Local Church Ministries Welcome Nataliia Skyba to the Team!

Nazarene Discipleship International, Nazarene Missions International, and Nazarene Youth International welcomed Nataliia to their teams as of 3 January 2023. Nataliia will serve all three ministry directors and their teams by helping them coordinate communication, finances, and other ministry services from the NDI, NMI, and NYI global offices.

Nataliia comes to the post with significant experience in marketing and ministry. Most recently she was forced to flee the military conflict in her home country of Ukraine. Her testimony, shared below, will help you understand her journey and her love for the Lord.

A Legacy of Family and Faith

It can be challenging to tell one’s story because it requires vulnerability to reveal your true self to others, and it often hurts to be open when one has gone through the trenches of life. Of course, there’s a chance to hide behind words, but readers sense dishonesty. And so, I’ll share my story.

I am often asked when I started believing in God. I can’t say that there was a moment that I did. It feels like as long as I’ve lived, I knew who He is and that I could just come to Him with my experiences. I do believe this came to be because of my grandmother Anne, who is almost 99, and who has prayed for me and my family her whole life.

Saved from Starvation

Anne went through a lot: The Soviet Union, war, famine, being a widow and a single mom of three kids, and a Christian in the dark times. She was only 16 when the Soviet government took the food away from people, and she didn’t have anything to eat for three days. She was lying on a haystack in the barn where there used to be animals, weak from hunger and despair and silently praying to God. She was moving her hands chaotically through the hay when she touched something that turned out to be an egg. She still doesn’t know where it came from as all the chickens were taken by the Soviets long before that. That single egg saved her life, and so my life and the life of my mom and many other family members was given by God through my grandmother Anne. In the face of adversity, some people are unable to move on and stay somewhat like children inside even after they grow up. Others grow up irrevocably. My grandmother has managed to keep laughing and always trusting the Lord, and that’s what keeps her going till this day.

From Fear to Faith in God

I can’t remember when I came to believe in God, but I vividly remember my first prayer. When I was little, I had a persistent fear of losing my mom. This fear would always paralyze me and drain me of my childhood joy. Once, when I was visiting my grandmother Anne at the age of 5, I was already in bed when this fear hit me again. In that moment of despair, I prayed to God to take my fear away. Suddenly, I felt well and I wasn’t scared anymore. In my childish disbelief, I tried to imagine my mom’s funeral and a casket to check if I am truly not afraid anymore. And I wasn’t!

When I was 17, in my final high school year, I started wrestling with questions of life after death and what would happen to me when I die. I didn’t have peace in my heart thinking about it and was looking for answers. One day I was walking in the streets of Kyiv, a lady handed me a small piece of paper that explained how to accept Jesus and be saved. I still remember my sheer surprise when I read that the only thing you had to do is to pray and invite Jesus into your heart. I could not believe a pass to Heaven could be obtained so easily. I had to say the prayer several times in the course of a few days to gradually start believing that I was saved indeed. And that is how my journey started.

The Gift of Christian Community

God provided a church and community of believers. He took care of my deepest desires and, knowing about my passion for English since I was 6, connected me with American missionaries, some of which have stayed my friends throughout life.

I got married at the age of 22 and this was an unbelievably blessed 15-year adventure. But I like quoting Mary from my favorite series, Downton Abbey: “The cost of the great love is the great loss.”

I’ve always thought it only means death, but no. If you love someone deeply, be prepared to suffer when you lose them.

Losses, Challenges, and Faith

Just a few months after my loss, Russia attacked Ukraine, and what was a loss of a home and a family became a loss of the entire sense of belonging for me and for all the people of Ukraine. After several months of travelling the world in search of a place where I could settle, I ended up here.

It’s been the most challenging period in my life, and as Jeremiah once wrote in Lamentations: “I will never forget this awful time,” (3:30 NLT). But there is no need for solution when there is no problem. There is no need for healing when there is no sickness. There is no need for God’s help when there is no trouble. If there are no challenges and no struggle, then there is no need for a miracle. Right?