God is working in silence — Part 1

Daniel Didier | Germany

While I thought I was searching for my way,
God had already prepared my path.

I thought my future depended on an answer that seemed
to take forever. I did not yet know that God was already preparing
every step of my journey.

There are moments in life when we think
God is taking too long to act.

We pray.
We wait.
We become impatient.

And sometimes, 
we even wonder whether He still sees
what we are going through.

I experienced that myself.

At the time, I was living in Ukraine, 
with very few prospects for my future.

I was seriously considering moving to Western Europe.

So I had applied for a tourist visa to Portugal,

intending to remain there after my arrival, 

even if that meant living there without legal status.

I submitted my application in September 2021.

Normally,
the process should have taken no more than three months.

But the weeks went by.

Then the months.

And I still had no answer from the embassy.

I was becoming impatient.

I could not understand why nothing was moving forward.

I thought my future depended on that answer.

And because I did not yet know
what God had already planned for me,

I became frustrated with the situation.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.”
— Isaiah 55:8 (KJV)

I did not know it yet.

But the embassy’s silence did not mean
that God had abandoned me.

Perhaps God was simply making me wait
on a path He had never chosen for me.

When war changed my plans

At the beginning of February 2022,

tensions between Russia and Ukraine intensified.

Then, on February 24, 2022,

war broke out.

Within a few hours, everything changed.

Fear spread through the cities.

People began to flee.

The roads filled with families, women, children,
and people simply trying to save their lives.

Yet I still could not leave.

My passport was still being held
at the Portuguese embassy

in Kyiv.

I knew I absolutely had to get it back.

Without it, crossing a border and seeking refuge

in a neighboring country could have become
extremely difficult.

But traveling to Kyiv under those circumstances
seemed reckless.

The capital was being heavily affected by the war.

Everyone advised me not to go.

The people who could have made the journey
no longer wanted to go there.

And yet, something inside me was different.

I did not feel the fear that these circumstances
should normally have caused.

Instead,
I felt an inexplicable peace and calm.

While searching online for a way to reach Kyiv,

I came across an advertisement from a man
who needed to go there to collect his family.

I contacted him.

And we made the journey together.

Looking back,
I understand that God had already begun preparing my path.

“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee;
and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:
when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned;
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”
— Isaiah 43:2 (KJV)

I was not out of danger.

But I was not alone.

A Passport Retrieved Under the Air-Raid Sirens

When I arrived in Kyiv, 
I went to the Portuguese embassy.

And that was when I realized just how perfectly
everything had been orchestrated.

The embassy was in the process of closing
for an indefinite period.

It was going to be evacuated because of the war.

But just before it closed,
I was able to retrieve my passport.

Only moments later,
the sirens warning of air attacks began to sound.

Like so many others, 
I found myself seeking refuge in a metro station.

I was holding my passport in my hands.

This document that I had waited months for,

and which I had believed would simply give me
the opportunity to go to Portugal, 

had now become the key
that would allow me to leave war-torn Ukraine.

That day, I understood something:

What I had considered a delay
may have actually been protection.

If my passport had arrived earlier, 

I would probably have left Ukraine for Portugal

and continued with the plan I had made for myself.

But God had another path.

On the Train, Among Tears and Prayers

After spending a short time taking shelter in the metro,
I made my way to the train station.

My goal was simple:

I needed to find a train to Lviv, a city in the west,

near the Polish border.

But the station was packed.

Thousands of people were trying to leave.

Women and children were given priority.

The sound of crying, shouting, prayers, and fear
filled the place.

And yet,
I still do not know how,
but I found myself on a train.

I had no guarantee that I would reach my destination.

The train sometimes had to stop
because of fighting and the military situation.

Many people around me were afraid.

But deep inside,

I had a profound conviction:

Everything will be alright.

I did not know how.

I did not know when.

I did not know what was waiting for me in Lviv.

But I knew that God was with me.

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed;
for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;
yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
— Isaiah 41:10 (KJV)

Faith does not mean that we know what is going to happen.

Faith means that we trust
the One who does.

The Miracle at the Border

After reaching Lviv,

I found a sister as well as a few friends.

We rented a vehicle
and headed toward the Polish border.

At that time,
thousands of people were waiting for days
to be able to leave Ukraine.

The border was overwhelmed.

Humanly speaking,
we could have expected a long wait.

But once again,
something happened that we could not explain.

Our small group was able to cross the border

on the very same day,

in its entirety.

Not after several days.

Not after a long wait.

The same day.

To me, this was not simply luck.

It was another manifestation of God’s grace.

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh:
is there any thing too hard for me?”
— Jeremiah 32:27 (KJV)

There are doors that we cannot open
by our own strength.

And then, suddenly, they open.

Not because we were stronger than the others,

but because God had already prepared the passage.

Germany — Where God Had Prepared a Family

After crossing the border,

each of us went our own way

toward a European Union country

that was welcoming people fleeing the conflict.

As for me, I chose to go to Germany.

I had a kind family waiting for me,
ready to welcome me, support me, and guide me.

And it was through them
that God continued to write my story.

They accompanied me.

They advised me.

They supported me.

Thanks to their support,

I was able to regularize my situation,

obtain my documents quickly,

find a job,

and make a new start in my life.

I thought I was looking for a future in Europe.

But God had prepared much more than
a simple journey.

He had prepared people.

He had prepared a welcome.

He had prepared a family.

“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward
for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow:
but woe to him that is alone when he falleth;
for he hath not another to help him up.”
— Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 (KJV)

Some people enter our lives
as encounters.

Others enter them
as answers to our prayers.

And some are literally
instruments in the hands of God.

✦ Daniel Didier | Germany ✦

Continue Reading

→ Read part 2: While I thought I was searching for my way,
God had already prepared my path.