Almost daily, we hear and read about the military encounters in Ukraine. But globalLead’s executive director, Chris Davis, was recently blessed with his own encounter with Ukraine. God used his presence in Europe on a ministry trip to encourage someone he never expected.
In February, Chris had the opportunity to serve leaders in both Vienna, Austria and Budapest, Hungary. While in Vienna, Chris was asked to preach at a local church. He chose to preach from Psalm 139:12-18 with the theme of “God Cares for You.”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
Little did he know that, in the audience for the very first time, there was a Ukrainian pastor who had to flee when the war first broke out. It was a painful decision he was forced to make in order to care for his elderly parents, his wife, and children. He was now staying in Vienna, but without work, because he does not speak the local German language. He speaks Russian and English (Russian because he lived between Kiev and Russia in Ukraine).
During the message, Chris could tell that this brother, Pastor Eugene, was being moved by the exposition of the Word. As the service was being concluded this brother gave testimony to everyone about how he needed to hear this reminder that God Cares for Him. He had been through so much and had begun to wonder what God was doing with his loss of home, leaving the country with little resources. He cried as he shared that God reminded us that He cares for all of us!
I pray this is a reminder for you, if you are a refugee from war, if you are mourning great loss, poor and famished, thirsty and overwhelmed, homeless and downtrodden… God has always seen you and has always cared.