Ukraine Prayer # 446

Ira Kapitonvova
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you;
he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 55:22
Today, on the second Sunday of Advent, people light up the candle of Peace. We haven't had peace in Ukraine for over ten years, yet over the past 655 days, we've had plenty of opportunities to experience Peace that surpasses all understanding. When we woke up from explosions on February 24, 2022, when we were evacuating from Kyiv, when we lived through blackouts last winter, when we decided to return to Kyiv - those were uncertain times, yet that is when I felt the deepest Peace of God. In those times, when you couldn't base your decisions on anything you knew before, when the world as you knew it was gone, when the circumstances tried to bring you down, His voice said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." (John 14:27) It is His Peace that has sustained us through the darkest of times and what keeps us going today. We long for His Peace to reign in Ukraine, but until that day, we will hold onto the Peace He grants our hearts when we come to Him.
 
Peace, Shalom, it’s not as the world gives, His peace is Shalom, a peace that restores back to what should be. As we pray for peace in this war, let’s pray for Shalom, a restoration of what should be, not just a ceasefire or back to the lines but a real restoration of that which has been broken for centuries. Shalom…
Al Akimoff and the Slavic Ministries Team

Today's picture — Ukraine received the Peace Light of Bethlehem, a symbolic flame passed by scouts to those who need a message of hope. Photo from the St.Sophia Cathedral by Yevhen Kotenko / Ukrinform.