Bride in Faith

  Favorite Bible verse:

1 Corinthians 13:13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
And connected to that is also the verse the precedes it:
12 "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

  Favorite Gospel/Worship song: 

"Beloved" by Tenth Avenue North
            
I still cry whenever I listen to this song. This is the song I listened when I first realize how much God loves me, how much the Lord would go for a person like me...it was so great that I couldn't help but love him back. I won't spoil you guys so I won't explain further, but I really want you to listen to it and feel the lyrics, feel His love for you and realize that love on a higher level.

 Testimony:

I was raised in a Catholic family. Mom and us, three kids, were going to church, praying rosary at home, but I know we did it only for the sake of tradition.
It was when I was nine that made my life took a sudden turn.
I was dying. Or at least that was what I thought... I won't go into details but since then I started to write letters to God, childish letters. That was when I first met Him.
I took so much interest in Him, so I started questioning life and the afterlife. I would read books and I would keep the Bible close to me. It was the first time I read it on my own without being told by anyone. That was the start of my journey of faith. Actually I was living a happy blessed life, faith was good. And I thought I would go forever like that...
Until I went to college.
I started to become rebellious because of my parent's/family's situation plus the pressure of studying in the top university in my country. The world was cruel, it was the reality of what I was living in. I was too broken, blinded in the darkness, deafened in despair and loneliness... I forgot about God. I forgot about His love, His sacrifices. I've become corrupt and rebellious like most teenagers do. I came to the point I became suicidal, even plotting my own death. I don't have hope, I don't have purpose to live anymore. And I thought I would go forever like that...
Until I met Him... again.
I met a Christian group in my university and then I got close to a classmate who was a Born Again Christian. They would share and testify to me a lot and my classmate would have me listen to her favorite worship songs and talk about life and faith everytime we met. I started to attend worship services and go into Bible studies. All the more, I realized it was Him who worked through them to make me come back to Him. I became interested again. On a closer look, the bible truly is deep and mysterious. My classmate and I would share about theories that theologians explain. Especially about rapture, second coming and the last days--it was a new concept to me because it was never taught in Catholic doctrines. I would read the bible again and again, especially the Book of Revelations; it is too mysterious and fascinating for me. It speaks of the time that was yet to come, that is the present time.
But above all, I felt this strong love from Him. More than having interest on those theories and mysteries, there's one fact that I believed absolutely. 
Me--a person who had no hope, a sinner--yet He loved a person like me! He died for a person like me and He lives for a person like me...
In my guilt and pain, in my emptiness and brokenness... yet...
He loves me. It was love that overcame all the darkness and despair in me, which I thought would be hopeless.
Because of His great love, I started to commit my life to Him. I gave my whole heart, mind and soul.
When I have learned God's truth, I finally found my purpose.
He gave me the purpose to live.
Learning the Words, realizing God's truth, and living my life knowing that purpose..
Now, everything was disclosed, I found the absolute truth. There's no need for me to learn or prove those theories and uncertainties. I found what is absolute truth.
When truth and love become one, everything gets fulfilled.
And so, even if my atheist dad always tried to stop me from going to church, the love between Christ and I was too great to be held back.
Most of my college years, I would sneak into the church, praying and meeting with people, listening to Christian songs and studying the bible. Even if I couldn't actually attend Sunday services, I would catch up with that week's sermon whenever I go to school. Though my dad caught me praying and crying one early morning, his anger and threats didn't stop me, and it won't stop me. Those times, we were like Romeo and Juliet (but not with the tragic ending of course haha).
That was one of the greatest tribulation in my life of faith. But I overcame with the Lord, and I know I can overcome whatever happens now. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!
We've been through a lot. I'm now on a graduate school, I've taught in a university, and I'm now in good terms with my father~ though he's still uneasy when it comes to my faith (soon, I know it can change--it will change!).
Love is indeed the greatest of all.
The Greatest Person giving me the Greatest Love and loving Him back--I will go on forever with that. 


How great is this love? Because it is love that is reciprocated, love that is mutual, love that is connected, love that makes you one whole, love that is at a level of a bride and groom.
As my teacher calls it, it is counterpart love.
When you come to think of it, it is the greatest love one can have. It surpasses love between friends or siblings or parents. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh" (Mt 19:5)
How many people can love God like this?
That is what I would want for people to understand and realize.
If only everyone on earth can become brides for God, everyone loves sincerely and filled with the divine love, the world would be Heaven on earth.
1 Corinthians 13 pretty much explains everything about this.
Anything without love means nothing. The time of love has come, and it is this time that completeness comes, we put our childish ways aside, and we come to know fully, even as we are fully known. 
 

You've reached this far! Thank you for reading!  


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Tools:
Photoshop CS6
Wacom Bamboo
~I do have those kind of long spiral curls in real life, but not the color, of course (well I hope I have the same color)

To God be the glory!