Hello to everyone! My name is Misha (Michael). I`m not a writer, I`m not eloquent, I`m just a Christian but I would like to share with you all how Jesus Christ has changed my life and why I minister to orphans in Ukraine.
How Jesus saved me.
I
was born near Saratov, Russia
in 1967 to a family of non-believers. The village I was born in was 120
kilometers from the city. We moved to
the city of Saratov
when I was 2 ½ years old. When I was 5 years old my parents divorced,
and when I was 7 years old I was sent to an orphanage.
When
I aged out of the orphanage, I searched for a place to study or work. The place
where I wanted to study cost a lot of money, which I didn’t have. Consequently,
I couldn’t study. My mother began to drink and my father lived with another
family at that time. Over 15 years I sometimes earned money, but it was very
difficult. In the USSR
at that time, there was a law that minors could not work. I needed to pay
utilities for an apartment and buy food and clothes. During this time, I made
friends with people from the underworld, where I started to get money in
unjustifiable ways, to steal. I got used to this way of life and decided to
live like all the people around me. I understood that if I didn’t find money
myself, that no one would help me in this world. Nothing in life brought me
pleasure, I was lonely. After leaving school, I had to visit a children’s
shelter. While I was there, in the evenings I reflected on the meaning of life.
What was I living for? What waited for me in the future? I could think of
nothing good. I was constantly sad and depressed.
By this time, my mother had left me at one house in
order to live with a girlfriend at another house. I did not love the underworld in
which I lived, but I needed to find money in order to survive. When I was in
the orphanage, I had food, clothes and a place to sleep. Though I was deprived of many things that I
needed, such as food, clothing and a warm place to sleep, I did what I could to
survive.
At
first it felt terrible to steal, but as time went on I got used to it and I
lost the fear that I might go to prison. I knew I was wrong, but I silenced my
conscience with wine and vodka with friends at parties and in bars. During that
time I went to the orthodox church and I gave money to the poor, thinking that
those things would silence my conscience. In my understanding, God was only an
icon, he was in a church dome, in a dagger on a neck. Hell for me was only a
myth or a legend. Such religion didn’t give me fear that led to a life of
repentance before God. I started to hijack cars in order to sell spare parts. I
didn’t understand why I was living or what the purpose of my life was.
After
15 years, I was caught for the first time. I was sent to prison for 3 years for
stealing cars and other crimes. After being released, I went back to my old
habits. After 14 months, I was again sent to prison, where I lost 4 more years
of my young life. At this time, I began to ponder my life and what would come
of it. Prison, some months of freedom, again prison, freedom, prison…
During the last part of my time in prison, I addressed God, without even
knowing if He was really there. I even made a good luck charm to wear on a
chain around my neck. I thought this would help me communicate with God. I
started to hunger and thirst for change in my life, even my dreams were
changing. I started to dream of unusually beautiful gardens. When I woke up, I
was in a good mood. When I was released from jail at the age of 23, I once
again went back to my old business of crime. I forgot about my reflections on
God and eternity while in jail. I had many friends in the underworld and I
didn’t see any real chances to change my life. The police often detained me,
but every time I escaped consequence.
In 1995 a group of my friends and
I were detained once again and I assumed I would have to say goodbye to freedom
for 5 years or more. By then I knew the criminal code enough to know that my
punishment would increase each time I was caught. I had friends who helped me
get out of trouble. In August of the same year I left to live in Ukraine
hoping, after leaving my friends, to try and begin a new life.
In 1999, I realized and came to the understanding that I should reconcile with
God. I read every brochure, every piece of Christian literature, trying to find
out more and more about the knowledge of God. I read the Bible more often and
although I gradually grew in the fear of God, I still did not understand that
He needed to change my heart.
On one February evening, I read a part of the Bible in Luke about the rich man
and Lazarus. I understood that I had a choice to make and my spirit was not at
peace. Though this evening I was fairly drunk from drinking vodka, the fear of
God was still stronger than the vodka, which I thought would calm me. Sometime
around 5:00 in the morning, I woke up. My heart had been filled with fear and I
realized that God was angry with me, and reconciliation with God was much
easier than I had thought. I knew that I had to make the decision to be saved.
For
the first time, I knelt before God and sincerely opened my heart to Him,
confessed my sins and errors and realized my full insignificance before God. In
my head, I felt the hang-over condition, but God’s peace had filled my heart
and had forever changed my life. After my reconciliation with God, I had a
strong desire to study in a Christian college. The same year, God gave me that
opportunity. During my studies, I consequently needed money from time to time
and I earned it. In the second year of my studies, God called me to minister to
orphanages and He gave me the understanding and the desire to do what I now do.
I love this ministry and I love the kids. I am thankful to the Lord for calling
me to this!
I
understand the hearts and minds of the children who live in orphanages, as I
once did. I want to save them from the underworld that I was in.
I often had the opportunity to preach and that made me very glad. I had a big
desire to study the Bible and to teach others. In due course, a group of young
people who also love the Word of God was organized, and they had the desire to
study more. In my heart I felt the desire to be a pastor. I started to pray
about it. In 2005, the Lord answered my prayer and I became the pastor of the
local Bible Baptist Church Charity.
Neither my parents, nor life in an orphanage, neither prison, nor my friends,
no one could change my life. Hebrews 4:12 “For the Word of God [is] quick and
powerful,…”
But only the living God and Creator of the universe could change my life and my
heart completely. For that I am very glad and
happy!
Philippians
3:13-14 «… I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing
[I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth
unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
Misha Glazov
