Three years ago, Boris called himself an atheist and an agnostic. He didn't believe in God because he didn't see enough evidence for it. But inside, a strange thought lived: «"I wish there was a God"».
Since childhood, Boris noticed something special in Protestant Christians. He liked their principles, attitude to life, and desire to live according to the Bible. Even without believing himself, he thought: someday I would like to have a family built on such values. He wanted his children not to repeat what he himself had gone through at one time - alcohol, cigarettes, and other problems of youth.
But how can you build a life on faith if you don't believe yourself?
Everything changed at the end of 2023. Boris began to communicate more with Christians, ask questions about God, read and seek answers. One evening before going to bed, he decided to pray.
«"God, let me believe in You like a little child.".
What happened next, Boris still describes today as a personal encounter with God. He felt His presence so strongly that for him it was an answer to prayer.
«Does God really exist?» This thought turned everything upside down.
The changes began almost immediately. Boris gave up cigarettes, then e-cigarettes and alcohol, and began to watch his speech. He went to church, started reading the Bible regularly, and very quickly realized that it was not enough for him to just come to church. He wanted to serve, help others, and tell people about God.
But the real search was just beginning.
Reading the Bible from the beginning, Boris reached chapter 20 of the book of Exodus. His attention was drawn to the fourth commandment, about the Sabbath.
A simple question arose: Why is it written like this?
He began to search for the answer on his own. He read, compared, listened to different opinions. And then he came across a program on YouTube «"There are no complex texts"». At first I listened to Andriy Bedraty, later to Oleksandr Bolotnikov.
It was here, according to Boris, that individual biblical texts suddenly began to form a single picture for him — from the book of Genesis to the life of Jesus, Acts, and Revelation.
He did not accept everything at once. He looked for objections, listened to other positions, checked. But the more he studied the Bible, the more convinced he became of what he found. First it concerned the question of the Sabbath, then — nutrition and other biblical principles.
For a while, Boris simply spent his Saturday at home, reading the Bible and praying. But later he realized that he needed community.
He found contacts for the Adventist church in Kyiv via Telegram. His first attempt was unsuccessful: he arrived at the address, but the congregation had already moved. The following Saturday, he tried again.
This time the door opened.
He was warmly welcomed and invited to dinner. But the most important thing was something else — Boris finally met people with whom he could talk about what he was discovering in the Bible.
«"I finally found like-minded people.".
Later, after about a year of attending the Adventist community, Boris officially joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church through a profession of faith.
His journey didn't begin with ready-made answers. It began with one desire: «"I would like to believe that God exists.".
And then there was prayer, the Bible, searching, questions — and media ministry, which at the right moment helped to find answers and see the whole picture.
Sometimes a program on YouTube seems like just another video.
And for some, it can be the next step on the path to God.
