Hi, I’m Kristina! I enjoy creating art inspired by the Bible to encourage believers & seekers to pursue a closer relationship with God.
I grew up in a non-Christian family in Ukraine. It was on YouTube that I heard the gospel and got saved. Ever since then I felt called to share Jesus online.
Since moving to the countryside of Pennsylvania in 2021, I have also been inspired by the vast amounts of land, wildlife, and rolling hills.
My hope is that my art brings others a sense of peace and points them to the ultimate giver of peace, Jesus. It is only through our relationship with Him that we can experience true peace in our souls.
If you want to see what I’m currently up to you can connect with me on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok.
My story
Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, just a few years after the split of the Communist Soviet Union and raised in a non-believing family, I was unlikely to come to the Christian faith, especially at a young age. But due to a series of unlikely events described below, God won my heart.
Growing up as an only child and being naturally introverted, I spent a lot of my free time sketching and painting. I attended a public school in Kyiv where I got to paint with my friends after school.
At age 15 I got a partial scholarship to study in London, the UK, for one year. Even though being away from friends and family was hard, I was able to take an art class as part of my studies and really enjoyed it.
Following my return from London for the last two years of high school, I wanted to continue my education in English, so I did not go back to my Ukrainian school but instead attended an international school where I pursued my International Baccalaureate (IB) along with a US High School Diploma.
After graduating from high school, I was planning to continue my education at one of the universities in the UK. I studied really hard during my high school years, averaging 5 hours of sleep per night during some of the years, all in an attempt to get into a top university. To my delight, I got accepted to one of the top universities in the UK, the University of St. Andrews.
But due to the war and economic downturn in Ukraine in 2014, my high school graduation year, my family wasn’t able to afford education in the UK anymore. So, I could not go.
I was really disappointed. The dream I had worked so hard for was snatched away from me by circumstances outside of my control. I felt lost. So, I started to search for meaning and the purpose of life online.
By God’s providence, I came upon Rick Warren’s TED talk on the topic of purpose. After watching that video, I started to binge-watch all the other videos Rick Warren had about the purpose of life on his YouTube channel. It was that summer after graduating high school that I got saved by watching sermons from Saddleback Church where Rick Warren pastors.
God worked it all out for good, by using my disappointment to drive me closer to Himself and get saved!
Since Germany offered education free of charge, my parents encouraged me to apply to universities there instead. After researching available art programs in Germany and not finding anything I liked, I decided to study Economics – my second favorite subject in high school after art. So, I applied to a university in Berlin.
Since I was the first one among my family and friends to get saved, I felt really lonely in my faith. So, I asked God to bring me to His church family and bring Christian friends into my life. Shortly afterward, I received an acceptance letter from Freie Universität Berlin to study Economics. It just so happened that Saddleback Church had just opened one of its campuses in Berlin shortly before I started my studies there! It felt like God was leading me to that church after all!
After moving to Berlin to study, I started attending Saddleback Church and called it my church home during my five-year-stay in Germany, where I also had the pleasure of meeting Pastor Rick in person twice during his visits to the Berlin campus.
Since I got saved through an online medium, I wanted to give back by helping others to come to know the Lord through an online medium as well.
So, I started writing a Christian blog while studying in Berlin. Six months into blogging, I asked God to bring a young godly man into my life. It was Christmastime and I really felt the weight of singleness and discouragement over not being able to find a godly partner. And God answered my prayer!
Within days my now-husband found me on Instagram, through the Christian blog I was writing! He was from the US, so we started dating online. And besides noticing that I was a Christian in my Instagram profile, James was also attracted to the fact that I was studying Economics – the same as him. So, studying Economics actually helped me to meet my husband, even though he was living on the other side of the world!
We got engaged 3.5 months into long-distance dating and got married one year after our engagement, on May 13, 2017. It was then that James moved from the US to Germany to be with me until I finished my studies. And it was James who encouraged me to pick up the brush and start painting more again after he saw some of my paintings. So, I started to paint more once my university demands subsided.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Economics, and working in Berlin for 8 months, my husband and I moved to the US in March 2020 – right in the middle of a pandemic! And while the move during the pandemic was very stressful with our flights getting canceled, God provided for us and worked things out.
By God’s providence, James was able to find a job in Pennsylvania in the middle of a pandemic. And it was also by God’s providence that I was NOT allowed to work for the first year in the US.
God worked on my heart during that year and showed me that He has called me to paint for His glory. I started creating Bible-inspired art & felt the most fulfilled I have ever felt in my life!
I’m currently painting from the peaceful countryside of Pennsylvania, where I live together with my husband and our cat. I find my inspiration in reading God’s Word every morning and experiencing His glorious nature all around us.
