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The war caught me unprepared. I cannot say that I did not know that the war could start. My mind told me that war was inevitable, but my heart continued to believe that it could be avoided. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers who gathered near the borders of my Motherland with full weapons, with jet fighters, with tanks, with artillery, said the opposite.

On the morning of 24 February, I woke up to the roar of fighter jets and the sounds of distant explosions. I was not ready for that. I don’t know at all how you can prepare yourself for that – to prepare for the fact that all your plans are no longer worth anything, your way of life is completely destroyed, stability and security have just left your house with a loud slamming of the door. Although no, it wasn’t a slamming door – it was another explosion, this time even closer to my house. I don’t know how to prepare myself for this.

Instead of normal emotions, I feel fear, uncertainty, sadness. The future no longer seems bright and clear. It has plunged more and more into the darkness and there is only one thing that can stand against the darkness – a light.

In Genesis 1:3-4 it says, “And God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.” God is the source of light, He is the author of light. He is the one who dispelled the darkness. He did it at the creation of the world. He did it 2000 years ago, and he continues doing it today.

I found light in God for myself and for my future; and the darkness receded. His light has one important characteristic – it does not only light you, it gives you the power to shine yourself. To shine where it is darkest.

You can’t avoid lighting yourself when his light is in you. Today, this is often expressed in help for those people who suffered from the war in Ukraine, which has been going on in our country for a whole year.

There are millions of people in Ukraine today who have lost everything: houses, property, lost friends, relatives, lost hope. They need help and support. They need light. And the light that is in me – it prompts me to do everything that depends on me, so that they receive this help, support and see the light. The light that chases away the darkness. The light always wins because the one who created the light is stronger than the darkness.

Major Daniil Lukin

Kropyvnytskyi Corps Officer

There is the light in me – it prompts me to do everything that depends on me