Prayer list update
If you would like to pray for our church, here is our prayer list.
God bless you!
Natasha
P.S. You can enlarge the prayer list by clicking on the picture.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Sunday, July 16, 2006
The Lord has completed the work
On Saturday, in the afternoon, the Lord moved Olga’s mom, Nina from her earthly tent to His heavenly home. She left this earth peacefully and quietly while her daughter was right there by her side. And as the Lord gives to a body the breath of life, so He takes it back to Himself to be with Him forever. When Olga saw that her mom had gone home, she experienced great peace and wonder at the same time.
As I was on my way to meet Olga and Dale (who came to Olga’s house to help and support her), my heart and mind were in confusion, I could not really understand why, but the Lord gave me comfort through His Word as I read Psalm 116, which gave me an assurance in Nina’s salvation.
“I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow.
Then I called upon the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!”
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yes, our God is merciful.
The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me.
Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
I believed, therefore I spoke, “I am greatly afflicted.”
I said in my haste, all men are liars.”
What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?
I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
O Lord, truly I am Your servant; the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!”
I want to tell you a little about Nina and the way the Lord has touched my life through her. For the last 20 years of her life, she was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. There is no explanation to what causes this illness and from what I’ve learned and have seen in the hospitals it can appear at any time and then slowly destroy the body, afflicting person by a great pain, making crippled to the point that it is impossible to hold things or perform simple tasks. Person looses a lot of weight and muscles and bones become very weak. When I first met Nina, which was in the begging of May she was in the condition that I’ve just described and in addition to that her leg was broken. As we got to know each other a little bit I found out that in spite of this condition she had a unique sense of humor and also that before her hospitalization she was fully taking care of her self. She had a very sweet smile and beautiful bright blue eyes. She had very much life in her and as I mentioned before she was open to what we were telling her about the Lord. Nina also was telling me about her life and I was just amazed how in such a weak body can live such an unbroken spirit. As I thought of Nina’s life and all of her suffering, I suddenly realized that all of it was used by the Lord to bring her life on this earth into completion and these last months of her life were the finalization of His work. He did as He has purposed – to save Nina’s soul it took 20 years of pain and suffering and 2 and a half months of complete disability, that her unbroken spirit would be tamed by the great LOVE of her MAKER, that she would put her TRUST in HIM.
The previous time I was asking you to pray for Nina, she was still in a hospital, but on July 5th the hospital was closing for a remodel, she was moved and for her last 10 days stayed in Olga’s apartment.
Dean and I were able to come and visit Nina more often. My last visit was on Thursday and it was a difficult time, but before I left that evening both Olga and I prayed for Nina out loud and then Nina and I said “Good bye” to each other, it was quiet and a little sad. On Friday, Dean was there and before he left he told Nina “Olga loves you, Natasha loves you and I love you too!” Olga told me that that same evening when she came home, her mom and she had a good time together talking and than Olga said, “Mom, you need to receive Jesus in to your heart.” Nina kept quite, but then said “I know, Dean also told me that God loves me.” Olga prayed for her.
This reminded me today of a song: “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so….Yes, Jesus loves me!...”
The night followed, at 4am Olga felt prompted to pray for her mom by her bedside, some time after Nina went to be with the Lord.
Through this time, the Lord was teaching all of us and for me it was a great lesson on the power of FORGIVENESS and the deadly poison of unforgivenss, which can ruin many people’s lives. I have also learned to appreciate and to enjoy more the simple things that the Lord blesses us with, such as beautiful blue sky, or a thunderstorm, green trees and white clouds, flowers or just an ability to walk on a soft silky grass. These first things always caused Nina’s amazement and excitement, but the last – was her great desire, which I believe now is fulfilled. Praise the LORD!!!
As I was on my way to meet Olga and Dale (who came to Olga’s house to help and support her), my heart and mind were in confusion, I could not really understand why, but the Lord gave me comfort through His Word as I read Psalm 116, which gave me an assurance in Nina’s salvation.
“I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow.
Then I called upon the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!”
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yes, our God is merciful.
The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me.
Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
I believed, therefore I spoke, “I am greatly afflicted.”
I said in my haste, all men are liars.”
What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?
I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
O Lord, truly I am Your servant; the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!”
I want to tell you a little about Nina and the way the Lord has touched my life through her. For the last 20 years of her life, she was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. There is no explanation to what causes this illness and from what I’ve learned and have seen in the hospitals it can appear at any time and then slowly destroy the body, afflicting person by a great pain, making crippled to the point that it is impossible to hold things or perform simple tasks. Person looses a lot of weight and muscles and bones become very weak. When I first met Nina, which was in the begging of May she was in the condition that I’ve just described and in addition to that her leg was broken. As we got to know each other a little bit I found out that in spite of this condition she had a unique sense of humor and also that before her hospitalization she was fully taking care of her self. She had a very sweet smile and beautiful bright blue eyes. She had very much life in her and as I mentioned before she was open to what we were telling her about the Lord. Nina also was telling me about her life and I was just amazed how in such a weak body can live such an unbroken spirit. As I thought of Nina’s life and all of her suffering, I suddenly realized that all of it was used by the Lord to bring her life on this earth into completion and these last months of her life were the finalization of His work. He did as He has purposed – to save Nina’s soul it took 20 years of pain and suffering and 2 and a half months of complete disability, that her unbroken spirit would be tamed by the great LOVE of her MAKER, that she would put her TRUST in HIM.
The previous time I was asking you to pray for Nina, she was still in a hospital, but on July 5th the hospital was closing for a remodel, she was moved and for her last 10 days stayed in Olga’s apartment.
Dean and I were able to come and visit Nina more often. My last visit was on Thursday and it was a difficult time, but before I left that evening both Olga and I prayed for Nina out loud and then Nina and I said “Good bye” to each other, it was quiet and a little sad. On Friday, Dean was there and before he left he told Nina “Olga loves you, Natasha loves you and I love you too!” Olga told me that that same evening when she came home, her mom and she had a good time together talking and than Olga said, “Mom, you need to receive Jesus in to your heart.” Nina kept quite, but then said “I know, Dean also told me that God loves me.” Olga prayed for her.
This reminded me today of a song: “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so….Yes, Jesus loves me!...”
The night followed, at 4am Olga felt prompted to pray for her mom by her bedside, some time after Nina went to be with the Lord.
Through this time, the Lord was teaching all of us and for me it was a great lesson on the power of FORGIVENESS and the deadly poison of unforgivenss, which can ruin many people’s lives. I have also learned to appreciate and to enjoy more the simple things that the Lord blesses us with, such as beautiful blue sky, or a thunderstorm, green trees and white clouds, flowers or just an ability to walk on a soft silky grass. These first things always caused Nina’s amazement and excitement, but the last – was her great desire, which I believe now is fulfilled. Praise the LORD!!!
I want to ask you to pray now for Olga’s brothers. We would like to invite them to a memorial service, which is planned for the 30th of July. So, please, pray that the Lord would give them a desire to come and use that time in their lives so they would come to Him.
Thank you for being with us in prayer through this time.
Natasha
Natasha
Monday, July 10, 2006
God's small world
Hi everyone, sorry it’s been a while since the last update. IT”S SUMMER time in the big city and for someone who is from California it has been great. Vova who is our worship leader is up in the far north of Russia with a team from south California. A Few of the team members visited on a Sunday. It was interesting to find out that one of the girls on the team was from Hughson. Kristen Ensley I believe was her maiden name. Her parents are now living in Turlock. God’s small world, getting even smaller.
Next week I have to leave the country. Every 6 months I have to leave Russia. It is just a matter of crossing the boarder and then returning. It looks like I will be going to Kiev Ukraine which is an over night train.
Please pray for Charles, I spoken about him in the past, he is the young man from Ghana that has lost one lung to T.B. It is a miracle that he is alive. But now things are complicated, by receiving so much medicine for his T.B. his kidneys are now in jeopardy. Charles has drawn closer to the Lord during these last 5 months. I believe God has a great plan for Charles.
It appears Lord willing that I will be coming home on Sept. 5 and will be in the states for 5 weeks. I’m looking forward to fellowship with my, family and friends, God Bless, dean
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