“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”
We will be celebrating our third wedding anniversary in September and looking back, we’ve certainly come a long way. From overcoming immigration hurdles to conquering stereotypes on a daily basis, I cannot imagine how we managed to deal with all these obstacles without divine intervention.
When we decided to set our our roots in America, it was a very difficult transition, at least on my end. Giving up the only life I knew - my career, my sense of comfort, my family and friends - it was never easy.
The biggest challenge we have faced as a couple was when we both decided to quit our last job. It was a decision that we made together because we felt the place has become too toxic as it sucks the life and happiness out of us. It was a bold move since quitting together would mean no source of income until one of us finds a new job. After two months (that felt like years) of job hunt, we got no solid offer. We were barely scraping by. This went on for 65 long days.
One night, my husband caught me praying fervently, I was shedding tears. He asked me what’s wrong and I told him that I think it would be easier to just go back to the Philippines where I can be of better help. I feel so defeated being a second-class citizen in America where I have to constantly prove myself in order to be noticed. My husband, being the rock that he is, held my hand and said, “Let’s pray together."
My husband is not religious. He is tolerant of people’s faith but far from being prayerful. I knew at that point that he is feeling the same pressure, depression and fear like I do and that he needed something to hold on to. He was looking for some solace and he was hopeful that prayers would help ease some of the burdens.
The only prayer he knows is The Lord’s prayer. I don’t think I have heard anybody pray as personal as my husband did that night as he utters every word:"Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespassed against us." With his eyes closed and his hands tightly clasped, my husband has joined me in prayer and it was a surreal moment, a testament of joy.
On the 66th day, my husband received a very decent job offer, more than enough to cover all our expenses. Bigger than the gift of a new found job, I am mostly grateful in finding a new prayer partner - my dear husband. I never thought of ever thanking the heavens for bestowing us such a heavy burden for it has led us to a life of faith, hope and more love.
When couples pray, you grow stronger each day. You become each other’s source of emotional and spiritual strength. You both aim for life’s bigger and better purpose as you lift and cheer each other up. When couples pray, you are reminded that you are one in body, mind and spirit. “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." [1 Corinthians 13:13]
0 comments:
Post a Comment