The sight was horrible. The road ahead was littered with the mangled bodies of humans and animals, killed as they fled for safety. It was January 1945 and I was ten years old. I was one of many refugees fleeing from the advancing Russian army.

I was born in East Prussia. My father had a farm there but was enlisted into the army during the war. My mother had to look after the farm and five children until January 1945 when we had to leave.

We left in a covered, horse-drawn wagon. We set out in severe frost and snow to join many other refugees. For two months we managed to keep ahead of the advancing troops, but after many disappointments, suffering from cold, hunger and exhaustion we were captured by Russian soldiers. We had to work in a Russian camp for the next seven months. We were often very hungry and my mother would sometimes send me with an empty plate to beg food from the Russian solders.

God had not forgotten to be gracious
During this time we lost contact with my father. We had no idea where he was or whether he was alive or dead. God had not forgotten to be gracious and the day came when we were free to leave the Russian camp. As we travelled through the ruins we slept in railway stations, in fields, in barns, in rooms with other refugees until finally we reached Halle near Leipzig. At a pre-arranged address my mother found a letter from my father. The letter had been written five months previously. We learned that my father was in Bavaria in Southern Germany. So we travelled further south. As I look back now I realize how wonderfully God protected us and provided for us. For many weeks we walked or travelled by train when we could and we were always hungry.

What a reunion!
We were not sure where my father was. Germany was full of refugees. But my father was continually praying and searching for us and had almost given up hope of seeing us again. He was working on a farm and on the 15th November 1945 as he prepared for bed, he heard a voice urgently telling him to go to the railway station. He eventually recognized it to be the voice of God. He borrowed a bicycle and went off to the railway station! The last expected train had gone through and the station master did not expect another train that night. My father returned home and went to bed.

Sometime later he woke up suddenly to hear a voice even more urgently telling him to go to the railway station. He went back to the station and just then he saw a train approaching the station. The train stopped and the door opposite to where he stood, opened and we stepped off the train into the arms of my father! What a reunion! He took our rucksacks and we went with him to the farmer’s house and
for the first time in nearly a year we had a warm bath and slept in a bed!

A very mixed idea of God
From this background I grew up with the knowledge of a personal God who watches over His people. My father prayed with us every day and I watched him often as he read from the Bible. However I was away from home most of the time during the following years as I had to attend a school for the deaf. While I knew there was a personal God, I also had a very mixed idea of God. The cruelty and suffering I had witnessed in my childhood had left its mark. In my confusion I decided to follow the ways of the world. I am sure that in answer to the prayers of my parents, God put a barrier around me and kept me from many of the sins that my worldly friends indulged in.

His love for the Bible was contagious!
I was now 28 years old and my father often took me to meetings and evangelistic missions but being deaf I understood very little. Then he heard of a weekend Bible Camp for deaf people and arranged for me to go there. I met my old school friend, Dieter and I could hardly believe the change that had taken place in his life.

He talked about Jesus Christ and he always had a Bible with him. His love for this book was contagious! I tried to read the Bible but found it boring and difficult to understand. I told Dieter that I wanted so much what he had:  forgiveness, assurance of eternal life, peace and joy but I also wanted to hold onto the things of the world.

Dieter then read me the words of Jesus:  “No man can serve two masters” and made it clear to me that I could not go both ways. One way would lead me to the Lord but the other way would lead me away from Him to a lost eternity.

‘Give me a joyful heart’
I left the conference and for the next two weeks was under conviction of sin and I could hardly sleep or eat. My father prayed with me but still the burden persisted. One night I got out of bed at 2am and knelt down and cried to the Lord. I did not know how to pray but I cried: ‘Give me a joyful heart’. Immediately the light of God shone and in this light God showed how awful my sins were.

My heart seemed to break but then the Holy Spirit revealed to me the Lord Jesus on the cross and He had purged my sins away. God’s sweet peace and love flooded my whole life and Jesus became real to me. A few hours later I woke my father to tell him the news. My father read and prayed with me and I knew then the full joy of complete forgiveness. The Bible and prayers became a delight to me. My first desire was to share with others and I still do so as the Lord gives me the opportunity. I am 73 years old now!

By Johannes Olschewski (Deafblind) - Germany

(Extracted from Hands Together, UK - September-December 2006)