Cornerstone Assembly of God

Lilia - I Forgave My Husband

In 1956 I was married to Loreto. We lived in Manila where my husband worked as a government employee. When we had children, we decided to go home to the Province because my husband’s salary was no longer enough for the family. Life become better for us. We planted crops and engaged in buying and selling. Then we bought a passenger jeep which my husband drove. I did not know that this would be the cause of the break-up of our family. My husband met another woman and was entangled in infidelity. He finally left us and went to Mindanao with this woman, even taking our jeep with him. My world crumbled. I was so angry and full of hatred, yet I found myself praying to God for help and guidance. He showed me the way. I worked hard by using my skills as a dressmaker and beautician to support my family.

 

Years later, my husband came back. He asked for my forgiveness and wanted to stay for good. For the sake of the children, though I was hurting and angry, I took him back. We lived as one family again. His hard work paid off when our eldest daughter finished college. She was blessed with a fine job in Boston. She was then able to help us financially. Then she petitioned us to come as immigrants to Boston. A new world was unfolding for us!

 

Still the enemy of our soul had his foothold on me, for I was still nursing the hurt, hatred and unforgiveness toward my husband and the other woman. I could not easily forget this. I did not yet have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, although I felt He was with me in all my troubles. He did not leave me alone; He answered my prayers by making me strong and sending my husband back to us. God is faithful!

 

My daughter and her husband were instrumental in making God’s plan real in my husband’s and my life. They brought us to Cornerstone Assembly of God. Out of respect, we joined them at church even if I had observed that this church was very different from the church in the Philippines where my parents brought me as a child. My husband and I attended the Filipino Bible Study (Pag-Ibig Lifegroup) that was organized. I had mixed feelings and questions when I attended that first meeting. God answered the questions in my mind through our leader’s words. She said, “Your coming to this meeting is no accident. It is through the Grace of God that you were led to this room, for God has a purpose and a plan for you.”

 

That day was the start of our change. We wanted to know more about God. We wanted more feeding with God’s Word. To do this we attended the Bible study regularly. The lessons on “Who God Is, Eternal Life, Salvation, and How to Be Saved” impacted my husband and me, leading us to surrender our lives to Jesus and making Him Lord and Savior. In obedience to His command, we were baptized in water. I felt changed, as I was set free from the bondage of anger, hatred and unforgiveness. As a child of God, I forgave my husband and left behind me the memory of the other woman. My husband, too, was completely changed. Peace reigns in our hearts as we hold on to God’s Word in John 3:5, Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of of God.”  We praise God for bringing us to the United States and to Cornerstone where we have found new life in Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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