and I'm thankful for this.

Check our some pics here.