Fimiam Baptist Church

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Volodymyr Chaykovskyy

I, Chaykovskyy Volodymyr, want to talk about my healed life. My life was like an ordinary person: I studied and went to serve in the army. I stayed abroad after the army. New company and friends showed me a new way of life and it was very closely associated with alcohol. Cup after cup, alcohol became an integral part of my life.

I understood that I was an alcoholic, but hoped that everything would be okay. I got married and waited for the changes but life was the same. Alcohol became the most valuable thing in my life. I could not imagine my everyday life without it. “Family happiness” became a remote dream. Most of my time was spent in the company of alcoholic friends. Even though I was 30 years old, I understood that I was an alcoholic and, what was worse, that I could not become free by myself.

I went to the hospital for drug addicts and took a course of treatment. I quit drinking for 2 years and then began to drink again in even greater quantities. I felt the attraction of alcohol so strong that I could not quit again. It caused hard consequences. Alcohol took everything from me. I divorced. My health was getting worse. I did not care. I always had problems with the police and felt the constant threat of prison or death. That was the price I paid to have an alcohol-centered life.

I lost any sense of life. Every morning I got up with one thought: “Where shall I get money for alcohol?” I brought things from my house and sold them, bought alcohol and went to bed thinking of how to get a drink again. My relatives lost any hope for me getting better. They did not have any thought of me becoming a normal person and having a purposeful life.

God had another plans for me. He saw my addiction, worthlessness and inability to change by myself. He reached His hand to help me. My brother brought me to Fimiam Church because he had talked to former drug addicts who became free in Transformation, a Rehabilitation Center in Fimiam Church. I had a great desire to become free and went to rehabilitation.

That was the place where God began to change my heart. I understood that it is only He Who has power to help me. I quit smoking and drinking. Before that I had tried several times to become free by my own efforts, but nothing worked out well for me. I visited different people but they could not root out the problem – my sinful heart.

In the rehabilitation center I came to know God through the Bible and prayer. I trusted God and believed that He could save me: that was my first step to freedom. I talked to former drug and alcohol addicts who enjoyed a new life in Christ. The leaders always helped and encouraged me.

With time I understood that I am needed and I have a purpose in life.

Currently, I have completed the course of rehabilitation and can say that God freed me from all addictions. I look back at my life with disgust and sorrow: 19 years in alcohol slavery, 33 years in tobacco slavery. But in spite of who I was in the past, God gives me happy future.

Now I serve the Lord and people who need help. God changes my character, teaching me to do things I would never thought about doing previously. I am often asked whether I want to drink again and I can say that I feel nothing but disgust toward it.

To those people who are still under the slavery of alcohol, I want to say that God has the way out and He has a better life for you – a life full of purpose. I advise the family and friends of an addicted person to pray for them. God hears your prayers and will certainly answer them.