War in Ukraine! How one Sister Turned Crisis Into Inspiration

Last February, when the war in Ukraine broke out, I and everyone around me was absorbed with the horrifying news, and spent too much time on the Internet following the events. This put a lot of pressure on me.

But then I made a decision that cardinally changed my life. I decided to do the reverse: instead of watching the news – I would pray for Ukrainian friends, and instead of videos on YouTube – creativity.

I found my story about Camelia the Mouse, written in late 2017, and I decided to write a sequel. I had no illustrators for my future book, no sponsors, My only support was and still is the Lord, my husband, and my children.

I started writing, spending more time outdoors with the kids, praying more and reading the Bible. The Internet faded into the background, and I was surprised at the waves of inspiration that began to come over me.

One chapter after another was born, then the Lord sent me a wonderful girl-illustrator (Olga Pavlyukova from the Krasnodar region of Russia)

At the end of April, the inspiration came to me to create a Christian children’s magazine for Russian-speaking people in the Message – "God’s Eaglets."

A team of amazing, creative people dedicated to the Lord began to form, most of whom I had not previously known at all. So far, five issues of the magazine have been published and we are working on the sixth one.

This magazine is read by children in different cities of Russia, Belarus,
Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldavia, Germany, Norway, and Israel.

People often ask me, “How do you manage to cope with everything, while having three small children?” My answer is simple, “Stop wasting your time on YouTube, get busy with real things, and you will see God fill and bless you.”

One thing I have learned: when we leave the imaginary and choose the real, the Lord Himself blesses us, and increases the creative energy that is inherent in each of us to serve God and His people.

Nowadays the Internet has made many things available to us: information,
contacts, services. But does information equate with knowledge, contacts with friendship, and services with service? Isn’t the Internet often a dangerous trap? “What trap?” – you may ask?

The trap of substituting the true for the imaginary.

Often Christians (and myself in the past) wasted a lot of precious time doing imaginary things instead of real things.  I am not referring to sinful things. But it is just emptiness, it is imaginary.

Alexandra Naboyshchikova

January 25, 2023

Alexandra Naboyshchikova lives in Belarus (Minsk), and is a believer in the Message of the Hour. Her husband Maxim serves like a deacon in a small church. They have three children: Vera (in Russian it means "Faith") - 7,5 years old, Andrew - 6 and Kristina (soon she will be 3). She teaches Sunday  school, and plays piano for the church. In addition to her magazine, "God's Eaglets, she is publishing her books "The Adventures of Camelia the Mouse and Her Friends" in Russian and writing the sequel: "Simmy the Bunny Goes to School".