It has been six months since Lily Gontsa was released from women's prison 65, which is located in the Poltava region. Since then her life has seen many changes. The church that her husband attended received Lily with love, but also with great caution. But what else could be expected after two prison terms?

Lily's mother continues to live with her ​​niece. Moving her back to her own apartment is not possible because to re-connect the gas, water and electricity would be very expensive. She has to stay in the rented apartment and visit her mother.

 

Every day, Lily and her husband have to pray hard to survive in this evil world because there are so many needs, so much has been lost ... But praise Jesus; for Him nothing is impossible. Lily's husband, Ivan, and the men of the church organized the construction team that is now completing the roof on their large new church building. Lila uses the sewing skill she learned in prison: she sews the big tarpaulins that cover refrigerator trucks.

Ivan and Lily, in spite of all their difficulties, are part of a team of committed Christians who visit brothels, telling their former "friends" about God's plan for salvation. I asked Lily how dangerous it is to go to places like that? She smiled and told me that the biggest obstacle is really the police themselves who are looking for drug addicts. More than once their team had to explain to the authorities what they are doing in those places. But these problems did not stop Ivan and Lily's effort to serve those people; they were just like them, not that long ago. God provided for Lily through an official recognition of disability, so her family will have a somewhat easier time financially.

I asked Lily what she wanted to tell the Christian women who are still in the prison, where she was until recently a member of the prison church. She said, "Tell them to take care of each other, because the evil one does not sleep. Tell them it doesn't make sense to hurt each other. Let them to prepare themselves to serve the Lord, because there are so many lost people outside of prison." We need more Christians who will dedicate themselves to serve Christ among former prison inmates. Members of Salvation Church, and other Christians who visited the prison along with Ivan and Lily, were their example of faith. People prayed for them in different cities of Ukraine, and this played a significant role in the difficult life of this couple. And, praise God, there are clear benefits in their ministry.

Irina Kovalenko