A Week…Away!

Last week Leila was away at la granja (a school camp at a farm), and Farida had to go through these days alone at home. I wrote last year what this meant to her (and us) being separated that long. We felt that something was missing, a more silent dinner time not having the talkative Leila on the table with us to share with you an example. Not easy, but we knew she was enjoying, learning and growing, which kept us waiting for her come back full of stories. One morning in the kitchen, Farida was setting up the table, all was ready for her breakfast except that I saw two cups.
“Why two Farida?”
She looked surprised:
“Oops, I mistakenly got a cup for Leila too. I was just thinking about her and came automatically!. I´ll put it back”
…Only then I realised what “Being One” really means!

Farida so used to have her sister at breakfast, starting their chats (and fights) that early in the day, she was thinking how much she missed that moment. What a great feeling to have someone on your mind to the extent of feeling his presence when he´s not there. That exactly was THE power of David throughout his days…He shared with us his secret recipe:

I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. (Psalm 16:8 AMP)
جَعَلتُ الرَّبَّ أمامي في كُلِّ حينٍ، لأنَّهُ عن يَميني فلا أتَزَعزَعُ. (16 المَزاميرُ:8 )

How amazing life would be having our days, like Leila and Farida´s breakfast, start with a chat with our Heavenly Father and continues with you the whole day. A moment that gets so into your schedule that you really do miss Him if you skip it…and that He is set always before your eyes, becomes part of your thoughts, emotions in all aspects of your day, ask His guidance and wisdom at work, ask His strength at sports, ask Kindness during your family time and His heart during your service. Seek to become ONE…inseparable…like twins growing up all their days together. Jesus Last Prayer in the Last supper was all about becoming One :

You are in me and I am in you. I pray that they can also be one in us (John 17:21 ERV)
ليكونَ الجميعُ واحِدًا، كما أنَّكَ أنتَ أيُّها الآبُ فيَّ وأنا فيكَ، ليكونوا هُم أيضًا واحِدًا فينا، ليؤمِنَ العالَمُ أنَّكَ أرسَلتَني. (17 يوحَنا:21 )

Dear Lord, I need you every hour, come Fill our days with your love, pour your Spirit upon us, Pull us to you to become One. I kneel with heart Hungry and Thirsty for this relation…Being One as you prayed…Keeping my eyes on you as David…and reaching a love that would make me REALLY Miss you when I keep away…even just for a day! In Jesus Name, Amen!

Will you bring Him a cup at Your Prayer´s breakfast table?

Keep Shining my friends!

Are We There Yet?!

Last weekend, we spent couple of days by the sea. It was a 4 hours drive with the kids in the back seat. I guess now you can imagine the most frequent question asked during these rides…you guessed it right “Are we there yet?”. However something have changed this time, I expected to get this question every 5 minutes as they used to do when they were younger, but surprisingly the time gap between the questions was getting substantially bigger. Now, being 7 years old, they developed a more “mature” perception, they are now able to WAIT AND TRUST that journeys take time and reaching our destination requires more patience. Still, the question popped up every 15 minutes

smile emoticon

They now get ready for the journey with books and games or even stories to tell deciding to ENJOY THE RIDE and leaving it trustfully in the hands of the driver.

No wonder our Spiritual life is no stranger to this reality. Waiting for the Lord is a journey of maturity and trust. Being a child in faith, our focus is only on the destination, the goal of our prayers. Throughout the bible, Waiting has been a virtue of all God´s men and women. From Joseph in prison, David and his beautiful psalms of waiting (Psalm 27:14 and 37:7), even the disciples, Jesus ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem and WAIT for the promise of The Father (Acts 1:4). They spent their time in prayers, They all learned that time of waiting is time of solidifying their relationship with our Heavenly Father, a time of change and may be reshaping their goals and perspectives, a time to mature and grow stronger in trust, giving the Holy Spirit the space to renew their strength and spread their wings like eagles.

"But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. (Isaiah 40:31 AMP)
وأمّا مُنتَظِرو الرَّبِّ فيُجَدِّدونَ قوَّةً. يَرفَعونَ أجنِحَةً كالنُّسورِ. يَركُضونَ ولا يتعَبونَ. يَمشونَ ولا يُعيونَ. (40 إشَعياءَ:31 AVDDV)

Dear Heavenly Father, give me strength to wait and trust, a faith that grows by time, like my daughter maturing with years, I shall grow along with you…and learn to enjoy my ride of life with You, knowing that times are in your Hands and the journey´s joy will over shadow my goal focused self. Take us to a new level of Waiting, Spread our wings to a new level of Trust, and may we every morning grow hope in You.

Don’t keep your patience of a child…Wait on Him, Enjoy the Ride!

Reality TV

Real Life Contest shows made their way on TV few years ago and made it BIG…from “The Voice” to “Arabs Got Talent” going up to Cooking contest like “Masterchef”. The success of these shows gave them the courage to push further the audience and go for “Kids” version of these shows. We´ve been the past weeks every Friday evening sitting in front of the TV with Leila and Farida waiting and watching “Master Chef Junior” where a bunch of 8 to 12 years old are amazingly creating artful and mouth watering dishes and recipes from scratch…making Aline and I feel ashamed of our kitchen skills. This show left its mark on the kids during the weekend as suddenly they became interested in the Cuisine and just want to make sure they can help making our meals ready. Leila told literally “Can you leave us today prepare the whole breakfast for you and Ma…we saw Mario (an 11 year old contestant in the cooking show) doing it and we can do it as well.” I Fell in love with the Show…it created Role Models that made them BELIEVE they can make it too, showed them possible for a young kid to invent and create amazing Michelin Star level Plates…not mentioning the many times they asked us to apply for the contest! They found their models who expanded their borders of capabilities!

I thank God that our lives were not left without Spiritual Role Models to follow. We believe that faith, teachings and righteousness are just good ideology too hard to put in practice but we were given the model of obedience in Abraham, the model of perseverance in Job, of facing temptation in Joseph, of repentance in David, of service in Mary, of overcoming a fall in Peter and many more heroes of faith in the bible that make us BELIEVE that we can make it too. But on top of all, we have seen THE Role Model to follow showing us THE way of Life, love and sacrifice for the others. Jesus was clear in setting for us a Model to imitate and asked us to follow, He did set before us an example to walk in His footprints…a model bringing more LIGHT to this darkening earth and give taste in this SALT-less world.

“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an EXAMPLE that you should do as I have done for you. (John 13:13-15 NIV)
أنتُمْ تدعونَني مُعَلِّمًا وسَيِّدًا، وحَسَنًا تقولونَ، لأنّي أنا كذلكَ. فإنْ كُنتُ وأنا السَّيِّدُ والمُعَلِّمُ قد غَسَلتُ أرجُلكُمْ، فأنتُمْ يَجِبُ علَيكُمْ أنْ يَغسِلَ بَعضُكُمْ أرجُلَ بَعضٍ، لأنّي أعطَيتُكُمْ مِثالًا، حتَّى كما صَنَعتُ أنا بكُمْ تصنَعونَ أنتُمْ أيضًا. (13 يوحَنا:13-15 )

Dear God, I thank you for giving us a Role model of Love, forgiveness, and sacrifice lived here on Earth, you showed us through your Holy Spirit how many women and men of God walked this earth in reverence and full trust in your guiding loving Hands. Problems, disasters, waves, losses and much more were overcome by faith. Open our heart to receive Your power and Expand our borders of capabilities to bring the Light and Salt to the world! In Jesus Name, Amen!

Reality TV showed a way…Jesus paved THE way! 

Keep Shining my friends!

A Shameless CV

Writing your CV forces you to go through the trail of your professional life putting the details for the employer to read. Of course, you try to make it as attractive as possible, yet you know that there are some experiences/jobs you wouldn’t like being asked about. They are your weak points lacking the success you wanted them to have. You try to avoid expanding much on it, so couple of lines are enough for you. I believe our life´s CV as well has its weak moments to hide, its not-ready-to-talk-about incidents, its failures and SHAMES not worthy telling others about. We do our best keeping our self image in the eyes of others intact as perfect as our CV.

Now let´s meet this disabled man at the pool of bethesda (John 5:1-15), crippled for the past 38 years, lying in his bed waiting to be helped by someone. He obviously lost all hope and got so used to his weakness to the point that when Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed and walk again, he did not say the obvious “YES” but started telling Jesus why it has been impossible for him to get healed, giving him the EXCUSES that kept him this way (John 5:7). 

هذا رآهُ يَسوعُ مُضطَجِعًا، وعَلِمَ أنَّ لهُ زَمانًا كثيرًا، فقالَ لهُ: «أتُريدُ أنْ تبرأ؟». أجابَهُ المَريضُ: «يا سيِّدُ، ليس لي إنسانٌ يُلقيني في البِركَةِ مَتَى تحَرَّكَ الماءُ. بل بَينَما أنا آتٍ، يَنزِلُ قُدّامي آخَرُ». (‭5‬ ‮يوحَنا‬:‭6-7‬ )

I surely see myself in him, losing hope in overcoming a weakness, or a failure. Jesus didn’t discuss his excuses, He healed him and gave a him a strange specific order:

Jesus said to him, Get up! Pick up your bed (sleeping pad) and walk! (‭John‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬ AMP)

قالَ لهُ يَسوعُ: «قُمِ. احمِلْ سريرَكَ وامشِ». (‭5‬ ‮يوحَنا‬:‭8‬ )

Instead of leaving his sign of weakness behind and walk around (after 38 years lying in a bed), he was asked to go with his bed in hand. Jesus did´t not throw his bed away…it was a meant to be Order. What used to be a failure, a cripple and a sign of shame was turned into a sign of victory, healing and powerful demonstration of God´s miraculous power in transforming lives and enabling powers...WOW! His moment of weakness on his CV became the most important part to talk about…only because he PERSONALLY met the one who turned it from shame to glory.

Lord, here I am putting in Your hands all my weaknesses and failures, I pray that through Your loving heart and healing Spirit they turn into tools for your glory, and events to Shine Your Name further. I believe that I am not created to stay crippled, but my crippling will turn to victory when I come and accept you changing the life I am used to for years, even if 38 years or more. Open my heart to BELIEVE in Change, stop my excuses, rewrite my soul´s CV shameless. In Jesus Name, AMEN!

Your soul CV´s weaknesses are your moments of VICTORY…only when you stop excuses and PUT them in His HANDS!

Keep shining my friends!

لسي-ڤي

نضطر عند كتابه السيرة الذاتيه CV الي استرجاع تاريخنا المهني ، وتدوين كل تفاصيله
 ونبذل جهداً كبيراً لتظهر بالمظهر اللائق الذي نتمناه، وبقدر ما توجد وظائف نفخر بها و نود ان نظهرها .. فإن هناك ما نخجل من ان نُسأل عنه و نود لو نتجنبه ..و بقدر الامكان ان نخفيه
تلك الفترات التي تخلو من النجاح .. و نقاط الضعف التي لا نبغي ذكرها  
وفي حياتنا نفس اللحظات .. لحظات السقوط و الخجل .. و العار
و اذ نسعي ان تظهر صورتنا كاملة بلا اخطاء في عيون الاخرين .. تظل سقطاتنا عائقاً دون ذلك 

و عندها تذكرت تلك الكلمات التي قالها يسوع المسيح للرجل المطروح بمرض لمده ثمان و ثلاثون عاماً 
 هذا رآهُ يَسوعُ مُضطَجِعًا، وعَلِمَ أنَّ لهُ زَمانًا كثيرًا، فقالَ لهُ: «أتُريدُ أنْ تبرأ؟». أجابَهُ المَريضُ: «يا سيِّدُ، ليس لي إنسانٌ يُلقيني في البِركَةِ مَتَى تحَرَّكَ الماءُ. بل بَينَما أنا آتٍ، يَنزِلُ قُدّامي آخَرُ
 "قالَ لهُ يَسوعُ: «قُمِ. احمِلْ سريرَكَ وامشِ"

انني اري نفسي مكانه .. بعد يأس من التغلب علي الضعف و السقطات ، .. و تقديم الاعذار و الاسباب .. و التي لم يسمعها يسوع او يهتم بها
و انما قدم شفاء كاملاً بلا مقابل .. " قم " انما " احمل سريرك و امشي
و بدلاً من ان تترك علامة مرضك و ضعفك .. احملها معك و امشي بها
لان تلك اللحظات في حياتك .. التي تسميها ضعفاً وهزيمة... هي في الحقيقة لحظات انتصارك العظمي
فقط عندما تتوقف عن تقديم الاعذار
و تضعها بين يدي الله

 وها انا يا سيدي .. لم اخلق لأعيش مشلولاً مقيداً في ضعفي .. و انما اضع بين يديك ضعفاتي وسقطاتي .. متشفعاً بقلبك المحب و روحك الشافيه ان تحولها .. من سقطات الي ادوات .. لمجدك

 سيدي .. اعِد صياغه .. سيرتي .. وحياتي 

!خلينا منورين