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The voices urged Lida to the roof of her apartment to do the unthinkable. But an invisible force seemed to hold her back.
"I woke up while I was still on the roof," she says. "The wind was blowing on me. I couldnt understand what I was doing up there. It was very scary."
Like many growing up in Kiev, Lida faced the challenges of a difficult childhood. Her father, a hard worker, lost his job and turned to alcohol.
"His character was changing," notes Lida, "and his attitude was changing. After a little while, he became a complete drunkard."
Her dad eventually abandoned the family.
"Our father left us for no reason," Lida states. "How do I explain all of this? Will my life end like this, too? Is it like throwing the garbage into a rubbish bin? Is life really so empty and meaningless?"
The lessons Lida learned under Communism brought little comfort, so she talked to her mother.
"I asked her, 'Mother, what is going to happen with you afterward? After this life?' 'Im going to die,' my mother answered. 'So youll die like a dog and will be buried?' I asked. I didnt like that at all."
So Lida began a search for answers to her questions in the most unusual place.
"In
newspapers you could find a lot of features about UFOs, about aliens, about
the soul. It was somehow very familiar to me," Lida explains.
In her mind, Lida tried to make contact with alien life forms.
"I started to pray," she says. "I read some prayers to a spaceman and to other aliens. I called them and thought they would come. I would look for these green small aliens under the sofa, under the bed."
One day, while in a trance-like state, Lida nearly ended her life. The voices in her head told her to commit suicide. That really frightened her. Soon after that, Lida began to watch a television program that taught her a truth that would change her forever.
Says Lida, "It was the evening. We turned on the TV and watched The 700 Club. I remember seeing the testimony of a man whose life was changed by God. He talked about being changed by a person. I was sitting on my bed, and it seemed to me that I felt the presence of that Person, too! I realized that my life seemed dirty, just like those other peoples lives were dirty, too, but this Person changed everything."
That person is Jesus Christ.
"I felt it and saw it. I realized that there is Someone alive who changes lives," she says.
That day Lida cried and prayed a desperate prayer asking Jesus to forgive her sins and change her life.
"I knew that He wasnt just a ball of energy, He was a real Person, God, by the name Jesus," she says. "Everything Ive done in my life Ive done not only against me and other people, Ive done it against Him. After the words 'forgive me, forgive me,' something like a burden was taken off my mind. I felt something like a relief."
Lida
began a new relationship with God that continues today. It is a friendship
with a Savior she had once only dreamed about, a friendship that not only
is changing her, but others around her. For that, she is truly amazed and
grateful to God.
"He's a friend, Father, Savior, mother, and a husband sometimes," Lida says. "He's the One Who takes care of me, always takes care of me. The most precious thing for me is that He's the One Who will never leave me."
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
