Letting God take the wheel | From Ukraine to the Netherlands

Letting God take the wheel | From Ukraine to the Netherlands

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

A promise which is rooted deep in the hearts of our wonderful ICF family members, Alla and Kostas. And a promise which kept them going through the difficult days of being forced to flee Ukraine as war broke out in February 2022. With this as their foundation, Alla and Kostas were able to trust the Lord as he brought them safely out of Ukraine on a journey which led them literally to the front door of ICF. A journey they have kindly shared with us today as a testament to the Lord’s goodness.

Alla and Kostas are both from Kyiv in Ukraine and have been married since 2007. They came to know the Lord in very different ways but throughout their lives have both seen the love of Jesus Christ and learnt to rely on Him through all situations. They are continuing to follow God’s calling and earlier this year left our congregation to serve the local Ukrainian Church. We thank God that he brought them to ICF, and we know that they will be a huge blessing in their new community.

Kostas begins the story: Allah and I are originally from Kyiv but at the time of the war we were living in Lviv [290 miles west of Kyiv]. Most people think the war started in 2022 but for us it began in 2014, I had already lost many colleagues and by 2022 we knew something was going to happen, but we didn't know the scale or what it would be.

I was working as a linguist for the U.S. military, and it’s a miracle that three weeks before the war started, I was placed in an area which was technically outside of Ukraine so I could not be called up for conscription.

My team was sitting in what can be called a three-border area up a mountain. The nearest village was seven kilometres away, down the mountain, through the forest. We were in very hard conditions and quite often communications were completely blocked.

The area we were in was very early on specifically targeted with a direct Russian strike too. I still have photos of my former office with collapsed ceilings and craters in front of the building.

Alla continues:  When the war started, I knew lots of people would come to our home and ask for help, but because of my health I could not go out. Not long before this time, the Lord had helped me through a period of being paralysed due to health problems, a moment in my journey with God which led me to work with many of the young girls in our church helping encourage them in their faith.

I asked our neighbour if he could help me buy supplies. He had a big bus and bought many things, and from the first day, many, many young girls called and said “I'm so afraid.”

And I remember Kostas gave us instructions on what to do. We were talking and making light, but he said you have to turn off the lights or the enemies will see you and close all the windows as there was a railway line used for military supplies not too far away from us.

I did not want to leave. I could not walk. I could not even sit in a car for more than 10 minutes without pain. I knew that I was under God's protection, and he holds me in his hand.

And I said, Kostas, we have to pray and God will tell us what to do. If he tells me to stay, I will stay here in Ukraine. If he says I have to leave, he will open the door.

So, we started praying and fasting.

I remember Kostas told me to prepare a little bag with some documents and supplies. I couldn’t carry much because of my health. So, basically, I just took a Bible – the number one thing - the documents and some special sneakers. I prepared this just in case and kept praying.

Then one day, a young lady from our church who was a physiotherapist came over to give me a massage for my back and at that moment her mother called and said the soldiers from Russia were on their way – she was terrified.  

I cannot explain this moment, but I just knew that God told me – “Alla, today you have to leave.” I heard his voice, and he gave me a strength and good health. It was a miracle.

I managed to call Kostas and then things started happening very fast. I had just one hour to prepare and leave so I was praying that God would give me wisdom on how to sort everything.

I gave away our food and our apartment keys to our neighbour and said if people need anything; clothes, supplies, food – they can take everything.

God giveth and taketh away, so we wanted to bless those who needed it. We knew for sure that God would take care of us, so we didn’t need any of our stuff.

And thank God they were able to use our house as a lot of people stayed. At one point four families were in our apartment. Many were from villages nearby that were being occupied, places where many people were executed, so thank God they could seek shelter in our house.

It was a really hard time saying goodbye to everyone too as I had no idea how long we would be away, a week, a month, we just didn’t know.  But praise God we found someone to look after our parents.

Kostas: By this point it was full blown war, and I could not move from my posting for another three months.

When Alla rang it was very difficult as people could not travel at night without special permission and, as it was so close to the curfew, I had to make a lot of split-second decisions. Suddenly, a notification came through on the webcams that I could see, saying that a border crossing near Poland was open and miraculously I found a driver who was able to take Alla near to the border. 

And then what happened was even more of a miracle - I remembered at the last minute that friends from Alla’s orphanage had said they were travelling to the border that day, so I called them and amazingly they were only two cars away from where Alla was dropped off and they had a free spot in the car.

Now, if the road was clear, from where they were it would usually only take a few minutes to drive to the border crossing but there was a long line of traffic, and instead it took three days. Many people died on the road because there were no hospitals, no pharmacy, no stores.

Alla: It was so cold, and we were hungry. During those three days I lost many kilos but finally when we got to Poland, our friends, they met me. Now Kostas had arranged for me to go to Germany from there but my friends said “no you must go to the Czech Republic”. And I said but “this is not the plan” and I also could not call Kostas at this point as there was no connection with him.

I had no choice, I said goodbye to my friends and alone in the train, I came to the Czech Republic.

I stayed with a Korean community initially and then praise God we found a good Czech family who I could stay with, and eventually Kostas could come and visit for a week – an amazing reunion.

I was so happy that Kostas was with me. But then again, he had to leave and go to Germany and the Netherlands to look for work options, and it was very difficult to say goodbye. I also could not communicate with the family as they could only speak Czech so I cried a lot.

I was complaining saying “Why did this happen? Why am I here?”

But later God told me, “Alla, you are in a safe place.” And I started to pray about my people, about my country. Because when I spoke to my friends in Ukraine, I could see worse things were happening, they were sitting in a cellar without water, without food, they were cold.

I was crying, you know, and I said, “God, please, save my people. Save my nation. Save my friends and neighbours and relatives, especially those who don't know you. And forgive me for my complaints.”

I started to thank God for everything and pray.

I stayed in the Czech Republic for four months in the end and began to learn the language and Kostas managed to gain me legal status so I could claim support.

And Kostas kept saying he would be back soon.

Kostas: God truly does work miracles you know. Whilst I was still on that mountain and Alla was in the Czech Republic, a former student called me and said “Are you ok? Did you make it out of Ukraine? And would you like to come to the Netherlands?” And I said “why not? Let me just find a way down this mountain and talk to Alla.”

But you know it was not easy to simply let God take over. I remember that slightly silly song ‘Let Jesus take the wheel’. If you are driving a car and you let go of the wheel, it isn’t usually the smartest thing to do but in your Christian life it is the best thing to do. You let Jesus start steering your life and give up control, but it is not easy. You know what a minute of silence is, well I have over 130 minutes of silence for friends, colleagues, people who are dead, so it was really hard to let God take control.

But that is what I had to do, and God knew where to direct us. A job came through for me in the Netherlands, the Lord found a good host family for us. From there we then found an apartment much faster than a lot of people do.

And now we have a temporary visa, which potentially has been extended from 2026 to 2027. Although, under this temporary protection we are on hold and can’t make long-term plans, we can rely only on God’s grace. You know the Lord led us here so we wait and see what will happen.

Alla: He taught us during this time we were apart that he is a mighty God, and if we not only ask, but also fast, trust him and give thanks for everything he will answer our prayers. And he did. Kostas returned once he had arranged everything for us in the Netherlands and it was such a happy day, we celebrated.

But we also had to pray that God would provide for our travel to the Netherlands. We had to go by bus for 13 hours and I knew it would not be easy for me with my back problems, but I said “God, I trust you.”

So, we got on the bus on a Saturday in June and arrived in Rotterdam Centraal the next day – a Sunday.  We stepped off the bus at midday and went straight to ICF. It amazed me that I didn’t feel tired and had no pain at all after that long journey.

I remember when we arrived Pastor Fred came over and said “I’m Fred; I'm the pastor of this church.” And his face was glowing and all the time he was smiling.

And many people came up to me and said “oh you are Kostas wife; we have been praying that God would bring a miracle so you could arrive faster!”

Kostas: The Lord definitely sent us to ICF, I sent out emails to a lot of churches once I knew we were moving to the Netherlands and Fred was the only one who responded, and we saw that it was in English.

God brought us to the church, and we had to just be willing. It was not like our home church, but God sent us there. There are a lot of people who are walking with God at ICF, they might be coming from different walks of life, different denominations but you talk with them, you look at them and you see they are walking with God so that’s why we believe God sent us there. We hope in our time at ICF we have been able to be a testimony and strengthened someone’s faith to help them come to the Lord.

When we first came to ICF it was a little less than 30 now it’s grown to over 100 people. The church is growing significantly, and it serves as a great intro to Christ.

Now we know that God is calling us to the Ukrainian church in Rotterdam though. We see that we are needed there but ICF remains our church family, it is still in our hearts. Our calling is to serve the youth at the Ukrainian church, but we are able to help practically too as there is a lot we have learnt about the Netherlands. There are a lot of things that are very different here which can be a huge challenge for Ukrainian people.

Alla: At the Ukrainian church I have already met with many of the young girls, and they have asked me to be teacher in Sunday school for the teenagers. 

Over the past month, there have been two weddings which I have baked for. I made 180 cakes, muffins, macaroons and pavlovas all in our house. I've never baked that much!

I also translated at the wedding from Ukrainian to Netherlands and from Netherlands to Ukrainian. I wasn't prepared for this it was unexpected, but God used me also. I wasn’t perfect but they understood everything.

I know that God leads us, and he also is showing us what we have to do.

I also want to say we have to thank God for everything. It doesn’t matter what has happened in our lives, whether we have had joyful days or sad days. We have to thank God in all situations and totally trust him. Because He knows what is best for us, what will be for His glory. And that He has promises for us. Like in Jeremiah 29:11.

^“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Even if we don't understand something. Even if we don't see.  We have to just trust, yes sometimes it will be difficult, or actually a lot of the time it will be difficult. But, when we trust in the Lord, we will see later how he has blessed us. And we can look back with joy at how God used us for His glory and to bring people to Him through us.

Kostas: Yes, when God is working, we should not impede his work. We shouldn’t put sticks in the spokes of God’s bicycles.

We thank Alla and Kostas for taking the time to share their story with us and praise God for them. With the conflict still going on in Ukraine they ask us to pray protection over their family and friends who remain, especially those who are serving in the army or living near the front lines. And for those that do not yet know Jesus, to turn to him.