My salvation testimony starts at age 4. I had disobeyed my father’s rules and had been disciplined. I was sitting out on our porch, sulking. My dad came out and began to explain to me that, just like my disobedience to him had consequences, so too my disobedience to God has consequences. He explained that disobedience to God is called sin, and that, because God is perfect, he cannot let any sinners into heaven. Having just disobeyed my dad, I fully understood that I was a sinner. I knew that I would be punished by God.

My dad continued to explain that God loved me and sent His Son Jesus to die to take my punishment, and that if I would simply believe in His death to pay for my sins, He would forgive me. I knew there was nothing I could do to pay for my sins and that I needed a Savior, and I asked Jesus to be my Savior and placed my trust in Him. I am so thankful that Jesus did all of the hard work on our behalf and made salvation so simple that even a four-year-old can understand it.

I grew up in Ukraine in a family of atheists, but from a young age I knew that I did not come from a monkey. Looking at creation, I understood that there must be a Creator – God. I had a lot of questions about Him. I heard only of an Orthodox church, so at the age of 11, I asked my mom to take me there and I was baptized. However, I did not find God there, nor answers to my questions. As a teenager, I got bad friends, started smoking, and going bad places and doing bad things. I forgot about my search for God, but I am so glad He did not forget about me.

At the age of sixteen, my best friend met some missionaries who invited her to church. On one particular Wednesday evening, I could not find any other friends to have fun with, so I went with her to the church. It was a teen activity – I could not believe that one could have so much fun without drinking or dancing! At first, I was not really listening to the preaching, but in a few months the church moved into a new building and on the first Wednesday evening service in the new building, I heard the call to salvation. I knew I was a sinner because of my life style, but I never heard that Jesus died for me. It was so personal. I had no doubts that I needed salvation. I was shown from the Bible that Jesus died for me to take my punishment for sin – it was the answer that I was looking for when I was a child. I accepted the Lord as my Savior, and God has changed my life completely.