Heaven has never tasted so sweet!

I woke up at 3:57 am with a scream and the astonishing realization that it was only a nightmare. I pinched my arm and turned on the light to make sure that I was awake. “Lord, Thank you so much that it’s not reality” I prayed as my right hand reach under my pillow for my cell phoned and dialed Dad’s number in Egypt. “Baba, are you and mom okay?” I asked with a worried voice.

“ Ya, we’re fine. Why are you calling that early? Are you okay?” his voice was slightly becoming more worried.

Sandy, Dad, Mom, and I 

“ Ya. I’m fine. I just had a bad dream and I wanted to make sure you and mama are okay.” I said as I was getting relieved.

“ Don’t worry. We’re all fine here. May God give you peace. Mom and I will pray for you.” Dad said with his usual comforting voice.

“Thanks dad. Sorry for waking you up. Good night”

“No problem. Good night.”

            My dream was something like that. Mom and I were in Egypt, near Tahrir Square, during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. All the protesters crowded around Mubarak’s house and kept shouting, ”If you don’t leave we’ll have to end your life.”  I was a little worried about Mubarak so I asked my mom if they could really kill him. Unfortunately, before my mom was able to even answered my question, we saw millions of people carrying guns, sticks, stones,…etc pushed their way into Mubarak’s house and started fighting. Mom told me that we had to run away so we don’t get hurt. On our way home, we heard the devastating news that Mubarak was dead. I was HEARTBROKEN! What was even more horrifying was the news that mom told me when we reached home. “Your Dad is the one who died” She said. So apparently in my dream My Dad was Mubarak. It might sound funny now, but at 4:00 am before the sun was even out, it would be terrifying. All that I could do after hearing those news was to run in my moms arms and join her in sobbing.  

Thankful for my brother 

After my call to my dad I thanked God for all the people who are present in my life especially for my family and for their health. For the next hour I was laying on my bed thinking of all the different families I know of who lost their loved ones. Just last school year at LSU, before I left to Kenya, about three friends of mine lost a parent. This past Christmas break a friend of mine lost his 23rdish years old brother who got electrocuted by a light pole while driving in the rain. Besides all the deaths that we had after the bombing in Alexandria, just from the Feb 25, 2011 Egyptian revolution about 500 more people died. Thousands of people die and thousands of families are heartbroken everyday. I heard all these stories before but I never really connected to the pain that those families went through. After this nightmare I had a glimpse of how it’s like to lose a loved one. “When will it end Lord? When?” Oh, I was tired of this broken world we live in. Heaven has never tasted so sweet. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” Revelation 21:4

There is a lot of sadness in this world, if not death, there are thousands of other things that can put a person down. I can’t blame God for al these things because I know that He only gives good gifts to his children. “ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:11 In fact I believe that God weeps with those who weeps and when a tear comes down my eye there are hundred tears that come down His eye. “The lord is close to the brokenhearted” Plsams34: 18

But when will He put all these things to an end? When will He come back? I’m not sure when, but I believe that He is coming in His perfect timing. But until then, I know that I can face all these hardships that comes through my way because He gives me the strength I need to face them. And I pray that others would not give up on God because He will NEVER give up on them.