Flying to Ukraine in 2008, right after Byron and I had gotten engaged, wasn't the first time I had thought about Ukraine.
When I was a child, I had a near obsession with the slavic part of the world. I remember going to the library and searching to find Russian fairytales translated into English. When I got a little older, and I understood geography, I began to learn the differences between all of the former Soviet Union countries. By the time I was 10, I was obsessed with learning about the Bolshevik Revolution, and my friends and I would pretend like we were the Romanov sisters, and take turns pretending to be Princess Anastasia. Even in the midst of my childhood silliness, I was acutely aware that the former Soviet Union countries had been closed off from the Gospel for some time, and I would often tell people that when I grew up, I wanted to be a missionary in a Russian speaking country.
By the time I was 12, I realized that to be a missionary in a Russian speaking country, I probably needed to learn how to speak Russian...
I begged my parents to find me a Russian teacher, but they wanted me to learn something more practical, like Spanish (For my Ukrainian friends reading, there is a very large Spanish speaking community in Colorado, much larger than the Russian speaking community, so, generally speaking, it's wiser to learn Spanish if you plan on staying in Colorado for your whole life.). But, I refused to accept that. I wanted to learn Russian. I was determined to learn Russian.
Finally, by the time I was 15, my parents caved. They found me a Russian tutor and I began to learn Russian. But, my high school years were dark years for me. I went through a lot of really difficult things, and even went through a phase where I hated Christians and the Church, and I decided that I could be a Christian without associating myself with churches or other Christians (If you feel this way, I'd love to talk to you some time. My email address is byronandemilyj@gmail.com). At the time, I didn't think that there feelings were bad, but in actuality, they were, and they caused me to fall away from having a strong relationship with Christ. I was still a Christian, and I still loved God, but I wasn't walking closely with Him.
Even though I had given myself a little distance from God, I didn't think that my passions and desires would be affected. But, I quickly learned that without God, everything in my life would change. I had fought so hard to have a chance to learn Russian and pursue that calling of being a missionary, but without Christ being a strong part of my life, I didn't have the motivation to study. I became extremely lazy with my language studies, and eventually quit studying Russian all together. I began to replace my God-given ambition and desires with worldly ambition and desires. I obsessed over myself, and really obsessed over boys. Liking boys, hanging out with boys, flirting with boys, dating boys... Boys, boys, boys. But even in my boy craziness, the Lord had a plan for me, and he put Byron in my life when I was only 16.
By the time I met Byron, I had completely forgotten about anything Slavic, but the Lord remembered the calling that He had placed on my life. One of the first things Byron said to me after we met was that he had just recently visited Ukraine on a missions' trip, and it was one of the coolest things he'd ever done.
In that instant, two things happened. (1) I realized that Byron was absolutely gorgeous (I was really boy crazy!) and (2) I remembered that just a year early, and for most of my life, I had a deep, God-given passion for places like Ukraine. I decided it was time to start getting right with the Lord, and remembering that He should always be my first love.
After Byron and I started dating, I told him more about my past, and my youthful desires. We soon realized that God had possibly called both of us to serve him in Ukraine after we were married, and right after we got engaged, we wanted to go to Ukraine and seek the Lord's will for our lives on a short-term missions' trip.
And so, one hot, muggy day in 2008, I walked off of a plane, stepped foot onto foreign soil, and instantly felt at home. Our plane had landed in Kiev, Ukraine, and although the airport was nothing special (airports never are!), it seemed special to me. Seeing all the signs in Ukrainian, hearing people speak quickly in a foreign language, watching everything happening around me in a new and curious way, everything sold me on Ukraine. I loved Ukraine. And I knew, at that moment, that God wanted me to someday live in Ukraine.
God was moving in Byron's heart at that same moment, and we soon realized that God was calling us both to someday come to Ukraine on a permanent basis.
Time passed quickly for us during that trip. Before we knew it, we were back in the US and planning our wedding. June 13, 2009 eventually came around, and we began our new life together.
One of my vividest memories from our first month of marriage is praying together before going to sleep. Every night, we'd pray together, asking the Lord if we should move to Ukraine. And for three full years, we continued to pray that prayer.
Last summer, we decided it was time to act on our prayers. We would visit Ukraine on a "Joshua and Caleb" trip, and either come back to Colorado and announce we were moving to Ukraine, or give up on the idea and lay down our roots in Colorado. Once again, we flew to Ukraine and began to seek the Lord. During the trip, we were able to visit a few different cities, and eventually found Ternopil, Ukraine. Praise the Lord, we heard His voice clearly in Ternopil, and we knew that we were supposed to move to Ternopil. As soon as we made it back to Colorado, we announced that we were quitting our jobs, selling everything we owned, and moving to Ternopil, Ukraine. The Lord was so gracious and faithful to us during this time. He provided us with everything we needed and we officially moved to Ternopil on October 3, 2012 (And if you want to read about our moving experience, it's all on our blog!).
Currently, I'm only 24 years old. I know that in some ways, I haven't lived a lot of life, but I have lived enough life to know that God's promises are real promises. When He said, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandings. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6) He meant it. It wasn't a joke. It wasn't a lie. It's a simple If/Then statement. If we will simply trust God, He'll show us what to do. It's as easy as that. And I know that God HAS made my path straight. The only times in my life that were truly terrible were the moments that I chose to spend my time away from God. In all of my fears, in all of my uncertainty, Jesus has ALWAYS come through for me. He's never left me, He's never forsaken me, and with every step, He's shown me where to go.
If my testimony speaks nothing else, I pray it shows the faithfulness of God. In all of my life, God has always been by my side, and He has always proven to be trustworthy. And in your life, He will do the same for you, if you allow Him to dwell in you.
Blessings,
Emily
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