Testimony of Natasha Sitkina

I am originally from Reutov, a suburb of Moscow.  A former drug addict, I took hard drugs for 18 years.  Now when I write this, I can hardly believe that all this happened to me.  At one point in my life, I used drugs with a single purpose - to die.  I could not stand to see how my family suffered; my mother and my daughter.  I never had a husband and thought that my daughter would help me get out of this routine.  But that was a big mistake.  I made it worse by not quitting drugs, and instead pulled my child into my criminal life.  But apparently, I needed to go through all this so that I would come to Christ.

My mother worked with one Christian woman.  After she learned about my problem, she advised my mother to bring me to church, but my mother said that it was useless, because I would never agree.  Then they contacted someone who offered to take me to rehab.  I remembered that some of my fellow addicts were at different rehab centers, and so I decided that I had nothing to lose, plus it would make my mom happy. They came for me in just a few days.

I found out the rehab program was eight months, longer than I thought.  First I was taken to a church, where I stayed for the whole service, and the first thing that struck me was the youth.  I had imagined church differently - with grandparents, “aunts” and “uncles” and everyone else but the young people.  It so happened that I sat in the same row with some former rehabilitants.  I looked at them and could not believe that none of them smoke or drink.  I thought that there had to be more to this and there must be some kind of hoax. After the service, Andrei Fetisov took me to RCR’s Dyatkovo rehab center, where he is the director.  The series of surprises continued for me.  I was told that for the next 8 months I was to read only the Bible, and not the detective novels that I brought with me.  Another shock was the absence of TV.

The Lord immediately began His work in me.  I heard the testimonies of all the people there and thought, "Why can’t I be like them?"  And one brother said to me something that made a lasting impression in my heart: "Natasha, just give yourself a chance." There were, of course, difficulties and even though I could not understand, I felt that I needed them.  As my rehabilitation period was coming to an end, I panicked, thinking that I had to leave this place and go home.  I knew I was not ready.   I prayed about it, and I was allowed to stay and serve.  At first it was difficult because I knew nothing about serving.  It changed only when I began to understand that the most important thing in ministry is love.  Without love – it is all empty.

After a while I started thinking about going home.  I was reminded that among other things – I am a mother.  Even though I could not imagine my life without my service at the rehab center, I knew that my first priority should be my child.  First, I had to bring my daughter to God.  I could not picture myself at home and did not know how to proceed.  But the Lord knew.  Before, my mother had insisted that I come home, find a job and support my daughter, but she now told me to stay in the center as much as I needed.  That was an answer to my prayers.  I realized that I was not ready to go back home, that I still did not feel complete freedom, and that I was scared to meet some of my old friends.  Thank God that when I finally went home, He did not allow any such meetings.  Only after some time, did the Lord deliver me from all these fears, and He placed His peace in my heart.

I have been here, at the rehab center for almost three years now:  eight months of rehabilitation and two years of service.  Recently, I had finally decided to return home for good. I even said that I would spend the New Year’s together with my daughter.  But the Lord had other plans for me.  Here I met my future husband, Andrei Smirnov!  God richly blesses those who trust in Him.  The main thing is not to rush, because everything has its own time. Our wedding is planned for May 17th, 2014.  While we do not know yet where and how we will live, we believe that the Lord knows our needs.  We only know that finally we will all have a normal family: a husband for me, a wife for Andrei, and two parents for our daughter.

Testimony of Vyacheslav Kozlov