True believers and followers … this is how I see my parents.  They are what I call devoted Christians, serving both in our parish and Couples for Christ Community. My brother and I started as Sunday Catholics. We would only join our parents as an obligation, but the teachings did not seem to get to the core of my heart. At age 15, I declared myself to be an agnostic, to my mom’s horror! My mom kept praying for me, steadfast in the belief that I would have faith in God. I, on the other hand, was ignorant of God’s existence and, many times, I asked Him to show me proof He existed in an extraordinary and supernatural way. But, I never got any answer until 2015. I was at my rock bottom – broken-hearted and searching for Him. That was the time I felt I was at the lowest and the saddest part of my life. It’s as if I was aimlessly wandering in a world that collapsed around me to the point where I became overpowered by an extreme unknown fear.  I went to Japan that year and stayed with a friend who brought me to a Christian service. The experience piqued my curiosity about God’s existence. When I came back from my Japan trip, my curiosity about God was still with me and I started checking for a community that would somehow help me find answers to God’s existence.  My uncle was a follower of Bo Sanchez’s Feast on TV.  He suggested that I try joining their gathering. My mom readily agreed and insisted I attend since it is a Catholic community. I first came to The Feast Center as a walk-in attendee. At first, I was uncomfortable seeing people raising their hands while singing. I wanted to run away again.  However, I was led to immediately join and serve with the Media Ministry of WFFA (Wednesday Feast Festival Alabang). I thought I’d continue joining The Feast services, and gave myself 6 months to find out if this is really where I will find my faith.  I was on my 5th month when I sensed God calling me to serve the Intercessory Ministry. Thanks to my WFFA family, I can now say that I am a true believer of God. And because I am blessed, I hope to bless others too with my story and my service for His glory! I was surprised to discover proof of God’s existence happening in a natural and ordinary way. Slowly, I came to understand how my LG (Light Group) friends and ministry co-members were God’s answers to my prayers. It was a long process, but somehow, I knew my faith in Him had been rekindled in a unique and extraordinary way. Now, nothing can separate me from my relationship with Him.  It is truly amazing how he worked on me, making me see His existence through a very small way, yet its impact was undeniably significant.

Jeg: I planned for my husband’s entrapment! Two years ago, the amount of time he will be spending with us when he came home occasionally became a guessing game for me and my three children. His drug paraphernalia were all over the house as he did not care to hide them from us. I felt time was running out as I stared at my husband who had become a bag of bones. I did not know it then, but God was already giving me a glimpse of the picture He was drawing for my family. Edwin: Early on in our marriage, we already had a flourishing business, we bought our own house, acquired expensive cars, sent our children to the best schools. We were the envy of our friends and neighbors. Little did they know that the more we became materially wealthy, the more our family drifted apart. My wife attended a lot of ballroom dancing activities with her socialite friends and I was happy with my golf buddies. Money was abundant. I went to casinos to gamble almost every day with my wife. Then my “friends” led me from one vice to another – women, alcohol, then drugs! Jeg: We have two sons who were already at the peak of their careers at that time and an only daughter, Sophia May who came 12 years after my youngest boy – a gift from our Lady of Perpetual Help. We were a picture of an ideal family! But, Edwin and I became so engrossed with our business. He was constantly away and I felt empty. I thought my ballroom dancing and his golf events were our ways of relieving stress and a must to enrich our network. We toured different countries but always separately because one of us had to be present to run our business. Our family would go to church only to live up to the picture of an ideal family. When we go to Mass, Edwin stays outside the church to text his girlfriend/s or peers. Eventually, our family became unmindful of the Mass. Edwin: I admit there were more important things to me than the Holy Mass then. Despite my being raised by parents who were devout Catholics and my solid Bosconian background, I took away God’s picture from my life! Jeg: Edwin started coming home whenever he pleased. When that happens, all hell would break loose as fights between us ensued. There were unexplained withdrawals of large amounts from our bank account and when I’d ask him, he’d deny any knowledge of them. When our savings ran out, he sold his valuables. I thought he was just into gambling but I was wrong. Through my prayers to Our Lady of Guadalupe, I found out from his friend he was living in with another woman! It was painful enough to know about my husband’s womanizing but salt was rubbed into my wound when I found out his relatives knew about it. They hid it from me and

I was raised in a Catholic family. In fact, I studied in a Catholic school where I learned about Bro. Bo Sanchez’s Kerygma Magazine. Later, I found out he is the same Bo who founded Light of Jesus (LOJ) and its prayer gathering, The Feast. It is The Feast that somehow made me who I am now and saved my marriage. “I am thankful God changed the way I see things and taught me to be patient and to persevere.” Ours started as a long-distance love affair. That’s how it began and for a while, I thought that’s how it will end.  I met my husband in Qatar where I was an OFW myself. However, when I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, I needed to go back home in 2007 to undergo treatment. My boyfriend stayed there till we decided to get married in June 2008. My husband stayed with me for about 2 months, then had to leave again to work in Saudi.  During the first 5 years of our marriage, we only spent 1 Christmas together.  I gave birth to our daughter in 2010. While my husband was away, I busied myself with work while taking care of our only child. Since we spent more time away from each other than being together, I felt I was not loved enough. I felt lonely and empty inside. My husband must have felt the same about being away from home. This resulted in fights which would sometimes last for weeks without communication.  It became almost impossible for us to agree on anything. Our disagreements resulted in my feeling scarred and hopeless about the durability of our marriage. During this trying time, since February 2013, my boss had been inviting me to attend The Feast. I was unable to join her in PICC because it was too far from my residence which is in San Pedro, Laguna.  Because I work in Alabang, I would pass by The Feast Alabang Center in Festival Mall. Usually, I would only see people meeting or practicing there so I was not interested to enter. Then sometime in July of 2013, as I was checking my Facebook page, I chanced upon the schedule of The Feast sessions in Festival Mall and thought of attending the Wednesday Feast Alabang (WFA).  As I listened to the talk of Bro. Velden Lim that time, I felt the tears rolling down my face. It felt good. On Friday of that same week, I joined the FAME, a welcome activity for new attendees where I was seated with Sis Cora and Bro Willy Talon. They invited me to join the Light Group (LG) meeting. The following Wednesday, I attended the first LG meeting and was pleasantly surprised to know it was headed by the same couple. God’s timing was indeed perfect. After the 2nd LG meeting, my husband was due to be in Manila for his vacation. Instead of pushing for the separation, I had a change of heart because I

Pretty, Sexy, Gorgeous sums up to nothing at all but physical attributes …. I was the high school prom queen.  Back in college, guys were chasing after me left and right. I thought this could be my edge in pursuing my dream – as a woman, a person, a wife and a mother. I became a Flight Attendant in a big airline company. There, I met my husband, also a flight attendant, with whom I had two children. I thought this was the life for me.  After giving birth to my son, Lawrence, and daughter, Nicole, I quit my job and became a housewife and a mother.  It was a role I cherished for a while till my husband left me for another woman.  This did not only hurt my feelings but left me with a wounded pride. The question lingered in my mind with so much pain, “How could he have left me for another woman?”  I am beautiful! And I know I did my best to keep our marriage. But still, he left me. The pain caused me to rebel about my situation and led to a series of failed relationships. I ended up with two more kids (Tarique and Glenus) by two different men. At first, I did not care at all since I knew men would easily fall for me and I can have them anytime I want. I am beautiful anyway. I have this edge over other women. I was branded for my ways for a time. Other women just hated me. To them, I was a disgrace. I couldn’t care less. As my children grew up, I became the liberated mom. They were witnesses to my failed relationships. I knew they too suffered with me in the process. When Lawrence and Nicole went to college, the blurry vision of my life became an instant reality when I was diagnosed with Uveitis which left me almost blind. This required me to ingest a steroid, the effects of which were so devastating that I almost died inside. Outside, I was stripped of the beauty I once had, another wound to my pride. Medication cost was unimaginably high that burdened us financially.  Just as I was struggling to get by with my own situation, my son Lawrence also had his own conflicts at that time. He was struggling with the realization he is gay. The shocking truth brought me an insurmountable amount of disappointment for my son. The difficulty of handling the situation numbed me. I relied on friends for comfort. A friend invited me to attend the Feast. The experience provided a reason for me to accept the things happening in my life.  This gave way for me to love my son even more.  Slowly, I saw a beautiful life unfold before me. My daughter, Nicole, became a Flight Attendant and she made sure I got all the travel perks. My husband, before his passing, made sure we were still provided for financially. My son,

I’m a dentist and I come from a family of dentists – 7 out of 12 siblings followed in our parents’ footsteps. I grew up in a traditional closely-knit, clannish family. My childhood, on the whole, was a happy one. When I got married, life took a drastic turn. My husband often shied away from his responsibilities.  His inability to provide for the family needs led to heated arguments and often resulted in his leaving the house.  During those times, I became a single parent to our children – Allen, Bea and Clarisse. I tried to make ends meet by working as an assistant dentist in several clinics. Financial support usually came from my dad, an established dentist in our area. After some time, my husband would come home to us. I’d usually welcome him back because I wanted to have a “complete family.” I grew up with the belief that families should always be together. As our children grew, the situation worsened. We had so much obligations to settle – tuition fees, children’s expenses, house mortgage and others. Our encounters escalated from verbal to physical. This continued until 2006 when my husband left without a word. I felt so alone, ashamed and abandoned. Coming from a close-knit family, I was overwhelmed with shame for my inability to keep a “complete family” unlike the rest of my siblings. My situation became more difficult when my dad needed dialysis. Faced with his own health issues, I could no longer ask for financial assistance. Not long after, he passed away. His death was a breaking point for me. I felt my relationships had all gone sour. I felt not only the loss of my father but also my worth as a person. I turned to God and begged him to help me. After my dad’s passing, our high school reunion was held. There, I rekindled my friendship with a former classmate, Maricel, who has been a solo parent for a long time. She made me realize women like us still have a future. My sister, Gene, also enrolled me in a Solo Parent Encounter, which made me realize further how God loves those in our situation. I felt God lifting all my troubles away. My renewed relationship with God opened more doors for me to deepen my relationship with Him. I was able to attend the Feast in Laguna again. There, I found the answer to my questions: How do I care and provide for my children? How do I move on after the separation from my husband? How do I go on after the passing of my dad? I felt God was holding out his hand to help me — through the help of my mother and siblings, I was able to start my own dental clinic in Sta. Rosa.  But my faith and trust in Him were again put to test because the clinic survived for only two years. Then I found a job with an income that helped us