Egypt – #97

Egypt.

How do I put such an incredible trip into a short blog post? How can I express what my heart feels in a way that you can understand?

Have you ever been in my shoes?

Where you want to outwardly express what you inwardly feel, but no word can quite capture it.
No amount of color will do it justice.

Emotions, thoughts, relationships, growth, satisfaction and longing are all intertwined like a marvelous tapestry into this experience of Egypt. 

My soul took another step into life with Christ on this trip – love for him, surrender to him, delight in him, obedience to him, awe of him.

I am forever grateful.

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My role was a women’s health clinician. In other years, I have seen patient after patient, but this year, for whatever reason, there were only a few women needing to be seen. This allowed for unexpected downtime.

But in the downtime, God was there.

He was there in the intimate conversations with teamworkers. He was there in the sitting down over tea with people I could not speak with and yet, we managed and enjoyed each other’s presence. He was there in the silly games that brought young and old, American and Egyptian, together on level playing fields. He was there as we entered homes, heard life stories and laid hands on people. 

God was also in the hustle. 

He was there as we walked through the dirt streets of the village and the crowded streets of the St. George Festival. He was there as we gathered for meals and devotions as a team. He was there as we made friendships with Egyptian ministry partners. He was there as we saw sick children and farmers with chronic pain. He was there as our team went into the school and met with teachers, praying over them and encouraging them. He was there as Abuna Daniel and Abuna Abrahem ministered to the people of the village. 

He even was there as I climbed on the back of a motorbike, holding the shoulders of a man I didn’t know, and tipped my head back in laughter as we rode around the village.

God was in the big moments of worship services and in the quiet moments on the rooftop alone. 

And not only was God there, God was working.

He is always working. 

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Sometimes we have to let go of our agendas and expectations and just let God work.

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Our last day in the village was Sunday. When we got to the village, we were taken upstairs to the roof. Although it was open air, it had a thatch roof made from palm branches. It overlooked the village. In essence, it was an upper room. We then sang praises to the Lord, I led a short devotion about the last supper and then we partook of holy communion. 

Our hearts were in humble awe of God as we recognized what we were doing and envisioned Jesus doing the same with his disciples. The presence of God was thick like honey in that space and we were all overwhelmed with thanksgiving for what our Savior had done for us. 

After leaving the village for the last time, we were on the bus ride back to the guesthouse and we were kind of overtaken with a spirit of praise. We started singing worship song after worship song. 

We wanted to continue when we got back to the guesthouse, but it was almost 11:00pm and there was a quiet rule, so we decided to take our worship down to the Nile. So on a little balcony beside the waters of the Nile, we worshiped our God and King. And yet again a spirit of prayer and praise overtook us and we were speaking blessing over the people and city of Luxor. We even drew a crowd of locals who listened and took videos and probably thought we Americans were crazy. 

But there was no craziness in us, just the Holy Spirit flowing out of us. 

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God is in the big moments and the small.

Our response is worship.

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Again, to sum up this trip in words just isn’t possible, but here’s what I can say –

Because of God’s work within me, I am forever changed. 

I am more in love with my Savior than I was yesterday.

I want people of every tribe and tongue and language to be with me in heaven for eternity.

I am even more humbled that God would allow me to come alongside Him in kingdom work. 

Even more, I want to live my life to praise Him and bring glory to His name. 

Whatever God has ahead for me, I’m in.

“Oh how sweet, how sweet it is, to trust in you, Jesus.” Honey in the Rock.