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My name is Ira. I was born into a non-Christian family. My father was a military man, and my mother was a teacher. My brother and I were brought up according to ethical principles, and were cared for with love, but we didn’t have any knowledge of God. When my father retired, we moved to the small town of Lesosibirsk, which is located in the northern part of the Krasnoyarsk region of the former Soviet Union.
I started to think seriously about God when I was 14. It was the beginning of the 1990s, when we were given some freedom in thinking, when people started to think of God after the long period of atheistic policy. I read a Bible and a couple of brochures about Jesus that I received by mail from a mission. I started to talk to God without knowing it was really a kind of prayer. God worked in my heart with patience for about a year. He showed me the purpose of Jesus’ death, and also showed me my sins. I remember the day when I kneeled and confessed to God. It was April 26, 1992. When I poured out my heart to God, I felt joy and a confidence that I was forgiven.
After that, I had a desire to visit a church. I came to a Protestant church and was amazed that there were no statues or candles, but I stayed there because I found people who were like me, who honoured Jesus and devoted their lives to Him. Soon my relatives became believers as well.
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Ira Liminova is now enrolled in St. Petersburg Christian University. Reprinted, with permission, from the January 2002 Logos Canada Newsletter. |
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