A New Beginning...Once More

A new year is once more upon us and like every year, I pick a promise that God proclaimed in His word and I hold Him to it. Just as I always expect, He hasn't failed me yet.This year He promises "Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 43:19) He will make a way, where there is no way. He will grant hope where there is much despair, peace in-spite of war, joy where there is much sadness, protection and support in the midst of an unpredictable world. His hand will save in a brand new way, that springs forth and catches us off track. He will go above and beyond the possible, turning the deserts of our lives into rivers of abundant blessings in all shapes and forms.

To my surprise however, my Lord started fulfilling His promise a bit earlier this year here in Zambia. I'm sure this has been fulfilled in so many other ways, but I first saw this promise fulfilled at the Coptic hospital in the last few days. With the approach of the new year, came two brand new twin girls. They are the daughters of one of our beloved deacons here and his wife at St. Mark's church in Zambia--his name is David. David's babies were born six weeks pre-mature at 1.4 kilo/each and one of them had pneumonia and couldn't breath on her own. When I saw how everything came into place to save these girls, there was no other possible explanation except that God has been preparing streams for them in this desert all along. A few weeks before their arrival, three new incubators have been donated to the hospital (each at about $60K USD), not to mention, God sent my husband--the only pediatrician here, to Zambia. From the moment they were born, Fady spent every waking moment with them until he trained nurses to continue their care and stay by the girls' side day and night.

Not only was a road paved for them to live, but God sent them a Christmas gift too. A pregnant woman was walking by and saw them and told the nurse, that she was supposed to deliver 6 weeks early but her baby made it to full term and she would donate all the pre-mature baby clothes she bought for her baby to the girls. The girls are doing amazingly well and in a few weeks will get to go home.

I know that the same God who had done great and mighty things for these girls, will continue to work in our lives this new upcoming year. And I know, that like every year, I have one small job to do to see God's glory. "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19)

This way, with our continuous repentance, and the Lord promising to be so near, this year and every year will be a happy new year!

Preparing for The Nativity Of our Lord

Since we are spending this Christmas in Zambia, we did not get to celebrate the western Christmas like we did in the U.S., with a tree, decorations and lots of shopping. But God-willing, we won't miss out on any celebrations of the Nativity of our Lord on January 7th. In fact, I feel myself stopping to think and pray in preparation of the Birth of Christ more than I ever did back home.

While we prepare with praises, prayers and fasting, God the Father, prepared for so long of the birth of His Only Begotten Son. After the fall, God never left Adam and Eve to cover themselves with Fig leaves, instead He began His plan by introducing them to being covered by animal skin, which came from a sacrifice--someone who's innocent dying for those who are not. He then repeated the same idea with Cain and Abel. From then on, the idea of sacrifice was introduced to the people of God, and was always burned offering. Our God then asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son, and after Abraham's obedience, God sends an animal to sacrifice to take the place of Isaac, saving him alive. The signs continue with the people of God, even under the harsh rule of the Egyptians. When God cursed the land of Egypt in their firstborn, the sign of the blood was what saved them. From then on, the people started realizing that blood is tied with salvation and sacrifice is tied with Salvation. The people continued to offer the sacrifice the Passover yearly in remembrance of their salvation from death in Egypt. The people continued throughout the ages to offer sacrifices, placing their hands on the animals to transfer their sin to innocent animals to be forgiven. The Lord was truly preparing his people for the His coming Salvation. (1 Cor 5:7) "For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us"

They began to understand that sin, is a separation from God and if that does not get taken away they can never get closed to God. They knew that the sin was against an unlimited God, therefore the limited animal sacrifices would never be sufficient for Salvation and so they waited. Meanwhile, God gave them many prophesies of the coming of the Messiah like in (Isaiah 53:6) "All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" Until now they know that one sacrifice suffices for one person, but who is that will be a sacrifice to lay upon Him the "iniquity of us all"?

Finally, God now began His preparation for the actual Birth of His Son. He had to choose the virgin that would carry His Son. She must be full of purity, full of patience, full of humility. No one fulfilled these and many more virtues, other than our mother St. Mary. God also prepared the way though St. John the Baptist, one who is also humble enough to say that "He must increase and I must decrease" (John 3:30). He also had to be born of Godly parents like Elizabeth and Zachariah. Finally, He sent His messenger Archangel Gabriel (Meaning "Power of God") to announce the Birth of Christ to St. Mary. God also prepared a saintly man, Joseph, to accept his betrothed to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. Now, in the fullness of time, Christ was born of the virgin, St. Mary. All of these people came together, at the same time, in the fullness of time to prepare for the coming our Lord. May the birth of our Lord always be a blessing to us and a true celebration of a beautiful beginning of the story of our Salvation.

Happy Feast of the Nativity!

H.G. Bishop Boulos

We finally got to see H.G. Bishop Boulos, general bishop of African affairs!  As soon as he arrived, he began his series of talks/prayers that truly became a revival to the service here in Zambia. He also gathered all of the servants for a three-day retreat with him before he left for Kenya. The whole theme of the retreat revolved around how we should live and serve as men and women of God. He celebrated the liturgy with us on Sunday and promised he will be back for Christmas. Can't wait!

Meanwhile, we had to say goodbye to an amazing group of guys from Australia that have been here in Zambia for a mission trip for the past three weeks. We were so blessed to have arrived at the same time they did, and had the chance to build friendships that will last a lifetime. We can see that each one of them was longing for a deeper relationship with our Lord, and by the time they left, it was mission accomplished :)

"In this manner, therefore, pray..." (Matt 6:9)

For so many years, I've been praying, both personal and community prayers but never have I truly experienced prayer, and learned of the true meaning of it until I prayed with the high school youth of Zambia. They truly exemplify St. Paul's teaching when he says "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Phil 4:6). They prayed trusting that God is in their presence and listening to their every cry. They were literally reaching out their hands to Him, believing that He will take it.

Their supplications stirred up something inside of me, I've never felt before in prayer, but it was their repentance in prayer, that brought me to tears. There was about 60 high school youth and all (I mean every single one) were literally following St James' word in his epistle saying "Confess your tresspasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed" (James 5:16) And right then God revealed to me the secret of this blessed land.

His Kingdom

We’ve discovered that living and working here becomes more of a blessing with each passing day. December is “retreat” month here in the Coptic Church of Zambia since all the kids are off from school for Christmas break. So, we will be heading for another retreat next weekend but for now we’ve been working on making an inventory of all the medication and medical supplies being donated to the Coptic Hospital. Our day-to-day services are always new, but no matter what we are working on around here, it is always spiritually fulfilling and wonderfully exciting. It is not so much the work itself but more of the environment in which we are working.

I feel like the environment here is very similar to the one Our Lord lived in. It is a very simple way of living and the Word of God seems to be applied with much more zeal than in the West (generally speaking). For example, last week’s Sunday Gospel was about the rich man and how he could not let go of his riches to follow our Lord. Fr. Mark at St. Mary’s Coptic church in an area called Kenyama, in Lusaka was explaining that it is true that if we have money, our life here on earth can be much easier, but that’s not our goal because “we have a Kingdom to get into”.  That was his message; we have a Kingdom to get into. As simple as that is, I don’t remember the last time that thought crossed my mind. But around here, that’s all that occupies the minds of the Coptic Christians of Zambia.

 When I did my quiet time today, I liked one specific verse that says “that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” (1 Thess 2:12) I’ve seen this verse lived out by Fr. Mark and many Christians here in Zambia and I pray that God guides us to do just that.

In Zambia

We got here! It took us longer than we thought but by God's Grace, we made it to Zambia last Thursday, and what a few days it has been. A week of culture shock and many surprises that come with it, but it also has been a week of many wonderful experiences. When we got here we were surprised at the welcome we got. We were picked up by the church driver, Simon, a Zambian young man who drove us back to St Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Lusaka. 

When we got there, we expected to be greeted by Zambian people, but on the contrary, most of the people that we first met were Egyptian. The group of servants we met, consists of doctors and their families who have given their life to live and work in Zambia for minimal wages (that's worldly of course). The warmth and instant love we felt cannot be described in words. With their help, we quickly settled in our room. Although it was hot, and I couldn't really get rid of all of the bugs in our room, I slept more peacefully than I ever had in my life. The next morning we joined the kids in the Coptic school for Orphans here in Zambia for their Christmas party and the last day of school. These kids really touched our hearts. The smiles were endless, and no sadness was anywhere among the over 200 children. Not because they had many Christmas gifts or there was a program planned for them but simply because they were together. We had a beautiful day listening to them sing in their native tongue of Nianja.

The very next morning, Fr. Abraham, the priest at St. Mark's church, invited us to join him and the rest of the servants on a youth retreat. Although we were a bit nervous at first, we accepted and packed our bags once more and headed to a village not too far from the church called Kenyama. It was a weekend of prayers and singing where we really felt the presence of God's Holy Spirit among us.

I can't believe it has only been four days...I wish I can grab time and slow it down.