Children of the Storm: The Autobiography of Natasha Vins

Children of the Storm is a touching story. When you read it, your appreciation for God will grow and the problems you have will seem smaller. We are blessed beyond measure to live in the United States of America.

I opened the book for the first time Sunday afternoon in the car, and finished it on Monday night. Natasha tells of her girlhood, and the persecution her family endured for Christ. I really appreciated her telling of how she came to the Lord; until she graduated from high school she was a "Christian" because her parents were, and wondered how important it was. Then she understood the gospel and her parents faith became her own, and she lived for Jesus. She has an engaging manner of writing, perhaps because she writes as one real person would speak to another, not with studied eloquence. I was encouraged by the testimony of the trials and severe hardships her family went through. It made me reflect on how easy I have it here, and what I am willing to sacrifice for my Lord. I would encourage Christians, young or old, to read "Children of the Storm."

This is one of the best-written and most gripping Christian autobiographies I've read in years. I started it in the afternoon, managed to put supper on the table for my family and get the kids in bed, and finished the whole thing. My father is a Baptist pastor and we regularly prayed for our fellow believers in the persecuted church, so it was especially moving for me to get a clear picture of what life was like for the Vins family as they tried to minister in the Soviet Union during the years of Communist oppression. I would recommend this book for junior high students on up. It would be an excellent book for families to read aloud and discuss together, or for Sunday School teachers to share a chapter or so with their classes during a reading time each week (they'd keep coming back for sure). The book really makes you evaluate the depth or your own Christian commitment in the light of what Natasha and her family endured.

This is an autobiography of a mid-twentieth century Russian girl, Natasha, and her family from Kiev. It is an adult book that children with 5th grade reading level can also enjoy. Children of the Storm recounts her father's imprisonment, her schooling and questioning of Christianity, and all that happened to them in the years of Soviet crackdown of Biblical Christians. Fast-moving, very interesting, well-written. I highly recommend it.