FRM Newsletter

September 14, 2024 | FRM Newsletter

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I want to encourage all of you that the Lord hears and answers your prayers. The story I will be sharing with you is of a young Ukrainian woman and how the Lord provided for her after years of prayer. One of the things we need to understand is that God’s ways are not our ways, and the Lord often allows us to endure difficult things as training for our lives. When I pray for the healing of people, the Lord does not always do the remarkable with instant healing. So, when I pray for people with diseases that have no cure, I also pray that the Lord would have a cure discovered. Not only am I praying for the one suffering, but also for the benefit of those who come after.

Here is Oksana’s story:

My name is Oksana, and I am 33 years old. When I was a little girl, my father was a very loving man who loved his children and his wife. But my mother was not loving. She was not faithful to my father, and it broke his heart. My father went to Russia to work in construction, but often, they do not pay the workers and expect them just to go away. My father continued to ask for his salary, so they killed him so they would not have to pay him. In an instant, my entire world was destroyed; I lost the one person who truly loved me.  My mother did keep us, but she could not provide the type of love a child needs.  When I was in second grade, I was riding a bike. I fell and knocked out four of my permanent front teeth; only the roots and some remnants of the teeth remained. Before that, I already had problems with my teeth, but they were never fixed. About a year or two later, my mother took me to a state dental clinic. Because I did not know what awaited me there, I was terrified. They treated and extracted teeth without anesthesia. It was so painful that they only extracted one tooth remnant. After that experience, dentistry became the biggest fear in my life, and I was terrified to go to the dentist.

Then, when I was in the 5th-6th grade, I experienced unbearable toothaches that lasted for days. I could not go outside; I took strong painkillers and drank a lot. At some point, these treatments stopped helping me.  My mother took me to the dentist again, and it was the same situation: treatment without anesthesia. The dentist started a conversation with me with words like, “How did you manage to ruin your teeth like this? It’s terrible, you’re just a girl…”I was scared because my teeth hurt a lot, and because the pain was so intense, it was impossible to endure.”  Time passed, and the situation with my teeth only worsened. We agreed that I would go to the dentist when we had the means to go to a private doctor (I heard they treat teeth painlessly there), so I was really looking forward to it. When I was in 9th grade, I stayed home with my younger sister while my mother went to work for a few months to earn money for dental treatment. By the time she returned, I was in the 10th grade, and I could start going to a private dentist. He was a very good doctor; I will never forget his name, Grigory Ivanovich. He tried very hard to preserve the teeth that remained in the best possible way. For nine years, I went without teeth. By that time, my gums had sagged a lot, and I needed to have several more teeth extracted from both sides of my mouth. He made a temporary plastic bridge for my front teeth and said I should wear it for a year and return to have ceramics put on. I remember the day they put this little bridge on me. I was almost 17 years old; I was afraid to smile so no one would laugh at me. On the last day of school, a classmate noticed that I had my teeth done and started shouting. When I showed it to others, everyone supported me. It was very nice. I wore these plastic teeth for four years because changing them would have cost a lot. When I was 21, we found a private dentist in the village, which was relatively inexpensive compared to the city. We collected the necessary amount and started treatment again. We agreed on a budget treatment option, and two more front teeth had to be sacrificed. Now, I had a bridge of six teeth. The doctor made these teeth very long, uniform, and narrow, and they looked very similar to a fence. It was difficult because the gums were raised, and the teeth were not even. I cried all the way home. At home, everyone said that the teeth looked very bad. The next day, we went back to him and asked him to change them a little and make them more realistic. He said he would try, but he could only correct them once, and however they came out is how I would have to wear them. He changed them a little, but it was very noticeable that I had artificial teeth.

Since childhood, I have had a complex about my teeth.  My mother was embarrassed of me, and when we went somewhere, she told me not to smile or speak. School was not easy either, and I was embarrassed to go to the front of the class to recite poems. I always thought that I could never be beautiful with such a smile. I tried to control my smile and avoided talking about my teeth, so no one would ask me questions. Once, when I was already married, the cement came off, and the teeth fell out. I was very scared that my husband would see me like that and went to the store to buy super glue to glue them back in place while he was at work. I decided to confess to my husband about my teeth, and I thank God, He gave me the courage I needed. Four years ago, a woman dentist approached me at the GHO (Global Health Outreach) service and whispered that my teeth were poorly done, and something needed to be done about them. This comment made me even more vigilant about how wide I could smile.  I went for a dental consultation, and the dentist told me they could and should redo them, but it would cost a lot of money. I always talked to God about my dream of having good teeth. Only He knew how personal and big it was. I had seen a lot of photos of people before and after dental treatment, and I dreamt of smiling without thinking and having beautiful, white, straight teeth.  After the consultation, I prayed that my teeth would grow.  Maybe it sounds funny to some, but it was unreal for me to gather such a large amount of money. The day before our meeting, I looked at my teeth in the mirror for a long time and thought about how much I would like to have beautiful teeth while still young. So, I prayed and said, “Lord, in the next two days, please either grow my teeth back or provide for me to have new teeth.”

Two days later, Vicky, Luke, and I returned from visiting the Ukraine chaplains who were fighting on the frontline. We were having dinner with Vitali and his wife, Natalia, and their staff consisting of three married couples. As we fellowshipped, we had a great dinner. When we returned to the hotel, Vicky asked me if I had noticed the teeth of a young woman who had been with us, to which I responded, “No. Why?” Vicky then told me the young woman needed very extensive dental work and asked if we could provide to fix her teeth, to which I said, “Yes, love.” I called Vitali that night and told him what we had decided, and he immediately called Oksana and told her. She broke down and cried uncontrollably. The call from Vitali came precisely two days after she prayed for new teeth. God’s timing is not always our timing but in His perfect time—He answers prayers. The years Oksana struggled taught her many lessons about waiting and compassion; things not easily learned if God had immediately answered her on her first request.

I do not have enough room in this newsletter to share a second great testimony, but I will next month. The Bible says if you ask anything in My name, it will be given to you according to God’s will. When we shared in last month’s newsletter about the new orphanage in Ukraine, we needed to raise about $400,000 for the first two phases of construction. This includes the purchase of the land, the first dorm, the cafeteria and kitchen for the children. We have already raised over $300,000, and this has come in, in only about five weeks. So, we only have $100,000 to go for the first two phases.  Also, we are in the process of looking at two different properties to start training chaplains in Ukraine. One is an old Soviet theater that we can purchase for about $25,000 but would need at least $200,000 in renovations and is much closer to the fighting. The second is large, with 20 acres and about 17 buildings that cost about $300,000 and would also need at least a couple hundred thousand dollars in renovations but it is much further from the front—at least four hours from the fighting.

Pray that the Lord shows us which is the right property.

Wes Bentley
Far Reaching Ministries