In Ukraine, Multiply works closely with the New Hope Center where people like Lena are truly finding new hope in Jesus Christ and a new family in the church.
Lena grew up in a poor family in Zaporozhye, Ukraine. As a young woman, she had dreams of becoming a teacher and eventually having a family of her own, but she ended up turning to alcohol and partying to find meaning in life. After a broken marriage that left her as a single mother, Lena began to feel mentally unstable and spiritually oppressed. She would hear voices and footsteps in her home. She would often not be able to sleep because of her fear. Yet in the midst of her oppression, she asked herself, “If these demons are real, could God be real too?”
She began to search for God by visiting fortune-tellers. But she quickly learned that they were unable to give her what she needed to be free. So she went to an Orthodox priest and explained her situation, but he refused to help. Lena did not know where to turn. Her friends at the factory discouraged her from going to church and invited her to drink her fears and problems away.
“Eventually, I lost hope,” said Lena, “so I decided to kill myself. I just couldn’t handle the oppression anymore, and I thought it was better to die than to live without love.” She wrote a letter to her mom and her daughter and went to jump off a bridge. On the way, she heard voices in her head. One voice said, “Do it!
Kill yourself!” Another said, “You don’t have to. You have a family.” Somehow, she knew the second voice was God, and she couldn’t disobey him, even if she barely knew him.
Not long after that, a co-worker gave Lena a Bible and invited her to church. Very quickly, things began to change. As she began to understand God’s character, her outlook on life was transformed. Although she continued to face many challenges, Lena felt God’s presence in her life and received his comfort. Lena’s church family became a caring environment for her and her daughter to grow in their faith.
Through the church, Lena heard about a job opportunity as an accountant at the New Hope Center, a thriving ministry among orphans and youth at risk. She was thrilled to join their team. “I thank God every day for my work and for my new community,” Lena said.
In addition to her new job, Lena has also begun to gather believers together in her neighborhood in an effort to start a new church. Despite setbacks in her life, she is giving herself wholeheartedly to God and living on mission. As a single mother, she has also begun to care for three other single mothers in her community. She serves them with kindness and generosity, and she challenges them to cling to their faith in God and to make him their first love.
