Ukraine - we are with you and we pray - Young medical professional and volunteer Olesia was shot in the neck

WELS: "a young medical professional named Olesia Zhukovska was serving as a volunteer to help treat those who were injured in the clashes. As she tended to the wounded, she herself was struck in the neck by a police sniper’s bullet. By God’s grace, she survived emergency surgery and is in critical condition. 


 Her story has made international news as reported by the Associated Press."

WELS (read the full text):
http://www.wels.net/news-events/wels-news/ukraine/violence-in-ukraine-touches-fellow-lutherans

WELS (Update from Ukraine):
http://blogs.wels.net/missions/2014/02/21/update-from-ukraine/
By Rev. Dr. Vyacheslav Horpynchuk, bishop of the Ukranian Lutheran Church: "Today I was able to talk to Olesia and give her communion. We read the Scriptures together and prayed for her recovery. She is still very weak. More prayers are needed. As I told Olesia today, she showed her true Christian love to wounded people at the barricades in Kyiv and I reminded her the words of our Savior, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).


"I am a Ukrainian" (powerful message!) 2:05
http://thoughtcatalog.com/danielle-ryan/2014/02/i-am-a-ukrainian-this-needs-to-go-viral/#LCI32jZctIWLmUx7.01

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13)






"Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good." Rom. 12:9 (ESV)

"I'm a prisoner of hope" Zech. 9:12




"Beauty from ashes":
http://karensprings.blogspot.fi/

"Most of our lives (especially in the western world) we live as if tomorrow is a guarantee and we make plans as such, probably because we've lived lives that for the most part have proved certain. Yet now more then ever I am reminded of the scripture in James 4 that says "You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.""

Only one thing remains certain today. Jesus is Lord and He alone remains our hope in the midst of the panic and confusion that the world is screaming over the airwaves. I have to keep reminding myself of that. My plans are not certain. The future of this nation is not certain. Nothing really is. But Jesus is certain. He remains Lord and in that alone I can find my peace."

Photo (candles) : Kerstin Lindén
Photo of Olesia: Internet