Sergey Ostapchuk: I should have died in childhood

Sergey Ostapchuk: I should have died in childhood
This is an amazing story of how human faith can work miracles even in our time. Today, when medicine is powerless to combat many diseases, people who believe continue to experience incredible healings from the most terrifying illnesses.
There are many documented cases of healing from cancer, AIDS, and mental illness. After all, when people believe, heaven hears their faith and descends to earth to perform a miracle. Our story today is about such a case—how parents' faith saved their child from an incurable disease. Sergei Ostapchuk, who was expected to die in early childhood, tells his story. I was born a rather sickly child. When I was only four months old, after an examination, the doctor told my parents that I would likely not live. This news shook them to the core, and they began praying to God for me every day, knowing that only the Lord could help.
My parents were raised with Christian values, even though we lived in the atheistic Soviet Union. Time passed, and they continued to pray for me, but there was no visible improvement. One day, they decided to take a special step: going to church, they dedicated me to serving God and promised that if the Lord healed me, my life would be dedicated to serving Him. After some time, my parents noticed that I was feeling a little better. They went to the doctors again, but the results of the examination were disappointing. I was diagnosed with a terrible disease: lymphocytic leukocytosis. There were significantly more white blood cells than red blood cells in my body.
This diagnosis was a huge blow for my parents, especially my mother. But they didn't lose hope and continued to pray for me. Time passed. Despite the grave prognosis, I gradually improved. My parents continued to trust in God and pray.
Four years passed, and I continued to live, which was a miracle in itself. One day, as my mother and I were walking through the city, we met the doctor who had once told my parents about my grave condition. She asked in surprise if it was really me and asked me to get tested again.
It was a very exciting moment. Even though I felt fine, my parents were still worried when we returned to the hospital. We waited for the results. A few hours later, the doctor came out looking surprised and told my parents to be happy because my test results were completely consistent with those of a healthy child.
"I don't understand how this could have happened," she said. "It's a miracle, otherwise I can't explain it."
After the Lord miraculously healed me, my parents never forgot their promise to God and raised me to dedicate my life to serving Him. From childhood, I felt a deep calling to serve others, showing them the love of our Savior, so that they would understand that God is ready to help, heal, and give hope. We lived in an atheistic society, where belief in God was often ridiculed. I remember well how, in first grade, the principal asked who among us believed in God and told those who believed to stand up. There were only two of us in the entire class. After that, many of our classmates began to laugh at us. Sometimes it hurt, and I even thought: maybe they were right? But I couldn't accept the idea that life has no meaning and that there is nothing after death. I felt that God had a special calling for me. One day, the teacher asked us to write an essay about what we wanted to become. The children wrote about various professions—a policeman, an astronaut, a sailor. And I wrote that I wanted to be a priest. The teacher even scolded me for it.
But when in the eleventh grade we wrote an essay on this topic again, she came up to me and said that out of the whole class, only my dream remained unchanged.
My childhood dream has come true. I am convinced that the Lord healed me as a child so that I could serve Him and others seeking a way out of difficult life circumstances.
The miracle of healing that I told about became the beginning of my calling to serve people, especially those who are sick and in need of hope.
That is why I created my own program, “School of Healing.”
"School of Healing" 12 meetings - once a month
• training in biblical healing • strengthening faith
• individual prayer for everyone who wants it
Meetings will be held every last Saturday of the month.
First meeting - March 28th at 6:00 PM,
Address: 2702 Quentin Road, Brooklyn, NY 11229
I invite you and anyone who needs it. Registration: 646-934-9934
We are also looking for volunteers who want to help people and pray with them. Phone: 646-934-9934