Long, long ago and far away lived a little girl.......ME!!!!! I was raised in a
family of five children and I was the 'baby'. My parents raised us in the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church. Our grandparents had come from either Ukraine or Poland early
in the 20th century and this was the way they had worshipped. My grandfather was
very instrumental in establishing one of the first Orthodox churches in our
home town so there was quite a bit of heritage and pride involved in our 'church
life'.
As I grew, I was very involved in the church....and learning much about
the culture of being of Ukrainian descent. I learned the Ukrainian language at
a weekly "Ukrainian School" taught by the priest. I learned how to dance the
Ukrainian folk dances. I learned how to make beautiful Ukrainian Easter Eggs ,
"Pysanky" (which I still continue to make), and I learned to cook the
delicious Ukrainian cuisine. All this was great, and for all the wonderful things
I learned about my heritage, I will forever be grateful. I was a second generation
born American and alot to be proud of.
I married very young at the age of 18 and
my husband Tom and I (more about that on the family page ) left immediately for
Camp LeJeune where Tom was still serving in the Marines. Through those first months,
we remember talking about how we should go to church, but being in the south, there
were no Orthodox churches to be heard of. My husband was not raised "religiously"
like I had been and had occasionally gone to the Methodist church with an aunt so
our interest in God definitely was not uppermost in our minds. Many moves later
lead us to the Cleveland, Ohio area.
It was there that God began a wonderful work
in our lives. My husband was a washer repairman at the time. It was summer and
he was watching TV when Billy Graham came on. I didn't know much about it then..but
it WAS then that he made a commitment to Jesus Christ and asked Him to come into
his life. During this time, I saw many changes in my husband...like......he didn't
argue with me like he used to....and he would lovingly kiss me for no reason.
That in itself, made me suspicious...Ha..Ha.. And I did notice that he was
reading the Bible a little.. I thought "It's about time he began thinking about
religion."
Some months later, he began going to a Bible Study in a customer's
home. He came home very excited about what had happened and told me how he knew
for sure he was 'saved' and that Jesus was his Savior. I thought.."Boy this
guy is becoming a Holy Joe. That's fine with you.....but LEAVE me ALONE!!!"..More
and more I saw changes and these changes were beginning to affect me. Little did
I know that the Lord was working in my heart.
To make this as short as possible,
he invited me to go to the Bible Study. I went and wasn't sure these people were
as genuine as they had appeared. So I returned two weeks later to check it out
again. A dear sweet British lady spoke with me afterwards and asked me, "If you
died tonight...would you go to heaven?".....Hmmmm. I thought that was strange...and
that NO ONE could ever know that for sure.
Well, she took me step by step through
the Bible and answered all the questions I had and explained through His Word
why the things I asked could be proven and understood. And then finally, she said
that Jesus had been knocking at the door of my heart alllllll my life, and that
I was the ONLY one who could let Him in. She told me "For God so loved the
world (and in that world was Georgia), that He gave His only begotten Son that if
Georgia believed in Him, she could be saved." (Taken from John 3:16). It was
then and there, that I gave my life to Jesus Christ. He then became the Lord and
Savior with the Peace that passes all understanding that I had been searching for
all my life.
Thank you, dear Jesus, for loving me so...
