All around the world, CANA’s work bears the same fruits of healing and renewal: discover the inspiring testimonies of three couples in Egypt who share how the Lord has touched their lives, their marriages, and their families.
From the very beginning of our relationship, we wanted God’s presence in our lives. During our engagement, we went on spiritual retreats to discover if this was what God wanted for us—namely, to be with one another. And indeed, we felt a deep peace and love for one another.
After our wedding, we made sure to have a family altar in our home and to attend Mass together. We felt God’s presence, especially through forgiveness. Sometimes, when arguments and tensions would flare up between us—to the point where we felt a wall had gone up and it would be impossible for us to speak to each other again—the next day would come as if nothing had happened: forgiveness and peace would dwell within us once more. Furthermore, CANA greatly helped us discover God’s presence through the “dialogue among three,” which made the way we spoke to one another much gentler.
Mina & Nermine
When we were asked to share how God had worked in our lives—whether before or after our participation in the CANA session—we didn’t hesitate. We chose to talk about His powerful and profound work during the session itself, and how it changed everything for us.
Before the session: silent injuries and routine
Before CANA, we were in denial. We refused to see that our daily life had turned into a mechanical routine, stifled by work stress and worries. Whenever we disagreed, we chose silence over dialogue. Instead of looking for solutions, we let the problems pile up, which eventually created a real distance and a lot of coldness between us.
Our motto was always: “It’s no big deal—we’ve got to keep the ship moving.” We turned a blind eye and pushed forward at all costs, without realizing that by avoiding discussion, those small wounds had turned into deep resentments. Their painful effects always ended up resurfacing through cold exchanges and hurtful reactions. Yet, despite this reality, we managed to project the image of a perfect couple.
CANA Week in 2025
As we do every year, some close friends invited us. But this time, we said to ourselves, “Why not? Let’s go and find out what CANA is all about.” From the very first moments, we felt God’s presence—first through the prayer of a minister who accompanied us on the way, and then as soon as we arrived at the venue.
Once there, the sincere and profound testimonies of the other couples touched us deeply. Despite the diversity of their journeys, we recognized so much of ourselves in their stories. They taught us how to face difficulties and how to lay them before God in complete honesty, so that we could rediscover the path to dialogue.
God’s Work and the Renewal of Hearts
The real turning point came during the “Forgiveness” exercise. Deep down, we knew we were hurting, but none of us expected the other to make the first move. We couldn’t even imagine that we would have the courage to reveal our vulnerabilities. We had gotten into the habit of wearing “dark glasses” to ignore our wounds because they frightened us so much. But during this exercise, our hearts opened up, and those buried sorrows were finally set free.
And as we walked along the “path of love,” we deeply sensed that God was speaking to us personally to heal our hearts, through this verse:
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ” (Ezekiel 36:26)
This verse became for us a promise of inner renewal: that God would remove our “heart of stone”—hard and stubborn—and give us a “heart of flesh”—alive, loving, and open to His will.
Conclusion
We have come to understand that God is at work, even in the silence and drudgery of everyday life. True change begins deep within ourselves, through listening, genuine sharing, and mutual forgiveness. It was there that we found ourselves as “one poor person before another,” each in need of the other and of God. CANA 2025 was for us the journey of the “prodigal son’s return,” a true spiritual awakening that prompted us to stop making excuses for ourselves and finally acknowledge our weaknesses.
We pray for every couple who is going through today what we once experienced. We entrust to You, Lord, the homes where routine has taken hold, and the hearts worn down by trials to the point of retreating into silence.
We know that You are at work, even when everything seems frozen in time. We trust that Your loving hand sustains every couple whose wine is about to run out. Today, we are learning to wait with patience and trust, guided by Your word: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
Mina & Elham
God has played a major and very clear role in our lives from the very beginning of our commitment.
During the first year of our marriage, God blessed us with a beautiful daughter. Then, four years later, Mervat became pregnant again just as she was undergoing treatment for a health issue. Despite this, the pregnancy came about by the will of our Lord.
The doctors’ opinion was that this pregnancy would result in a child with birth defects or health problems due to the treatment, and they asked us to have an abortion. It was a difficult time, but God manifested His greatness by surrounding us with a protective wall. He spoke to us through various people, including Father Basilios Fawzy (now Anba Basilios, Metropolitan and Bishop of Minya), through a sermon he delivered titled “The Protective Wall.” “The protective hedge” was repeated many times until the day of delivery; it was a clear message from God showing that His hand was surrounding and protecting this pregnancy.
The delivery went smoothly, resulting in the birth of a beautiful, healthy, and exceptional daughter. She is now approaching her fifteenth birthday and stands out for her kindness and her manual skills.
Botros & Mervat