“Now I Want to Live!” – How Vlad Found Peace

Aug 16, 2016 1809

Now Vlad has plenty of reasons to smile, because he’s discovered that he belongs to the family of God.

When I found out I was adopted, it almost destroyed my life. But since I found out that I am loved by God, I haven’t looked back!

My name is Vlad and I am nineteen years old. I was born in Kiev, Ukraine, and I was adopted when I was one. Then when my parents divorced when I was in ninth grade, with my mother, I had to find a new place to live.

At that time I started to use drugs like marijuana, amphetamines, and other tablets. Because my parents were government employees, my teenage friends had money and it was easy for me to get drugs. I had little contact with my parents because my mum was always busy and my dad lived in another city.

After I finished high school, my dad took me to live with him in Lviv, a city in Western Ukraine. There I started studying at the Institute of Ministry of Internal Affairs, but while I was there I continued to use drugs and get in trouble with the police.

My father had to bail me out with the police more than once, and one day when he was angry with me, he said, “This is probably your destiny, because you’re adopted and you aren’t my natural son!” That’s how I found out that I was adopted.

This really made me feel worthless and that my life had no value. I showed this by being angry with everyone. For a long time I just sat at home, feeling anxious and worried inside, not talking to anyone, and getting deeper into my drug habit than ever.

One of my friends asked me to read the Bible, but I didn’t want to listen. However, I did decide to pray and to ask God for help. So, for the first time in my life, I prayed, and an amazing thing happened: the feeling of anxiety that I had at the time, and that would often trigger my drug use, was gone!

Because of this, I called my friend and I told him that I wanted to study the Bible with him. We started to study and pray together, and he advised me to go to Poltava for treatment for my drug habit.

That was three months ago. Now I am at the rehab centre in Poltava. Before I was a very arrogant man. But something has changed within me. My anger is gone, and I am starting to enjoy being able to trust, and to be trusted.

I have also been attending meetings sponsored by Good News Unlimited. As I have been praying and spending time with the Bible, my relationship with God has deepened. Now I acknowledge Jesus in my life, and this encourages me to be a better person.

My new Christian friends have also helped me find honest work, so that now I am not dependent on my parents. This has also been a great help in helping me find my own worth.

It seemed to me before that I couldn’t change. But that was just like the hours before the dawn: it was after my lowest point that I found a real relationship with God.

Because of Jesus, and now that faith and hope have come into my life, I want to live! I want to start a family and have children. For the first time I can look at myself and at the world around me properly.

When God came into my life, peace and tranquility came as well. I used to think that I was a worthless nobody, but now I know that I am loved by God, and that I can put my trust in him.

– Edited by Eliezer Gonzalez from the English translation by Vlad’s original story