Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.

The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.
Psalms 121:7


الرَّبُّ يَحْفَظُكَ مِنْ كُلِّ شَرٍّ. يَحْفَظُ نَفْسَكَ.
مزامير 121 : 7

The idea of being in an emergency and having the courage to act and do the right thing in a messy time is hard... And being put in such emergency situations gives us as human beings the courage and experience we need in this life.

I've faced some of these emergencies, including having to call a doctor once, and when I was a little girl I once thought there was a fire and I screamed...But now when there is an emergency, there is just one different thing, I am not a little girl anymore, which means I am supposed to act and do something.

Today we unfortunately had a bad incident in our block that I learnt a lot from, and that's why I am blogging now! A small fire
was caused in the elevator basement, And because we live in the second floor, we were the first people to notice the smell, and act.

I took the initiative to call the fire department, who I didn't even know their number! but before I did that.. I prayed.. I asked God to help us.. which is the number one thing I learnt...Because it was the only way the situation was going to be saved. If there is no protection from God, life would have been full of crisis.

The second thing I did after calling the fire people, was that I hurried down with two small bottles of water. Neighbours told me don't put any water there.. I wonder if they thought I was stupid enough to try to extinguish a fire using two small bottles of water of size 0.75 liters! The water was actually from Anba Antonious Monastery and St Abaskhairoun's church. I kept these two bottles for lots of months, and I drank from them once in a while, and the water smelt good till now, because it's miraculous water, I'm sure you all know the stories of this water.

So I hurried downstairs and gave the bottles to dad
, I told him to spray it in the elevator, he understood what I meant, and sprayed it. It didn't extinguish the fire, but the fire didn't spread to the elevator body nor any wires (which is what I consider a miracle coz wires were all over the bottom of the elevator, that was at the basement at that time). After few minutes, dad put out the fire, using our car's fire extinguisher (Which was the most scary thing about this issue for me was that he was the one acting).

After that, things became fine, regardless of the emotional and psychological shock everyone had.

Now, one of the very good things that happened was how the fire department acted. When I called them, they asked for my name and number and I shouted at the guy, "We have a fire and you're asking for my name and number, it's not the time for this!" but what they did was actually call the police, the ambulance, the electricity company, the governorate, and every other affiliation. The fire department came within 15 minutes (I think that's fast!) and some people even came to investigate. Every instituation I mentioned kept calling us to make sure we're fine and we didn't need anything. They were decent and so respectful. I actually didn't know before that these procedures happen when someone reports a fire but it made me really glad! I didn't thought the fire people will even come!

I once again, thank God , that my dad was home, as well as my uncle, and that many people were here too, and that things were arranged this way to make the situation fine.

I believe everything in life happens for a reason, and I thank God for everything in my life. This fire thing that has happened has showed me, like many times before, that God protects us, even if we don't know or feel this protection...
And that's why I chose that title for this post.

During emergencies, we should have courage and fast action, but most importantly,
our faith is the thing that protects us. Maybe people would think I'm a crazy person to spray saints' water in a fire hoping to extinguish it, but I have faith, and I have enough experience in life that showed me that we can do every possible thing in life, but when we don't ask for God, we won't succeed. Our God is able, He is mighty, and so merciful.

I thank God he gave me courage to put up with this hard situation, I haven't broken down during it, I haven't cried or screamed like when I was a little girl, and I had a clear mind to pray and act. The good side of these tough situations is that we actually see God, we see His hands work before ours, we strengthen our faith and love to Him..

Another issue this specific situation has shown me is that women, on contrary to what many may think, have strength and power and can think fast...Women are now head-to-head with men; they can be as influential and can act sometimes even better than a lot of men.

And now, I like reading one of my favourite psalms from the Holy Bible..
Psalm 91
http://copticchurch.net/cgibin/bible/index.php?r=Psalms+91&version=NKJV&btn=View&showVN=1

مزمور 91

اَلسَّاكِنُ فِي سِتْرِ الْعَلِيِّ فِي ظِلِّ الْقَدِيرِ يَبِيتُ. 2 أَقُولُ لِلرَّبِّ: [مَلْجَإِي وَحِصْنِي. إِلَهِي فَأَتَّكِلُ عَلَيْهِ]. 3 لأَنَّهُ يُنَجِّيكَ مِنْ فَخِّ الصَّيَّادِ وَمِنَ الْوَبَإِ الْخَطِرِ. 4 بِخَوَافِيهِ يُظَلِّلُكَ وَتَحْتَ أَجْنِحَتِهِ تَحْتَمِي. تُرْسٌ وَمِجَنٌّ حَقُّهُ. 5 لاَ تَخْشَى مِنْ خَوْفِ اللَّيْلِ وَلاَ مِنْ سَهْمٍ يَطِيرُ فِي النَّهَارِ 6 وَلاَ مِنْ وَبَأٍ يَسْلُكُ فِي الدُّجَى وَلاَ مِنْ هَلاَكٍ يُفْسِدُ فِي الظَّهِيرَةِ. 7 يَسْقُطُ عَنْ جَانِبِكَ أَلْفٌ وَرَبَوَاتٌ عَنْ يَمِينِكَ. إِلَيْكَ لاَ يَقْرُبُ. 8 إِنَّمَا بِعَيْنَيْكَ تَنْظُرُ وَتَرَى مُجَازَاةَ الأَشْرَارِ. 9 لأَنَّكَ قُلْتَ: [أَنْتَ يَا رَبُّ مَلْجَإِي]. جَعَلْتَ الْعَلِيَّ مَسْكَنَكَ 10 لاَ يُلاَقِيكَ شَرٌّ وَلاَ تَدْنُو ضَرْبَةٌ مِنْ خَيْمَتِكَ. 11 لأَنَّهُ يُوصِي مَلاَئِكَتَهُ بِكَ لِكَيْ يَحْفَظُوكَ فِي كُلِّ طُرْقِكَ. 12 عَلَى الأَيْدِي يَحْمِلُونَكَ لِئَلاَّ تَصْدِمَ بِحَجَرٍ رِجْلَكَ. 13 عَلَى الأَسَدِ وَالصِّلِّ تَطَأُ. الشِّبْلَ وَالثُّعْبَانَ تَدُوسُ. 14 لأَنَّهُ تَعَلَّقَ بِي أُنَجِّيهِ. أُرَفِّعُهُ لأَنَّهُ عَرَفَ اسْمِي. 15 يَدْعُونِي فَأَسْتَجِيبُ لَهُ. مَعَهُ أَنَا فِي الضِّيقِ. أُنْقِذُهُ وَأُمَجِّدُهُ. 16 مِنْ طُولِ الأَيَّامِ أُشْبِعُهُ وَأُرِيهِ خَلاَصِي.

May God bless and protect you all...





4 comments:

Ashraf Bashir said...

QUOTE : " because it's miraculous water, I'm sure you all know the stories of this water."
No :$
What is this water !?

Evronia said...

ok first the water of St Abaskhairoon:

معجزة نقل الكنيسة
هي كنيسة القديس أبسخيرون التي كانت بقلين (بمحافظة كفر الشيخ)، نقلها القديس إلى البيهو بمحافظة المنيا بالصعيد، ولا زالت قائمة إلى اليوم.
+ أعتادوا أهل قلين أن يعينوا ليلة محددة من كل سنه لإقامة عددًا من الزيجات معًا، ربما بسبب صعوبة المواصلات في ذلك الوقت، ولتوافقها بوقت جمع المحاصيل. وفي أحد هذه الاحتفالات إذ كان محدد زواج سبع زيجات وكان بالكنيسة حوالي مائة شخص مجتمعين في الكنيسة ، كان عدو الخير قد أثار المضطهدين عليهم،ولما كانوا قادمين للهجوم على الكنيسة علموا المؤمنين بذلك فأغلقوا ابواب الكنيسة كلها وكانوا يتشفعون دائما بالقديس أبسخيرون شفيع بلدتهم وكنيستهم لكى ينقذهم من أيدى هولاء الاشرار . وفي أثناء الليل قبل أن ينفذ المضطهدون ما في نيتهم نقلت الكنيسة بمن هم فيها إلى البيهو بصعيد مصر وأنتقل معهم بئر المياه والنخلة التى كانت أمام الكنيسة ( ومازال هذا البئر موجود الى الأن امام الكنيسة ومياهة تصنع المعجزات)

http://www.arabchurch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37887

so it's actually a well without a source in the land itself :)

Ashraf Bashir said...

!!!!
wow
!!!!
Thanks Evronia
!!!!

Evronia said...

second, Anba Antonious, it's water from the water spring at the monastery, the famous spring that the egyptian military used to drink from during 1973 war (the one that was in the movie of abona yostos)

here's the story
يوجد بالدير عين ماء رئيسية تنبع من داخل الصخور ؛ وتقدر كمية المياه المنسابة يوميا بحولى مائة متر كعب ؛ وهذا الماء يتدفق ليل نهار بسرعة ثابتة؛ وهى مياة نقية جدا تشبة المياه المعدنية
http://www.amcoptic.com/remodling_monastery_st_antony.htm

download some of my pics for the water spring when I went there:
http://www.4shared.com/file/111028245/1b52113/Anba_antonios.html


ur welcome ashraf :)