Fanning Our God-Given Gifts into Flame

Summary

This Poetry Night brought together two believers - Natasha Shevchenko and Leonid Pisarchuk - who serve God with the written word. Both told how their gift was born: Natasha wrote as a child, drifted into love songs as a teenager, then at eighteen surrendered her life to Christ, burned her old notebooks, and vowed that from then on her words would only glorify God's name. Leonid, who came to faith at twenty-six and could neither sing nor play nor preach, began writing verse simply to pour out his gratitude to the One who had saved him.

Their central encouragement, drawn from Paul's charge to Timothy, was to fan the gift into flame instead of letting it grow cold. Everyone has been given something; the spark can be blown into a fire or quietly quenched. Poetry, they explained, is like a drop of vinegar concentrate - a single Spirit-given revelation can hold an entire sermon, and more than half of Scripture itself is written as poetry inspired by God.

The evening did not avoid pain. Against the backdrop of war between brotherly nations, both poets pleaded for love and forgiveness instead of hatred, and Natasha recounted her own war - a nine-month illness that left her bedridden and tempted to curse God, until she whispered that she still chose Him and her healing began. Through poems on the cross, the empty tomb, and the believer's true home in heaven, the night called listeners to hold loosely to earthly things and keep their roots ready to be pulled up for the Lord.

Key Points

• Every believer has a God-given gift; like Paul urged Timothy, we are to fan it into flame, not let it go cold.
• Natasha surrendered her writing at eighteen, burning her old notebooks so her words would only glorify God.
• Leonid began writing poetry at twenty-six as the overflow of gratitude to the One who saved him.
• Poetry is a concentrate, like vinegar - one short, Spirit-given verse can carry the weight of a whole sermon.
• Even between brothers at war, believers are called to love and forgive rather than load the heart with hatred.
• Faith is tested in the furnace; in her long illness Natasha chose God over despair, and healing followed.
• This world is not our home - hold earthly things loosely and keep your roots ready for heaven.