January 31, 2024 • 28 mins
Welcome to Mercy on Display, where Mark and Cindy share real-life accounts of God's mercy prevailing in various aspects of everyday life, including dating, marriage, parenting, and professional journeys. In this riveting episode, join our hosts in exploring the depth and breadth of God's purpose for your life, as echoed in their personal testimonies of divine transformation.
In a heartfelt conversation, Mark delves into his family's faith history, tracing its origin back to his devout Christian grandparents in Russia and Ukraine. Despite living under oppressive regimes and facing persecution, they held tightly to their faith, allowing it to guide them towards a life of freedom in the United States. Their fervent faith in God served as Mark's spiritual cornerstone and inspired Mark's journey towards a personalized relationship with God.
Mark narratively unfolds his struggles of merely practicing religion without genuine connection, despite his efforts to appear the model believer. His journey takes us through moments of profound self-realization, discomfort, and an evident desire to share God's love with a broken world. This episode encourages all listeners to find inspiration in Mark's transformative journey towards a deeply personalized faith in the Lord.
In this introspective episode, Mark reveals the turning point of his faith when he decided to engage in an authentic conversation with God at the age of 15. He recounts experiences that took him from being a routine believer to a deeply committed seeker of God's grace and mercy.
Mark's journey arrives at an awe-inspiring pilgrimage to the seaside that results in a deeper understanding and love for God. He expresses his concerns about the complacency within the safe bounds of the church and urges fellow believers to venture beyond these walls, engaging with their communities to truly embody their faith.
In conclusion, Mark reveals his current relationship with God, overflowing with gratitude for the unwarranted forgiveness and grace he experiences every day. His story serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration for all believers to embrace discomfort, seek a personal relationship with God, and experience the joy of an ever-evolving relationship with Jesus.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Hello i'm mark and i'm cindy and
we're the hosts of mercy on display a storytelling podcast about god's mercy
in people's lives from dating to marriage parenting to careers and everything
in between we hope you'll be inspired encouraged and grounded in god's purpose.
Music.
For your own life we're glad you're here thanks for joining us,
(00:39):
good morning everyone good morning everyone so today i'm excited to be interviewing
mark about mark and his testimony so i'm really excited to share that with you
for those who who don't know our story yet,
Mark and I actually met in 2015.
(01:03):
And Mark and I were just friends for a while.
So he shared a lot about his faith and his family stories.
And as someone who was trying to become a believer again, but in a different way,
to actually know the real Jesus, it made a huge difference that he shared those
(01:24):
testimonies with me because I never really heard them in my community.
I was heard of miracles, but not actual life changing, becoming a new person,
through the Holy Spirit.
So I'm really excited for you to share that with the world.
So let's start with asking you, where are you from? Where did you grow up?
(01:47):
And did you grow up in a Christian household?
Yes, definitely. So, I did grow up in a Christian household.
I'm about third-generation Christian.
My grandparents, both from my mother's side and from my father's side,
in their lives, the Lord has called them, brought them into faith,
(02:07):
revealed himself to them. And that's kind of where the journey began.
My background is half Russian, half Ukrainian, and there's history of my grandparents
living either Romania, Moldovia, Ukraine, fast forward to decades later,
Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
And it's been a journey from what they have been sharing and passing on to us,
(02:31):
our parents have witnessed, and now us as grandkids hearing those stories.
The name of Jesus Christ and the Lord
God wasn't as a proud banner that a non-Christian would want you to wear.
It was all about the Red Army. It was all about who was in power,
who was leading the country, who were trying to lead. I have a grandparent who
(02:53):
was in jail plenty of times just for his faith.
Reading scripture, he believed that he shouldn't bear arms and that he shouldn't
go to war in order to wage war, in order to kill.
He was more than glad to help the wounded, but he definitely didn't want to
pick up arms in order to kill, to take someone else's life.
(03:17):
On my mother's side, this grandparent, decades and decades ago,
generations and generations, he comes from a line of a very famous army general.
And that history with that last name, the Russian army, they knew.
My grandpa came to faith because of his brother.
The Russian army really wanted to take that away.
(03:39):
They tried absolutely everything. In my grandpa made it clear where he stands
of what he would do and would not do according to his faith.
Those that are in charge were not happy with this.
So they tried everything possible in order to have him just renounce his faith, renounce Jesus,
(04:03):
renounce the Lord, renounced God to step away from all of that,
from bringing him into prison, having him meet with a fake priest,
and a fake priest trying to convince that this is okay to do,
just to walk away, just to do what you're being asked of.
(04:27):
So all this manipulation and tactics and trying to break him pretty much of
waking him up at random nights at midnight,
taking him out into the yard and in front of a line of soldiers and saying,
well, if you don't renounce your faith right now, you're going to be shot right
(04:49):
now, right here on the spot, and you're going to die.
And so it's been such a turmoil, such a journey.
But he but he never actually joined them correct no he never has joined them
and and they would do that almost every night from what I remember that he shared
they did that periodically to where in a really war war.
(05:13):
On a person's psyche, like mentally. It was very difficult from physical, emotional,
but all grace to our God, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that God has been helping
him through this entire difficult road.
So, people and the enemy could plan for trying to destroy somebody.
(05:37):
Trying to destroy your faith.
It's your relationship with your creator. and but
it's definitely our lord who was able to step in and
in order to help us to overcome these difficulties
as horrific or difficult as
they they might be i was going
to share that hearing that story for
(05:58):
me was something you don't even hear in latin
america growing up there and then also growing up
here in the u.s and we had
the pleasure of having your grandfather stay with
us this past summer for almost the whole
summer and we got to talk to him and it was wonderful to see all the ways that
(06:20):
he trusted god in the midst of persecution and possible death but he know he
knew that he died or was murdered he was going to go to heaven,
His faith was in the Lord.
And I just love that he has a humongous family all across the U.S.
(06:40):
And beautiful granddaughters and grandsons across the U.S. And they all hold on to their faith.
Because you guys are third-generation Christians. And I share this with you.
My family has been Catholic for 400 years.
That's right. It was a very long time. That's a long time.
But your family's only third generation Christian and the passion and love and
(07:03):
worship that you have for our God is so much deeper because you try to build
that relationship with him.
I think for me, that was a huge testimony of I can have a direct relationship
with the Lord. I don't need anyone to intercede on my behalf.
I think it was definitely with our grandparents who were what laid out the foundation.
(07:28):
Because we come across that even in scripture to where it was someone's grandmother
and someone's mother that had strong faith.
And then this next generation, it was the son who had that faith that was passed down.
And even for today's time, I view that so important for both our generation
(07:51):
and the generation right after us that's being raised up,
is sharing these stories and how crucial and important it is that they're able
to hear and witness witness of that something either in their family line or
in their inner circle of hearing these testimonies of what has happened.
(08:13):
And it's really that fight between good and evil.
But we know that when we look at Scripture that behind all evil,
it's the enemy who is behind us as the driver.
So we know that the Lord prevails in His plan.
(08:34):
There's no weapon that is formed against us that will prevail.
And we know that it's God's last word and how He can save us.
So I feel like all these examples and this, us passing on faith is so important
for the younger generation that they too themselves can take that step to have
(08:54):
a personal relationship with their Creator.
And knowing and also history of where they came from or their circle or their
community of those struggles that have happened and how real they are in life.
So your family came to the U.S. after all this?
Yes, so my mother's side of the family migrated in 1990 and my family and we moved in 1994,
(09:24):
And about, so about four years later, my mom got really, really, uh.
Desperate and for her family so is pretty much
her her entire side of the family moved moved
to the to the us so it's very difficult for
her to to be a one
side of the world while the rest of her family is in in um is somewhere else
(09:49):
moved here in 1984 and and that's where it It was really the beginning in the
Pacific Northwest of us starting off with home churches,
families gathering together, then finding churches where we can rent from someone
(10:10):
else in order to gather on the Sabbath.
So did you serve in the church?
How did you build your relationship with the Lord? Or did you always stay the course?
Or were there moments that you felt like you were distanced from the Lord?
And how did you become a true Bible-believing Christian? That's a very good question.
(10:34):
I feel like as the church was serving also as a good foundation,
and especially when you're in your adolescent years of growing up,
you're surrounded by family, you're surrounded by your circle of church members.
And I feel like of hearing God's scripture, hearing God's word,
(10:55):
but also our church as the Slavic community, we're learning little by little
with the Latin community as well, the amount of similarities that we have between one another.
The Slavic community has worked really hard in order to to emphasize,
in order to think of the next generation.
So I'm very glad, I'm very happy for
(11:17):
that because of trying to have Bible classes that are onsite and to engage the
children in different ways from choir Bible study and being engaged in service.
So when I started growing up as a young teenager and into my early 20s,
(11:41):
the Lord started showing me that this inner circle that I always have been surrounded by,
in one way or another, it would be around Christians.
And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but that is positive.
(12:02):
But I failed to see the brokenness that is around me,
because my eyes were not yet open to a kid that is my own age,
that is some way struggling.
Maybe that kid came from a home with a single parent.
(12:23):
So the Lord has started opening my eyes that there is a need,
that there is a need for His Word, for the gospel, in order to be shared with my community.
So he started little by little opening up
my eyes and i didn't see that at first and of
course as a teenager and you're trying to be as cool as as the next kid and
(12:49):
um in maybe in school but also maybe even around your church circle so you're
you're really focused on your circle that is that is around you.
I think every young person might struggle with this to a degree when you're
growing up of trying to find your place in the world,
(13:13):
even though we know that Scripture is telling you and showing you that your identity is in Christ.
But oftentimes those lines, at times with our own bad judgment and choices,
gets blurred when we want to please somebody else, a family member,
a friend, where you're trying to live in the world, but we understand we can't be of the world.
(13:38):
So that is a struggle that I faced as well, because I did go to church,
and so things seemed perfect on the outside.
But I struggled with really committing my heart genuinely to the Lord,
of being sincere with God, because there was faith of my grandparents,
(13:59):
there was faith of my parents,
but Mark himself did not have faith with the Lord.
I did not take that step in order to say, like, Lord, I'm yours.
So when was that point? When did you reach the point of saying,
I believe this for myself?
(14:20):
When I was 14, 15 years old, I remember going to sleep, and for this time around,
I actually had my own room, so I was happy about that.
And when I went to sleep, and I just had the covers up to my chin, and it was evening now,
(14:40):
9 or 10 outside at night, and the blinds were open, and I was able to see the night sky. guy.
And for the very first time, from at least what I can remember, I decided to talk to God.
Not recite necessarily a prayer that I remember memorized from,
(15:03):
you know, or just trying to get through a prayer and go to sleep.
But I just, I decided to have a conversation with the Lord and,
and it was a conversation like you would speak to a friend, I know we hear that
sometimes, but that's how it was.
I didn't, I didn't, I guess I just, I brought my entire self without putting
(15:27):
up a persona, putting up a wall.
And when I say amen, and I felt the presence of Christ outside my window.
Like, so it was pretty much like, you know, you would say like right there,
which is like hovering, but it was outside the window, but like looking in.
And I didn't see, you know, Christ, but I felt just all of it just,
(15:51):
and, and it was so present, so, so real.
And so, and I, and it was overwhelming because I thought, how can the creator
of the universe take his time to come to listen to me?
Maybe out of all people, and why, why me?
(16:13):
So that served that kind of a moment
of this journey that began of really starting to search for the Lord.
And as a young individual, I've searched the wrong places, whether it was my
attitude wasn't correct, my actions, or even my words.
(16:34):
So I'm grateful for the Lord's mercy and grace in our lives.
That he's patient with us.
And so I had my ups and downs, but it took diving into Scripture.
When I would be at work, I would put in a headphone or earbud and try to listen to Scripture.
(16:56):
And I just have that playing in the background. I would try to listen.
I would have to to re-listen to the same chapter numerous amount of times.
I tried to continuously go from the beginning and try to get through the Bible.
It's been a long journey.
But I think it took that God's Word, which as we know is alive and well,
(17:21):
to be penetrating my heart, to be changing me.
And yet still,
my life I know has been a tug and pull between serving the Lord and trying to
serve the flesh and going back and forth.
So it's been a journey.
(17:43):
And one birthday, I remember, and I share this to be an encouragement for others.
One birthday, I told my parents, I told my mom, I said, hey,
for my birthday, I want to go to the beach, but by myself.
She said, what? Go to the beach by yourself? What does that mean?
I said, well, I want to go seek out the Lord. He has given me all these years
(18:07):
of my life, but I've never given Him a birthday. Just to Him.
She got very emotional. She's like, what are you going to do?
Are you going to cry there? What's your day going to look like?
I was like, mom. I said, I don't know. I guess we'll figure it out.
(18:29):
But so here I am, Cape Kiwanda, Pacific City.
Those that know the Pacific Northwest and that place, Big Sin doing on your
right-hand side of the beach. beach.
I remember, so it was a summer. Well, obviously, May.
No, not yet. Well, it was May, May 25th. That's what it was.
(18:51):
And it was windy on the beach, and it was nighttime, and I got my blanket out,
I wrapped myself, and started walking along the beach in order to go up the sand dune.
And I passed a group of people around the bonfire, one group and a second group.
And I'm pretty sure that they thought, what is this guy doing?
(19:14):
And what in the world is he going up that sand dune at this hour?
What time was it? Was it night?
Yeah, it was at least 9 o'clock, 9, 9.30.
It was already dark. So it was dark. Yeah. Yeah. So it was cold and windy,
but I got up the sand dune.
And I remember the path of where I needed to go and to be on the furthest rock, this big opening.
(19:45):
And I just spent time both listening to worship music and in prayer.
A storm finally came in, and I thought, okay, maybe this is enough.
I'm going to turn back now. Yeah.
I'm imagining this is before they closed it off. This is, yes.
Good job on the details. This is before they closed that spot off.
So, yeah, I remember seeing it. It was pretty scary looking at the edge.
(20:10):
I know they closed it off on purpose because it's a pretty dangerous place to be. Yes.
And I do remember you sharing that with me when I was still trying to find the
Lord, trying to understand who He really was because for me it was all about facts.
And when you shared that, I thought, oh, I mean, to have a heart like that,
(20:33):
you want to have a relationship with this God, this person that cares for you. Wow.
I want that. I really want that. I want to have that relationship.
You feel so much vigor and joy and love from him and for him.
I was really jealous hearing that, because I really wanted that too.
(20:56):
So thank you for sharing that. I hope it was a very good, even at that time,
desire, burning passion to, like you said, to know the Lord personally.
I feel like whether you grew up in a Christian home, you're third generation
or 400 years from a Catholic line, I think each individual,
(21:20):
you know, child of God, all of us as created in his image and creation,
like you reach that moment where you realize like, okay, do you want it for real?
Do you want it raw? Do you want it personal?
Because you will always look and you will see, here's the faith of my grandparents.
(21:42):
Here's the heart and faith of my parents. Now it's me.
And it's not about living up
to our heroes of the past it's it's
more of god is not stuck from 50
years ago he's here he's now he's
spirit and we worship him in spirit and we
(22:02):
are yes definitely and and
you come to a point where you you make a you make
a decision that do you want to know him for
him do you want to know his heart do you want to be after his heart
to chase after for him to love him and yeah
and that reminds me of how you this something you
shared with me a little bit ago but that you
(22:24):
felt like you were comfortable when you were youth
in your community that you were comfortable in the rituals of the you know all
the observances you had of seeing your grandparents and your parents you know
their faith and their ritual but you were just comfortable.
(22:45):
You weren't actually seeking out the Lord yourself, but you saw him out.
And you went all the way to the edge to see where it would take you.
Yeah. And I thank God for really nudging and wanting to open up our hearts.
(23:08):
Because I feel like that he steps in in order to try to have a personal relationship with us.
And it's definitely a response that we need to make to have that,
you know, are you going to answer that call? How are you going to open up your
heart when your own creator wants to have a relationship with you?
And you're absolutely right. I feel like a church foundation,
(23:30):
a good biblical teachings and scripture foundation from a church is so nourishing
and so needed and so good.
But with that, there might be a possibility that some might become comfortable.
And I'm talking about it might be always with a younger generation.
Because you get comfortable around the safety of the church,
(23:55):
the safety around your circle, that if you're young, you might be going to school,
maybe it's college, and you have church.
And so you might get comfortable in the space of just your life and what you're surrounded by.
But in that moment, you have to be very careful.
(24:17):
You have to be very careful that you try to seek out the Lord,
that you take those steps in order to have a personal relationship with Him,
that you just don't get comfortable around your church. Because that's how it was for me.
I got so comfortable because it didn't matter whether it was winter or if it was summer.
One way or another, going to a park, being around church, being around family,
(24:41):
being around friends, of that I was one way or another surrounded by a circle
that was comfortable for me.
And I had no idea that I needed to look beyond, over, or to the side of, do I have a neighbor?
Who does not know the Lord? What is our outreach to the community?
(25:03):
What does it mean to wear the scripture that I just read in order to be an example to my neighbor?
Who is my neighbor? because I always view that my neighbor as the person,
a brother or sister that's next to me, but not- Within the church.
Within the church, but not the neighbors that are the ones that are on the same
(25:25):
street that might not know the
Lord and might need somebody to share the gospel, the good news with them.
Wow. So what's your relationship like with the Lord today?
Today, I'm so grateful for His mercy and for His grace that He has for us and over me.
(25:50):
And there's absolutely nothing in my life that I would say that I have deserved.
But I've seen up to this very hour how compassionate and loving He is to His
children and how forgiving He is.
Because I feel like I have had plenty of slips and falls and mistakes that I have made.
(26:15):
And I've shared this with others.
This is a very intimate statement to share.
I thought of this once or twice. If I were in the place of God,
would I have forgiven Mark?
And for me, the answer was no. So I'm grateful that He has a heart that's so
(26:36):
much bigger than mine to forgive me the sinner that I have been,
that I was.
And today it's by His mercy that I'm here. It's by His mercy.
I thank Jesus for what He has done on the cross, that our sins are forgiven.
(26:58):
And we have the opportunity to come to the throne of grace boldly and to turn
to our Lord at every hour when we need Him most at all times.
So today I'm very grateful for the blessings in my life of a wonderful wife,
being surrounded by a ministry where I get to do the Lord's work,
(27:20):
being surrounded by church,
both the English community and the Russian-Slavic community as well.
And hopefully the Latino community.
Yes, we're still making friends there. Definitely.
Well, thank you so much for sharing that. And I hope for those who are listening
that you know that if you're comfortable, sometimes you have to get uncomfortable
(27:43):
and live in a discomfort to seek out the Lord. Amen. Definitely. Amen.
Praise Jesus for today. Praise the Lord. Thank you.
If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a review so we can continue to
reach more people. Also, make sure to subscribe to our channel.
Music.
Hello i'm mark and i'm cindy and
we're the hosts of mercy on display a storytelling podcast about god's mercy
in people's lives from dating to marriage parenting to careers and everything
in between we hope you'll be inspired encouraged and grounded in god's purpose.
Music.
For your own life we're glad you're here thanks for joining us,
(00:39):
good morning everyone good morning everyone so today i'm excited to be interviewing
mark about mark and his testimony so i'm really excited to share that with you
for those who who don't know our story yet,
Mark and I actually met in 2015.
(01:03):
And Mark and I were just friends for a while.
So he shared a lot about his faith and his family stories.
And as someone who was trying to become a believer again, but in a different way,
to actually know the real Jesus, it made a huge difference that he shared those
(01:24):
testimonies with me because I never really heard them in my community.
I was heard of miracles, but not actual life changing, becoming a new person,
through the Holy Spirit.
So I'm really excited for you to share that with the world.
So let's start with asking you, where are you from? Where did you grow up?
(01:47):
And did you grow up in a Christian household?
Yes, definitely. So, I did grow up in a Christian household.
I'm about third-generation Christian.
My grandparents, both from my mother's side and from my father's side,
in their lives, the Lord has called them, brought them into faith,
(02:07):
revealed himself to them. And that's kind of where the journey began.
My background is half Russian, half Ukrainian, and there's history of my grandparents
living either Romania, Moldovia, Ukraine, fast forward to decades later,
Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
And it's been a journey from what they have been sharing and passing on to us,
(02:31):
our parents have witnessed, and now us as grandkids hearing those stories.
The name of Jesus Christ and the Lord
God wasn't as a proud banner that a non-Christian would want you to wear.
It was all about the Red Army. It was all about who was in power,
who was leading the country, who were trying to lead. I have a grandparent who
(02:53):
was in jail plenty of times just for his faith.
Reading scripture, he believed that he shouldn't bear arms and that he shouldn't
go to war in order to wage war, in order to kill.
He was more than glad to help the wounded, but he definitely didn't want to
pick up arms in order to kill, to take someone else's life.
(03:17):
On my mother's side, this grandparent, decades and decades ago,
generations and generations, he comes from a line of a very famous army general.
And that history with that last name, the Russian army, they knew.
My grandpa came to faith because of his brother.
The Russian army really wanted to take that away.
(03:39):
They tried absolutely everything. In my grandpa made it clear where he stands
of what he would do and would not do according to his faith.
Those that are in charge were not happy with this.
So they tried everything possible in order to have him just renounce his faith, renounce Jesus,
(04:03):
renounce the Lord, renounced God to step away from all of that,
from bringing him into prison, having him meet with a fake priest,
and a fake priest trying to convince that this is okay to do,
just to walk away, just to do what you're being asked of.
(04:27):
So all this manipulation and tactics and trying to break him pretty much of
waking him up at random nights at midnight,
taking him out into the yard and in front of a line of soldiers and saying,
well, if you don't renounce your faith right now, you're going to be shot right
(04:49):
now, right here on the spot, and you're going to die.
And so it's been such a turmoil, such a journey.
But he but he never actually joined them correct no he never has joined them
and and they would do that almost every night from what I remember that he shared
they did that periodically to where in a really war war.
(05:13):
On a person's psyche, like mentally. It was very difficult from physical, emotional,
but all grace to our God, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that God has been helping
him through this entire difficult road.
So, people and the enemy could plan for trying to destroy somebody.
(05:37):
Trying to destroy your faith.
It's your relationship with your creator. and but
it's definitely our lord who was able to step in and
in order to help us to overcome these difficulties
as horrific or difficult as
they they might be i was going
to share that hearing that story for
(05:58):
me was something you don't even hear in latin
america growing up there and then also growing up
here in the u.s and we had
the pleasure of having your grandfather stay with
us this past summer for almost the whole
summer and we got to talk to him and it was wonderful to see all the ways that
(06:20):
he trusted god in the midst of persecution and possible death but he know he
knew that he died or was murdered he was going to go to heaven,
His faith was in the Lord.
And I just love that he has a humongous family all across the U.S.
(06:40):
And beautiful granddaughters and grandsons across the U.S. And they all hold on to their faith.
Because you guys are third-generation Christians. And I share this with you.
My family has been Catholic for 400 years.
That's right. It was a very long time. That's a long time.
But your family's only third generation Christian and the passion and love and
(07:03):
worship that you have for our God is so much deeper because you try to build
that relationship with him.
I think for me, that was a huge testimony of I can have a direct relationship
with the Lord. I don't need anyone to intercede on my behalf.
I think it was definitely with our grandparents who were what laid out the foundation.
(07:28):
Because we come across that even in scripture to where it was someone's grandmother
and someone's mother that had strong faith.
And then this next generation, it was the son who had that faith that was passed down.
And even for today's time, I view that so important for both our generation
(07:51):
and the generation right after us that's being raised up,
is sharing these stories and how crucial and important it is that they're able
to hear and witness witness of that something either in their family line or
in their inner circle of hearing these testimonies of what has happened.
(08:13):
And it's really that fight between good and evil.
But we know that when we look at Scripture that behind all evil,
it's the enemy who is behind us as the driver.
So we know that the Lord prevails in His plan.
(08:34):
There's no weapon that is formed against us that will prevail.
And we know that it's God's last word and how He can save us.
So I feel like all these examples and this, us passing on faith is so important
for the younger generation that they too themselves can take that step to have
(08:54):
a personal relationship with their Creator.
And knowing and also history of where they came from or their circle or their
community of those struggles that have happened and how real they are in life.
So your family came to the U.S. after all this?
Yes, so my mother's side of the family migrated in 1990 and my family and we moved in 1994,
(09:24):
And about, so about four years later, my mom got really, really, uh.
Desperate and for her family so is pretty much
her her entire side of the family moved moved
to the to the us so it's very difficult for
her to to be a one
side of the world while the rest of her family is in in um is somewhere else
(09:49):
moved here in 1984 and and that's where it It was really the beginning in the
Pacific Northwest of us starting off with home churches,
families gathering together, then finding churches where we can rent from someone
(10:10):
else in order to gather on the Sabbath.
So did you serve in the church?
How did you build your relationship with the Lord? Or did you always stay the course?
Or were there moments that you felt like you were distanced from the Lord?
And how did you become a true Bible-believing Christian? That's a very good question.
(10:34):
I feel like as the church was serving also as a good foundation,
and especially when you're in your adolescent years of growing up,
you're surrounded by family, you're surrounded by your circle of church members.
And I feel like of hearing God's scripture, hearing God's word,
(10:55):
but also our church as the Slavic community, we're learning little by little
with the Latin community as well, the amount of similarities that we have between one another.
The Slavic community has worked really hard in order to to emphasize,
in order to think of the next generation.
So I'm very glad, I'm very happy for
(11:17):
that because of trying to have Bible classes that are onsite and to engage the
children in different ways from choir Bible study and being engaged in service.
So when I started growing up as a young teenager and into my early 20s,
(11:41):
the Lord started showing me that this inner circle that I always have been surrounded by,
in one way or another, it would be around Christians.
And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but that is positive.
(12:02):
But I failed to see the brokenness that is around me,
because my eyes were not yet open to a kid that is my own age,
that is some way struggling.
Maybe that kid came from a home with a single parent.
(12:23):
So the Lord has started opening my eyes that there is a need,
that there is a need for His Word, for the gospel, in order to be shared with my community.
So he started little by little opening up
my eyes and i didn't see that at first and of
course as a teenager and you're trying to be as cool as as the next kid and
(12:49):
um in maybe in school but also maybe even around your church circle so you're
you're really focused on your circle that is that is around you.
I think every young person might struggle with this to a degree when you're
growing up of trying to find your place in the world,
(13:13):
even though we know that Scripture is telling you and showing you that your identity is in Christ.
But oftentimes those lines, at times with our own bad judgment and choices,
gets blurred when we want to please somebody else, a family member,
a friend, where you're trying to live in the world, but we understand we can't be of the world.
(13:38):
So that is a struggle that I faced as well, because I did go to church,
and so things seemed perfect on the outside.
But I struggled with really committing my heart genuinely to the Lord,
of being sincere with God, because there was faith of my grandparents,
(13:59):
there was faith of my parents,
but Mark himself did not have faith with the Lord.
I did not take that step in order to say, like, Lord, I'm yours.
So when was that point? When did you reach the point of saying,
I believe this for myself?
(14:20):
When I was 14, 15 years old, I remember going to sleep, and for this time around,
I actually had my own room, so I was happy about that.
And when I went to sleep, and I just had the covers up to my chin, and it was evening now,
(14:40):
9 or 10 outside at night, and the blinds were open, and I was able to see the night sky. guy.
And for the very first time, from at least what I can remember, I decided to talk to God.
Not recite necessarily a prayer that I remember memorized from,
(15:03):
you know, or just trying to get through a prayer and go to sleep.
But I just, I decided to have a conversation with the Lord and,
and it was a conversation like you would speak to a friend, I know we hear that
sometimes, but that's how it was.
I didn't, I didn't, I guess I just, I brought my entire self without putting
(15:27):
up a persona, putting up a wall.
And when I say amen, and I felt the presence of Christ outside my window.
Like, so it was pretty much like, you know, you would say like right there,
which is like hovering, but it was outside the window, but like looking in.
And I didn't see, you know, Christ, but I felt just all of it just,
(15:51):
and, and it was so present, so, so real.
And so, and I, and it was overwhelming because I thought, how can the creator
of the universe take his time to come to listen to me?
Maybe out of all people, and why, why me?
(16:13):
So that served that kind of a moment
of this journey that began of really starting to search for the Lord.
And as a young individual, I've searched the wrong places, whether it was my
attitude wasn't correct, my actions, or even my words.
(16:34):
So I'm grateful for the Lord's mercy and grace in our lives.
That he's patient with us.
And so I had my ups and downs, but it took diving into Scripture.
When I would be at work, I would put in a headphone or earbud and try to listen to Scripture.
(16:56):
And I just have that playing in the background. I would try to listen.
I would have to to re-listen to the same chapter numerous amount of times.
I tried to continuously go from the beginning and try to get through the Bible.
It's been a long journey.
But I think it took that God's Word, which as we know is alive and well,
(17:21):
to be penetrating my heart, to be changing me.
And yet still,
my life I know has been a tug and pull between serving the Lord and trying to
serve the flesh and going back and forth.
So it's been a journey.
(17:43):
And one birthday, I remember, and I share this to be an encouragement for others.
One birthday, I told my parents, I told my mom, I said, hey,
for my birthday, I want to go to the beach, but by myself.
She said, what? Go to the beach by yourself? What does that mean?
I said, well, I want to go seek out the Lord. He has given me all these years
(18:07):
of my life, but I've never given Him a birthday. Just to Him.
She got very emotional. She's like, what are you going to do?
Are you going to cry there? What's your day going to look like?
I was like, mom. I said, I don't know. I guess we'll figure it out.
(18:29):
But so here I am, Cape Kiwanda, Pacific City.
Those that know the Pacific Northwest and that place, Big Sin doing on your
right-hand side of the beach. beach.
I remember, so it was a summer. Well, obviously, May.
No, not yet. Well, it was May, May 25th. That's what it was.
(18:51):
And it was windy on the beach, and it was nighttime, and I got my blanket out,
I wrapped myself, and started walking along the beach in order to go up the sand dune.
And I passed a group of people around the bonfire, one group and a second group.
And I'm pretty sure that they thought, what is this guy doing?
(19:14):
And what in the world is he going up that sand dune at this hour?
What time was it? Was it night?
Yeah, it was at least 9 o'clock, 9, 9.30.
It was already dark. So it was dark. Yeah. Yeah. So it was cold and windy,
but I got up the sand dune.
And I remember the path of where I needed to go and to be on the furthest rock, this big opening.
(19:45):
And I just spent time both listening to worship music and in prayer.
A storm finally came in, and I thought, okay, maybe this is enough.
I'm going to turn back now. Yeah.
I'm imagining this is before they closed it off. This is, yes.
Good job on the details. This is before they closed that spot off.
So, yeah, I remember seeing it. It was pretty scary looking at the edge.
(20:10):
I know they closed it off on purpose because it's a pretty dangerous place to be. Yes.
And I do remember you sharing that with me when I was still trying to find the
Lord, trying to understand who He really was because for me it was all about facts.
And when you shared that, I thought, oh, I mean, to have a heart like that,
(20:33):
you want to have a relationship with this God, this person that cares for you. Wow.
I want that. I really want that. I want to have that relationship.
You feel so much vigor and joy and love from him and for him.
I was really jealous hearing that, because I really wanted that too.
(20:56):
So thank you for sharing that. I hope it was a very good, even at that time,
desire, burning passion to, like you said, to know the Lord personally.
I feel like whether you grew up in a Christian home, you're third generation
or 400 years from a Catholic line, I think each individual,
(21:20):
you know, child of God, all of us as created in his image and creation,
like you reach that moment where you realize like, okay, do you want it for real?
Do you want it raw? Do you want it personal?
Because you will always look and you will see, here's the faith of my grandparents.
(21:42):
Here's the heart and faith of my parents. Now it's me.
And it's not about living up
to our heroes of the past it's it's
more of god is not stuck from 50
years ago he's here he's now he's
spirit and we worship him in spirit and we
(22:02):
are yes definitely and and
you come to a point where you you make a you make
a decision that do you want to know him for
him do you want to know his heart do you want to be after his heart
to chase after for him to love him and yeah
and that reminds me of how you this something you
shared with me a little bit ago but that you
(22:24):
felt like you were comfortable when you were youth
in your community that you were comfortable in the rituals of the you know all
the observances you had of seeing your grandparents and your parents you know
their faith and their ritual but you were just comfortable.
(22:45):
You weren't actually seeking out the Lord yourself, but you saw him out.
And you went all the way to the edge to see where it would take you.
Yeah. And I thank God for really nudging and wanting to open up our hearts.
(23:08):
Because I feel like that he steps in in order to try to have a personal relationship with us.
And it's definitely a response that we need to make to have that,
you know, are you going to answer that call? How are you going to open up your
heart when your own creator wants to have a relationship with you?
And you're absolutely right. I feel like a church foundation,
(23:30):
a good biblical teachings and scripture foundation from a church is so nourishing
and so needed and so good.
But with that, there might be a possibility that some might become comfortable.
And I'm talking about it might be always with a younger generation.
Because you get comfortable around the safety of the church,
(23:55):
the safety around your circle, that if you're young, you might be going to school,
maybe it's college, and you have church.
And so you might get comfortable in the space of just your life and what you're surrounded by.
But in that moment, you have to be very careful.
(24:17):
You have to be very careful that you try to seek out the Lord,
that you take those steps in order to have a personal relationship with Him,
that you just don't get comfortable around your church. Because that's how it was for me.
I got so comfortable because it didn't matter whether it was winter or if it was summer.
One way or another, going to a park, being around church, being around family,
(24:41):
being around friends, of that I was one way or another surrounded by a circle
that was comfortable for me.
And I had no idea that I needed to look beyond, over, or to the side of, do I have a neighbor?
Who does not know the Lord? What is our outreach to the community?
(25:03):
What does it mean to wear the scripture that I just read in order to be an example to my neighbor?
Who is my neighbor? because I always view that my neighbor as the person,
a brother or sister that's next to me, but not- Within the church.
Within the church, but not the neighbors that are the ones that are on the same
(25:25):
street that might not know the
Lord and might need somebody to share the gospel, the good news with them.
Wow. So what's your relationship like with the Lord today?
Today, I'm so grateful for His mercy and for His grace that He has for us and over me.
(25:50):
And there's absolutely nothing in my life that I would say that I have deserved.
But I've seen up to this very hour how compassionate and loving He is to His
children and how forgiving He is.
Because I feel like I have had plenty of slips and falls and mistakes that I have made.
(26:15):
And I've shared this with others.
This is a very intimate statement to share.
I thought of this once or twice. If I were in the place of God,
would I have forgiven Mark?
And for me, the answer was no. So I'm grateful that He has a heart that's so
(26:36):
much bigger than mine to forgive me the sinner that I have been,
that I was.
And today it's by His mercy that I'm here. It's by His mercy.
I thank Jesus for what He has done on the cross, that our sins are forgiven.
(26:58):
And we have the opportunity to come to the throne of grace boldly and to turn
to our Lord at every hour when we need Him most at all times.
So today I'm very grateful for the blessings in my life of a wonderful wife,
being surrounded by a ministry where I get to do the Lord's work,
(27:20):
being surrounded by church,
both the English community and the Russian-Slavic community as well.
And hopefully the Latino community.
Yes, we're still making friends there. Definitely.
Well, thank you so much for sharing that. And I hope for those who are listening
that you know that if you're comfortable, sometimes you have to get uncomfortable
(27:43):
and live in a discomfort to seek out the Lord. Amen. Definitely. Amen.
Praise Jesus for today. Praise the Lord. Thank you.
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