A Sister's Love

God, you have always been there for me even when I wasn’t following you. Thank you for giving me your hope, your love, and for believing in me. Now I pray for you to do the same for my brother Sasha. Please rescue him from his sinful lifestyle and fill him with your hope and love. Amen.

Nadiia’s life fell apart when her father was sent to prison. Her mother started to drink and she and her siblings were separated and placed into different orphanages. Her mother promised the children that she would come for them… but she never did.

Nadiia’s heart grew cold and she began to smoke and drink. When she graduated from the orphanage Nadiia went to live in a Heart for Orphans Transition Home. It was here she heard the Gospel for the first time and her heart began to soften. She asked the Lord into her life and He changed her! Eventually Nadiia went to Bible College, and she became a missionary first in Kyrgyzstan, and now in Kenya. But she never forgot her little brother Sasha, whom she’d only seen twice in the years they were growing up in the orphanage. She prayed constantly for him to turn his life around.

Sasha doesn’t understand why his mother never wanted him. He was just a child. For him, growing up in the orphanage was hard. He was a good boy until fifth grade. But then, the other kids made fun of him and, he changed. Sasha started down a path of destruction… stealing, drinking, doing drugs, and fighting.

Sasha formed a gang and continued down his destructive path until he landed in prison. He was sentenced to five years for organized crime, but miraculously after two and a half years he was freed. Sasha knew he never wanted to go back, but he was not yet ready to change. He longed to become a “Godfather,” a respected criminal leader.

Nadiia begged Sasha to change his destructive lifestyle and go stay with Andrey, a Heart for Orphans housefather, to learn more about Jesus. Finally, Sasha went and while he was there, his gang was arrested. Eventually Sasha was also arrested. He was facing 12 years in prison. He knew he had a decision to make. Sasha thought, “If they let me go, I will give my life to the Lord. If they keep me for 12 years, then I will know it was just a myth-there is no God.” Amazingly, he served only two months and he was set free!

True to his word, Sasha dedicated his life to the Lord. Soon afterward he was baptized and now says he is a changed man because of the Lord. “I don’t make trouble, I don’t steal… I help people.” Sasha is now a man filled with hope and love and wants to have a family. Sasha is very thankful to his sister for never giving up on him… his sister who continued to pray for him until Jesus turned his life around.