When you set a goal, God finds an opportunity

I was born in the city of Glukhov, Sumy region. I have two brothers - the elder and the youngest. When I was nine years old, my parents moved to live in the village. There were no schools in this village, so I went for 5 km to the next. When I was 13 years old, I learned that a high school opened in Glukhov with an in-depth study of mathematics and physics. I decided to conclude a kind of agreement with my parents: they will help me with housing in my native city for the duration of my studies, and after finishing the lyceum I will go to university in the regional center - the city of Sumy. The transaction took place and after 3 years I successfully passed the entrance exams and became a student of the Faculty of Applied Mathematics at the stationary branch of the Sumy State University.

Parents remained in the village. And for me it is a place of rest and recharging. After graduating from university, I worked for a year in Sumy, and then I went to Kiev, where I live and work for 11 years. Today I am called a successful person, a businessman. But no one knows what difficult way I had to overcome in order to come to what I have today.

I, like many young people today, are a child of the street: I started smoking early, drinking, and being interested in drugs. But at the age of 18 I had a period of searching for values, life path. I often asked myself the questions: "Where am I going? And what's next? "And it was during this period in my life that a significant meeting was held, planned by God. I now know for sure.

One spring, with a friend to earn money, three days agitated for one party. So, we stand in the center of the city of Sumy, the grandmother passes. She glanced at her friend and went on. Then she paused, looked at me and, somehow turned sharply, came up close and said (literally, I do not remember what, but the meaning of her words is this): "I know that you are disappearing, just dying. Because you go in a dangerous way. Yes, you yourself know this. And here's what I tell you - only one thing can save you. " I was surprised by what I heard, and even looked around - is it exactly to me drawn? But, I confess, I was curious, and therefore with some mistrust and even half mockery, I asked her: "And what, in your opinion, can save me?". Granny took a Bible out of her purse and replied: "This book. And you know, I do not usually leave it to a stranger, but I suggest studying together, but I'll give it to you. And I advise you to read it, beginning with the New Testament. " Then we talked a little more, and she stressed several times that I better start reading the Bible from the New Testament. It will be clearer. I confess that this middle-aged woman puzzled me. I doubted whether to take or not to take the book (I still owe it to her, will not leave it alone), but I was very interested in the question: "What does she" hide "in the Old Testament? Why insist on reading the New? "Therefore, I did take the Bible with the firm intention, at least from the corner of my eye, to see what is there in the Old Testament.

When he came to the hostel, where he lived with one guy, there was his friend (he was three or four years older than me, very smart and well-read), who came to visit. When he saw the book in my hands, he was surprised: "Oh, Yura, did you decide to read the Bible?" To which I replied: "Grandma gave me on the street. And you know, I decided to at least skim through the content, because we are like Orthodox Christians, and I have no idea what is written in this book. " He looked at me, smiling, with a skepticism said: "Well, if you read it to the end, I strongly respect you. I started reading it several times, but I did not master it. "

And you know, it was for me a push to further action. It's not that I needed respect, but I thought, "He's so clever, well-read, and could not read the Bible. I'll take it and read it from beginning to end. " And I set myself such a goal. I'm still convinced that God himself sent this man to me, however, like that granny who gave the Bible. If I had not set myself this goal, I would have stuck somewhere on the book of Levit ... Several times I wanted to give up everything when I read the Old Testament, especially Leviticus, but my goal did not allow me to do it.

When I read Exodus, I first saw the Commandments (Exodus 20: 1-17). I was very surprised to have a Saturday. In my village, and everywhere in the district, everyone was convinced that God's day is a Sunday. But in the Bible, I read God's clear instruction to remember that His day of rest is the seventh, and is called the Sabbath. I thought that, perhaps, somewhere I will find an answer to the question why people consider God's day as Sunday, the first day of the week. In the meantime, I decided to keep the Sabbath holy, as it is written. If I see other information, I'll switch.

What surprised me was the fact that the pig is called unclean in the Bible, and its meat is not even food, but in general an abomination. In Ukraine, pork is almost a national product, and in the village, at Easter, people tend to "consecrate" pork and eat it as one of the festive dishes. And suddenly I learn that God, it turns out, categorically forbids eating it. Just at this time, the parents passed the parcel with food, and there - pork. I did not know what to do with it. I decided to ask the priest. I went to one of the Orthodox churches in Sumy. When he approached the minister with a question, he scratched his beard: "In the Old Testament, God really forbade Jews to eat pork, but we live in the New Testament times and Jesus Christ died for our sins ... So now it is possible." I admit that this answer did not satisfy me, that's why I gave the message to others, but I decided to wait for it myself (maybe later, I learn something new in the course of reading the Bible). He studied the Holy Letter on Saturdays (he sanctified this day, as he understood). For a year and three months I read it all, from cover to cover, but I did not find any verses that would clearly indicate to me where and when God canceled the Sabbath day and allowed to eat pork.

It was hard for me then. I was oppressed by the thought that I - one such on the planet, never in my life before I met people with similar views. I thought: probably, I do not understand something and something is happening to me, which I can not explain. Then I did not know that there are other churches besides the Orthodox. When I met people who were talking to me about God, I asked two "on-duty" questions: about Saturday and about pork, because at that time they were the most controversial for me. I stubbornly searched for answers to the questions that arose.

In the meantime, I did not even notice how the Word of God began to change me gradually. I stopped foul language, smoking, drinking alcohol. Wine was still drunk, tk. believed that there was nothing terrible in this. But he refused psychotropic substances and drugs. Although some of my friends at that time have already begun to pour. The irony is that earlier they laughed at those who were pricking themselves, and said that they would never go down to such a thing. But the realities turned out to be much more prosaic ... Not so long ago I learned that one of my very close friends for school and university years was killed by using drugs at the age of 32 years. Perhaps there are other sad cases, but I just do not know anything about them.

It was not easy for me: I was myself. There were no like-minded people, those who understood and supported, and therefore in a year I drank not only wine, but also stronger drinks. Again, the moment came when I cried to God and prayed as best I could: "God, You are interesting to me, interesting is Your Truth, Your Word. But where are the people you care about that are looking for you, want to communicate with you? There are such? Introduce me to them. I would like it to be a church that lives by Your Word. "

A month later I went to a classmate in Kharkov. When I got home, my husband and wife were traveling with me in the compartment. I look: a man reads a thick book. I ask: "Is this the Bible?" "No, this is the Epistle to the Romans," he replied. I again tried to talk the neighbor around the compartment: "How interesting. And I have a Bible, and it's much thinner than one of your messages. " The man continued reading, and I lay down on the upper shelf and also tried to read his book with him. He did not see it. And his wife noticed and smiled. When I got out, she seemed to tell my husband that I also read, and when I came back, the man was already asking me questions. We talked, and I asked about what I was most worried about. And what did I hear? The man told me that he is the pastor of the church in which the Sabbath is sanctified, as the Bible says. He and his wife went to Sumy, where at that time they served in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Hearing about the pork, he categorically objected: "This is not food and it can not be eaten."

I was both surprised and pleased. It was God's incredible response to my prayer. I used to think that I was such an abnormal person. And then - like-minded.

The couple invited me to visit. I came to them. And 3 months later, on February 12, 2006, I was baptized, that is, I made a covenant with God. Some people think that I became a rich businessman right after baptism. It seems like - baptized and broke success. But this is not so. Ahead was a lot of searches, trials, mistakes and even disappointments. But the belief that God is near, that He helps overcome all difficulties and trials, that He gives strength to stand and win, never left me.

Some time after my baptism I went to look for a job in Kiev. Passed about forty interviews, until I found a place where I could not work on Saturday. He was a seller of mobile phones, an office manager in the company, a sales consultant of computer systems. Collided with theft, deceit ... He left.

Naturally, I was very upset by the almost invariable condition: to work on Saturday. I realized that the best way to get away from this is to swap places with the employer. Perhaps, then, for the first time, I began to think about how to grow to the level when I would hire people to work. But at that time it was just a dream, but for now I was very happy when I was hired by a company that sold some kind of electric coils. Two weeks later, when I thought that life was getting better, the storekeeper said that the director instructed me to help him (the storekeeper) paste new price tags on the goods. And when I happily set to work, the storekeeper shocked me: "Do you know that you can not do this?". I was surprised: "Why is that?" "Because we are deceiving customers: glue the tags on which it is written that this is another wire with the best quality and properties." I reacted with a refusal to glue lime tags, advised him not to do this, and left. That day I was fired.

I was stressed - so long I was looking for a job and then - on you! I went to the village to my parents, where I usually gathered with thoughts and saved my strength. Four days later I decided to go to Kiev again. Prayed and asked God: "I need such work to be near the house where I live. To give me a laptop, a work phone, and that about half a day I traveled around Kiev (I wanted to explore the city), and half sat in the office. And, of course, that Saturday was a day off, and on Friday I could work only until 16:00. " Surprisingly, this time for the first time in Kiev I was waiting for a good job in a beautiful company and in a wonderful team after the first interview. Indeed, everything was as it was asked of God.

But I already dreamed of working for myself, although there was no knowledge how to do it. A few months later, a brother from the church invited me to train a millionaire businessman, not an Adventist. I doubted, but I went to listen. Trainings were liked by the fact that they were taught to think in a new way, they gave knowledge about how to develop their business. He was carried away by investments - in theory, sort of like, everything is clear, but as it turned out, it did not always coincide with practice. He invested his personal finances, attracted the money of other people ... But who thought that 2008 will be the year of crisis? I quickly became a debtor, still owed me more, but these people disappeared. I realized that I needed 15-20 years to pay off my debts. I began to try to break through in different spheres. He created a company to deliver meals to offices. At first everything went pretty well, developed, expanded, but soon the business collapsed because of dishonesty of employees. Then - building and the first (and not the last) fraud in this area.

I grew more and more convinced in the thought: if I want to be sure that I am doing and monitoring the necessary business processes, it is necessary to create my company. It's pretty hard, but it's my way! In the meantime, in order to relieve stress, he again went to the village. For about seven months I was resting, but I did not sit around idle - I read all the necessary literature, studied online courses and trainings.

This period of failure was not so short - it took about five years since I first came to Kiev in search of a better life. When I returned to the capital, I found a job in the company where I worked before. But this time she made concessions to me: I could work on Friday until 4 pm (the usual schedule is before 6 pm), and on Saturday rest.

Somehow I got a call from a friend of Iskander from Kyrgyzstan: "Yura, I live in a hostel. Inexpensive, next - the subway. But the conditions are terrible. I want to open another hostel, with better conditions. I like how you communicate with people, how you do things. Let's work together! But I do not have money". At that time, there was no money for me, and for me there was a long train of debts. Therefore, I ignored the friend's offer. And two or three months later I had to leave work altogether. As a result, there is no work, there is no money, a lot of debts ... Prospects are not bright ... And I again turned to God: "Lord, You know that I tried! You saw how hard I worked! So much effort! What decisions I made! So what? All! I'm not going to worry anymore, worry about money, work, business. I will live in peace, enjoy the days you give me. Now, take care of my life! "I admit, I do not remember when I was still so calm and confident in myself, as after this prayer and the adoption of such a decision.

And then either on the same day, or the next day Iskander again calls: "I opened one hostel, come". I arrived and looked. Was surprised: how will people live there? After all, six or eight, or even ten people in a room, bunk beds ... As it turned out, these were not the problems that needed to be feared. There were more serious things: Iskander had two partners, who at that moment just drove him out of business, took everything to himself. I really wanted to support a friend. And just at that time I got a call from a friend with whom we had done business in the past: "Yura, I've earned a good amount of money, but I do not know where to put it. Maybe you'll tell me? "And I told him. In two or three months we already had 5 hostels.

All the money (and not only from this friend of mine) we borrowed. I also had acquaintances from whom I had a credit of trust. They agreed to lend me the necessary amount at 70% per annum. This was the minimum percentage, under which we were given money to develop this business. I will not even say what the maximum interest was, so as not to shock readers. I admit, these were desperate steps. Therefore, I advise no one to follow this path. I do not advise very much. Not everyone will cope. I already had at that time a certain hardening and a serious, though more negative, experience. But sometimes it is negative experience (only if the correct conclusions are drawn) can become a big serious springboard to success. It is now all beautiful - debts are closed, people are happy, business has taken place. But there were a lot of nuances that were not visible on the surface (but which needed to be taken into account), and obstacles that needed to be overcome.

Always try to look at myself through the eyes of God and be on His side. Therefore, even when I have different problems or temptations related to finance, I do not remember that I had difficulties, for example, with a tithe. When I earned less, I gladly returned part of it to God, and now, when I earn more, I still dedicate all my successes to God with joy. And it's not just about tithing. This is sponsorship, and sponsorship ...

In all projects, I am supported by an amazing wife, Natalia, who believes in me, and this, in turn, gives strength and confidence in what I do. Often, Kirochka, our beautiful daughter, "helps" me at the computer, after which I return him for a long time "to the senses." But it does not upset me, but on the contrary - it inspires me, because with our daughter we have mutual love.

For all that I have, I am grateful to God, who so miraculously found me in this vain world and revealed himself to me as the Creator, Savior and Heavenly Father. Every day I try to maintain a relationship with Him through reading His word - the Bible, and through prayer and reasoning. I build personal relationships with Him. And this is an ongoing process that never ends. God is my Teacher, my Protector, my powerful Foundation in life. He is the One who inspires me! One who gives me the strength to go forward. God motivates me to new feats, new discoveries, new victories.

I have grandiose plans. I dream to open a Christian cafe where useful food will be prepared and where live Christian music will sound ... I want to give more time to my family than today ...

I believe that the Lord is always there. And He will help me to realize what I have planned. Because I was convinced that when you set a goal, God finds an opportunity.