Sometimes we feel so unequipped to help those who are in need. However, leaving our hearts open to God’s plan and trusting fully in Him, leaves room for God to equip us in His perfect way. 

As God used Alexei in the story below to provide warmth to a family in great need, He also showed His amazing sovereignty in saving a young man whom the world had cast off. Through the loving heart of Alexei’s wife, to show kindness to a home full of children with foul language, to the persistence of Alexei and his friends to warm the physical bodies of this same family, God had His perfect hand in it all.

God is so ready to show His glory through us.  We just must be ready, willing, and trusting. Here is more from Alexei . . .

“Dear brothers and sisters!

I want to share with you a special testimony that brings tears to my eyes when I think of it. Tears come to my eyes when I think about how the Lord wonderfully changed the lives of children. Nothing is impossible for God. 

Many people in my city know the old lady Valentina’s family, or rather know her by her four ill-behaved grandchildren. People around here say these children will follow their father’s way of life—they will all be in prison sooner or later. The father is in prison, the mother lives with other men who have prison records behind them. The only people who take care of them are their grandmother and their uncle Sergei, who is 22 years old.

One day my wife Anna, hearing what people were saying about these children became very discouraged. Yes, they have a bad upbringing, children use foul language, they have rebellious characters, but it’s not the children’s fault. So, we decided to take some sweets and food and visit this family. When we went to the house, we were horrified. We understood why people were saying that. Only God can change these children, but we could not watch them die. I invited the kids to the carpentry club, and they started attending. You know, I’ve never seen kids shake while praying but over time, they learned to briefly say two, three words: Jesus thank you. The eldest of the children, Rudik, was also learning to pray, and I could see that changes were happening. It was time for summer vacation, and the kids went away to different places. Three months later, we gathered again, and I was saddened. All the good changes I had begun to see in them were gone and I began to work on them anew through prayer and faith in the Lord, asking God for love and patience. He and his younger brothers came to carpentry club and Sunday school. Their speech was overflowing with foul words, but we continued to work with these kids.

One day the unexpected happened. Sergei, the boys’ uncle, came to church with Valentina. Before I could speak, I could see tears coming out of both of their eyes. When they calmed down, they told me they were powerless to do anything and had no one to ask for help. It turned out that the gas boiler in their house had broken, the one that heated the house. They tried everything, and Sergei was in despair because they had no money for a new boiler, and no one could fix it. Winter is coming and the house is very cold. An inspection from the state authorities is due to come one day soon to make sure the children have everything they need, and this incident could have led to the children being taken away to a boarding school. Valentina asked her acquaintances to take the children for some time until the heating in the house starts working.

I stand there and realize that I am powerless to help them, I don’t have the money for the boiler, I don’t have the right equipment to fix it, and I don’t have the knowledge. But one thing I understood at that moment was that God had brought them to me for something, which meant I had to trust God. I called around to all possible acquaintances and parts dealers, but no one was there. And suddenly I remembered a believing brother, maybe he could help, so I called him up, explained the situation. He invited me to his house, showed me that he had a boiler, not a new one, but one that would have been useful, and he gave it away for free, seeing that the family was in need.

We take it and I knock on the door of Sergei and Valentina’s cold house. They opened the doors for me, and I tell them what I found. I can’t express the tears of joy in those people’s eyes, but we still had a long night of work ahead of us. We went down with Sergei into the cold basement and tried to do our best. Rudik was watching all this and didn’t leave us until 3 a.m., handing out tools. At night, tortured and tired, we started the boiler. You know, we had our hands, we had the desire to help, we had some tools and materials, but in our opinion, it was not enough. We had to  trust in the Lord and faith in the miracle that the Lord would work through us, weaklings. The house warmed up and the next night the children slept in a warm house, heated by a boiler.

Our hands in God’s hands did a miracle, which to this day is a good testimony to this family. Rudik, impressed by that hard work at night began to come diligently to the carpentry club. Classes in the club inspired his schoolwork and his grades went up. Teachers at school are amazed at the kind of change in this child. He had never had such good grades. He began to take my advice about not cussing and began to strive to be a guy who is praised instead of scolded. Last summer Rudik attended Summer Camp and went to Bible classes, then one day he didn’t show up. As it turned out, his father—who was a drunk and a prison inmate—had died. Rudik came to us after the funeral, and one night during our fellowship he repented! 

Brothers and sisters, as he prayed the prayer of repentance, I remembered the words of people who said that this was a hopeless child and that his fate was to be in prison. But the Lord said no. He and his brothers continue to come to the carpentry club, together we work on crafts, study the Bible, do homework, and learn to be obedient to God, parents and teachers.

Please pray for Rudik, for his choices and his life, that he will follow the Lord with confidence, as well as for the salvation of his younger brothers and his grandmother Valentina, who is kind to us, but not yet reconciled to God.”

– Alexei