Fimiam Baptist Church

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Oleksander Prudyak

I grew up and still live in Lutsk.

My private life began at the age of 14. I tried alcohol and thought I was an adult already. Funny company, noisy friends, girls, alcohol…everything continued for 2 years. At the age of 16, I tried marijuana and I thought I was a cool teenager. My life was all about loud music in discos and smoking drugs until I was 17 years old.

My brains were gone. I wanted to get everything from this life and feel all the pleasures to the fullness. Soon I learned that there is a better way to be spaced out and that is to try hard drugs. After the first shot, I felt a new life… I became a god.

Nothing existed for me but opium. I went to the army and I had to quit using drugs for a while. But when I had a furlough, I used drugs again to feel myself higher than others.

When I finished my service, I was not on drugs systematically because I was afraid of addiction. I had seen addicted people and told myself that I would never be that way. I got married and we had a beautiful daughter in half a year. I became a happy father. But I did not quit using drugs because I was in the system. My wife knew that I was a drug addict, but this did not stop me. I tried to heal myself at home. But it was all in vain. I went back to my previous lifestyle. I worked as a driver and used drugs systematically. Then we had a son, but I did not feel like a happy daddy as I was after my daughter’s birth. Drugs were my only value.

My life was like a hell. I began to steal and took away things from my home. I walked all over my wife and children. We argued and I beat my wife. I quit sleeping at home. During the season, I went collecting poppies. I began to feel a terrible pain because of drugs. Relatives tried to save me from this terrible addiction. I went to the hospital for drug addicts but I had void in my heart. As a result, I began to use drugs again to fill the void and numb the pain.

I was dying slowly. I had a dystrophy of the muscles. My parents lost all hope for my recovery. Children were the reason my wife stayed with me. Soon all relatives wanted nothing to do nothing with me. I began to live in drug addicts’ dens. I understood that nobody needed me. I thought about my life, whether I would live until the next day. I was no longer a god. I was a drug addict without any perspective on life, whom everyone rejected. I was waiting for the last day.

Then I met a drug addict who told me about God’s power that can break any addiction. I was amazed that this power made him free. I learned about Christian rehabilitation centers. I received hope for salvation. I came to Fimiam Church and by God’s grace I successfully completed the rehabilitation course.

Now Jesus gave me a new life and saved from sinful addictions. My relationships with my parents and my wife are restored. God blessed our family with two more children. We praise Him. Since we have such a background, we tell people about God’s deeds in our lives and try to help those people who are suffering like we did.