Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Categories
- All Categories 13.8K
- General Category 10.9K
- General Announcements 184
- Faith Issues 3.4K
- Coptic Orthodox Church 2.5K
- Personal Issues 1.4K
- Prayer Requests 423
- Random Issues 1.8K
- Introductions 294
- Non-Orthodox Inquiries 232
- Youth Corner 606
- Hymns 2.5K
- Hymns Discussion 2.5K
- Technicial Difficulties 368
- Technical Topics 368
Seek Advice - Engagement
God bless all firstly... I am new here and am not good at introductions... I wouldn't know where to begin... so please forgive me for jumping right into posting. :)
I am posting because I seek the advice of others regarding a very sensitive situation concerning an engaged friend of mine. I APOLOGIZE for how long the posting is, but, it is a very sensitive situation.
I presently live in America and am a Copt, but, my family has lived here a long time, so, I am pretty much ignorant as to the culture in Egypt having been born and raised in the Usa.
My engaged friend was born and raised in Upper Egypt. About 2 years ago got engaged in Egypt to a distant female cousin. About one year ago my friend met a non-Egyptian girl and started a relationship with her.
Everyone here knows that he is engaged and does not approve that he is being deceitful to his engaged in Egypt with this other girl here.
I have spoken to him several times about him breaking this relationship and being honest with the girl he is engaged with before they marry, but, he refuses to do this and says that he will not be with any other women other than his wife after he marries.
I feel VERY BAD for the girl he is engaged to... I have spoken to her on the phone several times and she seems so sweet and innocent. I also get very angry because this girl has no idea what my friend is doing to her over here in America.
The situation gets more complicated because all of his friends and work companions know the girl he is in a relationship with since they are together almost every day. I worry that once he marries in Egypt and the girl comes to America that one day someone will make the mistake of mentioning his relationship with the other girl and bring so much shame upon this innocent girl.
She doesn't deserve this and I think that he does not truely love her. I think he cares alot for the girl he is in a relationship now and is only getting married later next year in Egypt in order not to create a scandal with the family of the girl he is engaged to and especially in not disappointing his mother. If he had met the girl he is presently in a relationship with before his engagement, I am sure he would have married her.
He would not be with her every day, constantly calling her and worrying about her if he did not have some kind of love for the girl.
I feel very bad inside because I can see what will come from marrying this girl and it is not good. First, he will go into the marriage with a lie and will not confess it to God because he knows his Abouna will force him to tell the girl. Second, if he truly loved the girl and was serious about marriage he would not allow for everyone to see him in his present relationship.
I don't know what else to say to him... As a woman I feel bad for the girl he is engaged to, but, I just don't want to this girl in a loveless marriage and have to face the humiliation of coming to America and finding out the truth about his current relationship... because as Jesus said there is nothing hidden that will not be brought out into the light and no secret that will not be revealed....
What advise do all of you have concerning this situation?
I pray that God touch the heart of my friend and that he does what is right in this situation.
Anxiously await advice on this matter...
God bless all
I am posting because I seek the advice of others regarding a very sensitive situation concerning an engaged friend of mine. I APOLOGIZE for how long the posting is, but, it is a very sensitive situation.
I presently live in America and am a Copt, but, my family has lived here a long time, so, I am pretty much ignorant as to the culture in Egypt having been born and raised in the Usa.
My engaged friend was born and raised in Upper Egypt. About 2 years ago got engaged in Egypt to a distant female cousin. About one year ago my friend met a non-Egyptian girl and started a relationship with her.
Everyone here knows that he is engaged and does not approve that he is being deceitful to his engaged in Egypt with this other girl here.
I have spoken to him several times about him breaking this relationship and being honest with the girl he is engaged with before they marry, but, he refuses to do this and says that he will not be with any other women other than his wife after he marries.
I feel VERY BAD for the girl he is engaged to... I have spoken to her on the phone several times and she seems so sweet and innocent. I also get very angry because this girl has no idea what my friend is doing to her over here in America.
The situation gets more complicated because all of his friends and work companions know the girl he is in a relationship with since they are together almost every day. I worry that once he marries in Egypt and the girl comes to America that one day someone will make the mistake of mentioning his relationship with the other girl and bring so much shame upon this innocent girl.
She doesn't deserve this and I think that he does not truely love her. I think he cares alot for the girl he is in a relationship now and is only getting married later next year in Egypt in order not to create a scandal with the family of the girl he is engaged to and especially in not disappointing his mother. If he had met the girl he is presently in a relationship with before his engagement, I am sure he would have married her.
He would not be with her every day, constantly calling her and worrying about her if he did not have some kind of love for the girl.
I feel very bad inside because I can see what will come from marrying this girl and it is not good. First, he will go into the marriage with a lie and will not confess it to God because he knows his Abouna will force him to tell the girl. Second, if he truly loved the girl and was serious about marriage he would not allow for everyone to see him in his present relationship.
I don't know what else to say to him... As a woman I feel bad for the girl he is engaged to, but, I just don't want to this girl in a loveless marriage and have to face the humiliation of coming to America and finding out the truth about his current relationship... because as Jesus said there is nothing hidden that will not be brought out into the light and no secret that will not be revealed....
What advise do all of you have concerning this situation?
I pray that God touch the heart of my friend and that he does what is right in this situation.
Anxiously await advice on this matter...
God bless all
Comments
If he really loves this American and truly wants to marry her (although that may present some conflicts with his family and may pull him away from church), he must break it off with his fiance in Egypt. Although this may cause a "scandal," it would be far worse if he ended up marrying the Egyptian girl and then either 1) leaving her for this other girl or 2) the Egyptian girl finds out that his love lies elsewhere.
I'm also curious to know if your friend's parents know about this....and if they don't, maybe a casual mention saying something like "wow...he sure is on the phone with (insert American's name here) a lot" might clue them in.
In any case, there are 2 definite things you can do.
1) PRAY that this situation is resolved in the best way possible for everyone
2) ask your father of confession about what you should do and actually do that. FOCs have much more experience with these things than we do and can be very helpful.
Best of luck and God bless you for caring about the parties involved.
As his friend I think you should insist and compel him to see a priest in order to get some kind of counseling for this troubling situation.Marriage is serious and should not be entered into lightly.I dont mean to offend anyone,I know the Eygptian culture is quite different than that of modern day America but I really believe that if a person gets married just to please his family or because its expected of him by his social community, this act is wrong and very close to being a sin. If you enter into a marriage without love you are sinning against that person.You are denying them the very thing that makes marriage so precious and one of Gods greatest gifts .Your turning this indescribable blessing into something little more than a contract between two parties,two families.A marriage of convenience.A loveless marriage based on the pride and ego of family prestige and not one that is built upon the foundation of GODS CHOICE.God puts two people together,not human beings.If you say a person can only marry one ethnic group or one person approved by the family,you limit God,and you may indeed be hindering the fulfillment of a blessed union ordained and chosen by God.Read the book of Solomon if you want to know what a marriage should be like.True marriage should be one of all consuming love,full of passion and desire{within Godly boundries of course}. Not a dry partnership of convenience.If you enter such a union,beware,you more than likely will experience much trouble and heartache,and it can last for the rest of your life{unless God helps you grow in love,He can, and will do it but it doesnt always happen }.
As his friend you need to make sure he gets help to straighten out this mess before its too late causing damage that could last a lifetime.Do it for his sake as well as his future bride.
God bless you.I hope you can use something I said to help you.Just remember a true friend,as the Bible says,sometimes has to say things that are hard.It is the false friend and flatterer that will not speak words of truth,who doesnt warn his friend when he sees him walking the path that leads to harm and destruction.
Honestly, I think he cares deeply for the American girl. I can see she is always on his mind and if he didn't have some form of love for her he would have gotten bored with her after a few months and looked for another woman... but, so far they have been together for a year.
My friends parents have no idea about this as they live in Upper Egypt. I am 100% sure that if his father ever knew the truth that he would not want to see his sons face ever again. He is a very strict Copt from what I have heard. I have thought about speaking to his mom since she seems more open, but, my Arabic is horrible and I might mix my words up and say something in a wrong way.
I don't know about speaking to my FOC since my friend has stopped going to church for over 2 years. The only thing I can think of is in speaking to the Abouna who conducted the engagement ceremony of my friend in Upper Egypt, who is also his FOC. This would be very hard since I am born and raised in the Usa, my Arabic is horrible and I have no idea which church my friend was engaged in and if I ask him, he may not tell me the truth out of suspicion.
I pray too much about this situation and appreciate your best wishes.
God bless
------------------------------
jfranklin, thanks as well... Believe me I have tried to get him to speak to his Abouna in Upper Egypt, but, he won't do it. As a woman I am sure that if the man I was engaged to cheated on me with another woman, I would not continue with the engagement and this is exactly what my friend is afraid of... plus, in the girl being "family"... A "distant cousin"... It would create alot of problems between the two families as they live in the same town.
I agree about how horrible "marriages of convenience or contracts" are and in talking to my friends room-mate, the room-mate seems to think that it is a case of "far away love" and that since his engaged is in Egypt and he is in America that once he marries and his wife is here with him, that he will forget all other women. The room-mate thinks my friend loves his engaged, but, as a woman, from my viewpoint... If you truly love someone you would rather hurt yourself first before doing something to hurt the one you love.
You're 100% right in that a true friend sometimes has to say hard things and this is another problem. My friend does not like to listen to anyone and does whatever he wants. He is like a child at times and will say "khalas" and can stay in a bad mood or avoid for days ppl who are trying to counsel him. I tell him that this attitude will be a disaster in a marriage, for he can't go away for several days and ignore his wife when they fight. Plus, the girl he will marry is very young (22... he is 29) and has the mentality of a child (can't cook... spoiled by parents...etc.), so this another thing that does not show well for this coming marriage.
God bless you as well.
--------------------------------
cremedelescremes... thnx also... I know how you feel totally. Sometimes even within the Coptic community over here there is too much of this "what will other ppl think" mentality. This is the problem of my friend... He especially is worried about his mom (who he loves more than anyone else in this world), because as he has said to me "If I break engagement, I can never go back to my hometown or see my mom... My engaged and her family would never forgive me and also I have let the engagement go on too long for 2 years causing ppl there to talk. If I break the engagement, the girl may be sick over this, plus it will make it hard for this girl to ever get engaged again, as ppl will think something is wrong with her for me to break engagement or she did something wrong. Plus, it would kill me never to be able to see my mom again and it will be too much guilt for me."
This is what like you, gets me angry... I know as Copts we are close to family and our communities, but, sometimes the influence the family and community holds over our lives is too much and can often lead ppl to make decisions based more on "honor, what will our neighbors thinks... and so on" instead of will this be for the good of all or will it hurt others? This attitude can ruin futures and creates unhappy marriages (of which I have seen too many of within our community... No matter how many conservatives will say that there is a low divorce rate among Copts... Guilt and family pressure often are the reasons for ppl staying in unhappy marriages... I know I know... I can imagine the replies I will get for saying this... but, many of you know this is true).
I agree that someone needs to tell his parents about this and the girl must know... but, I don't know if this would be going too far from my side of things. As a woman I think his engaged has the right to know before the gossip reaches her ears in America about his present relationship. I pray that if he cannot talk to his FOC about this, that he at least speaks to his engaged one on one and sees what will happen and what she will decide.
I am just scared of the consequences later after he marries... Nothing in this life can be kept a secret forever. My friend thinks that once he marries he will forget the American girl and only focus on his wife. That his present relationship will be a part of his past and no one needs to know. I pray that is so, but, there are many ppl with envy in their hearts who are only too happy to spread gossip and cause a marriage to break-up. I just hope this doesn't happen to my friend and his soon to be wife.
I don't think it will be so easy for my friend to forget the American girl. Plus, he is not even a citizen yet so after going to Egypt for 3 months, he will come back without his wife and this is where I fear the trouble really will start.
----------------
One last thing, my friends uncle (mom's brother) just died last night and I think that he will go to Egypt before this New Years Eve. From what I have been told, this means that maybe his wedding will be postponed anywhere from 6 months to a year (he was planning on marrying in February 2005), but, in his planning to leave before the New Year, I don't know if his family and the girls family will make an exception and go through with the wedding earlier than planned since the engagement has gone on for too long. (This would be horrible... and makes me anxious... Please PRAY that my friend comes to his senses and does the right thing.)
I am feeling sick about this whole thing...
Sorry for yet another LONG post... God bless all
You're a very wise woman, and this young man is very lucky{blessed}to have you as his friend.Do not be anxious or worried,cast your care upon the Lord,for He cares for you.How proud the Heavenly Father must be when He looks upon you,his precious daughter,as he sees your love and compassion for this wayward son of His.Trust in the LORD.He will give you wisdom and guidance."If any of you lacks wisdom,let him ask God,who gives generously to all without reproach,and it will be given him",James:1:5. The Lord may want you to be actively involved or He may tell you to stand back.Do what He tells you.All will be well.This young man needs an attitude adjustment{repentance}before any good can come out of this situation.God may have to discipline the young man,to open his eyes and help him turn from this dangerous and sinful path.But you keep on loving,praying,trusting.God will not fail you! Ha! It's impossible for God to fail!He is perfect.He does all things well! He hears you .He sees your heart.
God bless you.May God give each and everyone of us, a friend like MyrnaMar. :)
ok so first of all i'd like to say.. WELCOME TO OUR SITE!!! its beautifull u'll love it.. if ur not already..lol
ok so this situation is very very sad.. the guy abviously has lost his feelings for the EGY girl.. if he ever loved or liked here.. but i feel so sad 4 her.. but he's getting married when he goes back right?? like be4 new years??
thats wut i got.. i'm slow and stupid so correct me if i'm wrong myrna.. ok so from my understanding he's going back and marrying her.. and he told u that everything will change once he gets married.. so now is he gonna leave that American girl bcz he's getting married???
tell ur friend to start talking to u.. u kno.. i mean like nice and calmly and stuff u kno wut i mean?? i kno ur such a sweet girl and may God help u through this..
HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! :-*
myrna welcome to the site again and feel free to talk abt wutever u want.. i kno i do.. if u haven't noticed i'm a lil crazy.. lol.. and stupid.. lol :-* :-* :-*
u seem like a woderfull person :-* :-* :-*
Rina ;)
Quit calling yourself "crazy and stupid"...lol ;D...
I know your very intelligent and I know your not crazy...lol...Your a great girl;a very sweet person.So stop talking bad about yourself,your making me madddddd >:(...lol....just kidding ;) Seriously Marina,your a wonderful person!
That is what I have to say, but again I really stress that he meets a psychologist.... whomever he chooses to marry, also needs to go with him and see a psychologist... much cheaper to see a priest, but since he ceased to go to church, a shrink would work. also a Christian psychologist would be great, because through the psychologist, he will get back to church, and he will know what he is doing is wrong... so hitting two birds with one stone
God bless
-----------------
jfranklin... I wish I were as wise as you say or as good of a friend. I thank you for your kind words. If I were truly wise I could convince my friend of the wrong he is doing. Of course you can be sure I will trust in that the Lord will make his will be done and like it or not my friend will one day have to suffer the consequences of his actions. I just hope his attitude adjustment (repentance) comes first and he will come clean about what he has done so he can start to do some damage control and ask for the forgiveness of those he has hurt.
God bless
-------------------
Rina_07... thanks for the Welcome, much appreciated. :) My friend due to his uncles death was planning on going before New Years to Egy... He said this, but, in the past day or two has not mentioned it again so I don't know what he is thinking now.
You are not stupid or slow... I write LONG posts and it is only logical to get lost in my babble of words. LOL
I will continue talking to him nice and calmy as you say and hopefully God will make him see he has to do the right thing.
Yalla, don't keep saying you are stupid... but, from my experience only a humble person that is good at heart will say such things about themselves. ;)
God bless
--------------
socoolbishoy... Hmmm... a shrink. He will definitely NOT go. If he is already terrified of regular doctors, he'll never go to a shrink. lol
I don't know why you think the girl is white (she isn't) that my friend is involved with. I only said she is American. ;)
True, an Abouna is alot cheaper than a shrink, but, I think the guilt my friend feels is what is keeping him from going. I always tell him, "Jesus, no matter how many times we fall away and sin... Jesus, always, always, if our hearts are truly sorry will forgive us our sins. Just as he said in the bible that he will forgive our sins innumerable amounts of times. Forgiveness is there always if the heart truly is sorry.", but, my friends faith is lacking and it makes him angry (because it's true) when I tell him this...
God bless
---------
I've been praying and praying and my heart is telling me to try and contact one of the local churches where my friend is from and speak/write to an Abouna privately about what is going on. My mom says She will be my translator...
Anyone know the addresses to any local churches in Abnoub (in Assiut Governate)? If it is God's will this will bring a resolution to this situation.
God bless all in these forums :)
I too am new to this site, but I have been reading some of the things on here and you guys are great. I love that every single one of you guys seem so sweet and you want to help. I wish this forum keeps going for a very long time and God bless every single one of you.
This in fact is a serious problem, but I see that there is actually more then one problem that needs to be addressed. First off if your friend hasn't gone to church in over 2 years then talking to him from the Orthodox stand point will not convince him. He now wants to live in this world and be apart of this world’s customs. So the first thing you need to do is get him to start going to church. I think if he starts doing that God will guide him in his second problem. Okay, now why does he not go to church? Did someone upset him? Does he not like the people? Does he not like Abouna? He can't wake up early on Sundays? There has to be a reason of why he doesn't want to go to church, and I’m sure if you find it out and start convincing him to go to church he will realize that what he is doing is wrong.
And he doesn't need to go to church every week, maybe once a month. Then maybe you can read the bible with him read and interest him in it. There are a lot of great ways to get him involved.
Then when that step is done you can move on too the next step about the second problem. There must be a reason why he likes this American girl so much. Honestly I think there are two reasons. The first reason is that she probably gives him a lot of attention that he can't get from the girl that he is engaged to in Egypt. Because we are all human we are very faltered when someone gives us attention. It's only natural. And she has obviously gave him a feeling that he can't live without and that he didn't get with his fiancé. Because sorry to say this American girls will be more loose then a girl from Egypt who would probably be to embarrassed to tell him "I love you" even though this would be her future husband. And that is understandable because Egyptian girls are shy and not bold compared to many other nationalities. So my advice would be to tell his fiancé in Egypt to talk to him more, get to know him, see if they like the same color, stuff like that to get closer together.
The second thing that I think could be happening is that he really doesn't like the Egyptian girl but he is being forced to marry her against his will by being pressured by his parents. And this is his way of rebelling against them. Even though his parents don't know what he’s up to inside he feels that he is doing what he wants to do. If this were the case then I would break off the engagement because like someone mentioned before marriage is not a simple thing like combining to families into one. It is so much more then that, it is so holy and this is a blessing from God. And it should not be taken lightly or as a joke I mean it is so important it is one of the seven Sacraments. And in this case my advice would be to tell him to tell his parents that he doesn’t want to marry this girl, because even though we are Egyptian and we don’t want to disobey our parents wishes a person can’t marry or get into a career that there parents wants them to get. They will be the ones that are living in that life not there parents so it has to be their choices and they have to be pleased with the choice that they are making because they will probably live in that life for a long period.
And finally the best thing you can do would be to pray that God guides him and wakes him up because right now your friend is not letting the will of God be done, he is making his own choices and he will suffer the consequences of his actions. So pray, pray, pray and I will also pray and I’m sure so will everyone on this forum. In sha allah God will take care of everything as he always does.
In his name
Mary
I have tried over and over to get him to go to church. He went to a Catholic Church one time with the American girl 3 months ago.
He gave me several reasons why he will not go. First, he says that most of the young ppl go there looking only to marry someone who has alot of money and not to worship God. Second, because the community at church is too judgemental.
He use to have alot of money/business (which I forgot to mention) and everyone at the church would treat him like "mr. important guy". After he lost alot of his money/business due to ppl who he thought were friends stealing his money, those same ppl in church started to ridicule and gossip about him even to his face.
He says there is too much hipocrisy and problems within the church community and he doesn't want to know about it. I told him that it is not the ppl in church who matter, but, God that matters, yet, I have to admit that if ppl did to me in church what they did to him in ridiculing him I would start going to another church in the area. The problem here is that you will always find someone who knows you no matter what Coptic church you go to...
We have many times spoken about the lives of the Saints, Jesus and so on... but, he has changed alot. I think what started the change is when many of his Coptic friends here started to stab him in the back.
You are right in that Egy girls are more shy than American girls and many times I get the feeling that he is just "tired" of how conservative Coptic culture can be... He has spoken of how Egy girls can be very cold and not easy to talk to or for instance when he talks to his fiance he tells me that she has a very closed view of the world because in Upper Egypt she has been too sheltered in her life and cannot even imagine the suffering he has gone through in America coming here alone.
Last night the American girl called me saying my friend was very upset so I had a long talk with him in person and he started to cry. He wanted to go to Egypt in February, but, his mom is putting alot of guilt on him making him leave for Egy on New Years Day, saying things on the phone like "After I see you I will be so happy... I know that I will die after seeing you..."
He tried to talk to me about all of the problems he has that he cannot talk to anyone about, but, everytime he started to talk about it... he would cry. I know deep in my heart that he does not want to marry this girl now or I suspect to even see his family. I think the culture in Upper Egypt and his mom is what is making him do this...
I don't know what other problems he has and I am scared for him. He told me last night that he hopes the plane crashes and that he DIES. :'( :'( :'( :'( I hugged him so much as this just broke my heart and terrified me. This is not something that someone looking forward to getting married and seeing his family again would say. :(
I was as gentle and understanding as I could be with him and told him that it is never too late to break the engagement and to fix his other problems.
He has never told his family or his engaged and her family that his friends had stolen a large sum of his savings causing him to lose a restaurant business he had and this will be a big problem later after he marries because he only has like $2,000.00 and this will go quickly after the wedding and everyone will see the truth and look at him like a man who cannot even take care of his wife properly.
My head is spinning right now because this Friday my friend will be going to Egypt and I can see the disaster coming. He finally told me the name of the church he got engaged in and I am HOPING BEYOND HOPE that someone in this forum comes from "ABNUB" and would have a listing to the addresses or telephone numbers to the churches there as I don't want to say the name of the church in order to protect my friends privacy.
I have tried searching in the online Egy directories, but, I can't find anything.
If I could get this information I could have my mom be a translator for me and write or talk on the phone to my friends FOC about this serious situation.
I am scared my friend may hurt himself in Egypt if the truth comes out. :( :( :( :(
Please PRAY PRAY PRAY for my friend that he do the right thing or that I be able to CONTACT his FOC.
God bless all
Oh man your post broke my heart. I had no idea it was that serious. If your friend really doesn't want this girl then tell him to break it off, I promise it is not the end of the world. Money comes and goes but his health is not that easy to be played with.
No one ever said that Egyptian Orthodox people were angels; I know what you mean about people gossip about other people even when it’s not true. But tell him to hang in there, there are good people too. And that they were never his real friends in the first place, you are his real friend and that is what matters. About the money that was stolen, well he can tell abouna and if nothing happens than he can always tell the police. If he needs a good lawyer let me know. ;)
He really needs someone to talk to right now and you are doing your part, I know that this would be weird and may be a little uncomfortable but if he needs more friends then I would love to be his friend. And both of you guys can add me to your msn list and I will be there if you guys ever need another friend. I'm praying for this guy right now, and hopefully so will everyone else.
In his name
Mary
+God Bless You+
Guardian Angel... thanks for your prayers as well. :)
Well, it seems that ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS worked. ;D ;D ;D I don't know exactly what happened, but, it seems that my friend lost some important documents that would allow him to come and go from Egypt to the Usa.
He couldn't find them on the same day he was suppose to take his flight to Egy. My friend was a mess for two days so upset from this, but, has now calmed down a bit from me talking to him.
I told him that this was a big sign from God that it was not meant for him to go and that many lives would have been ruined had he gone to Egypt to marry.
He told me that because of this happening that he could never go back to Egypt. I suspect that the family of the girl he is engaged to was not happy at all to hear he would not be coming to Egy after all and that he was told probably by his mom not to come later this year because of this.
I don't know how true it is that he can never go back, maybe he is just so upset he can't think straight, but, I thank God he never got to go.
Keep praying for my friend and I thank all of you for the power of prayers in having our Lord turn this situation around. Amen.
+God bless you+
Today my friend told me that when he called the family of the girl he is engaged to last night, that her family BROKE THE ENGAGEMENT!!!! :o My friend feels so free now... I think his losing those travel documents was not the mistake of my friend... but, of a higher power making them disappear for a while. ;)
He is still alittle worried about his mom and the problems with the two families, but, I think this will pass very soon. Its been a long time since I have seen him with some peace.... I thank God a million times ;D
Thanks for all your prayers again... ;D
through God's power will this be completely solved soon... as we've all witnessed !
...all things work out well for those who love God! :)
take care and God bless!