I had a great dinner with a friend at Gateway Figaro last night and was blown away by her recounting of a love story—her own love story with her now fiancé but more than that, it was really her love story with Love Himself, her first love.
I was one of those privileged to know the promise that was given her some eight years ago. A prophesy that I and some other friends usually remind her in our chats over coffee or dinner. A hope that was fulfilled in a whirlwind romance perhaps but it was really the perfect way of courting this friend who actually categorically demanded from God a courageous knight in shining armor or in our vernacular “isang matapang na lalaki.”
That actually means someone who will pursue her relentlessly no matter what as much as someone who will actually tell her of his intentions—of his desire for her—outright no matter what. And we actually thought such valor no longer defines the men of today. Ah, but when love is real, we both thought then, you would not let it pass without even giving it a try. No, you would not simply allow that to happen. And so it happened, he did told her about his feelings, about his love, about how she captivates him, about everything that his heart holds for her… and that captured her heart with a start.
Listening to the account of my friend was like watching a cocoon transform and take wings. I was not so much moved by the romanticism involved. There was actually almost a nil mention of that part. But both of us—yes, herself included, were actually giddier in that we thought was just a fairy-tale is actually what has happened exactly.
The Lord guaranteed her of a man who will be almost exactly as she is, riding on a bike together, and together pursuing their mission to the poor through their own professions. It was so specific, yet since because of our own human limitations, we also doubt whether we interpreted that correctly or we simply are hearing what we wanted. And yet, here she is before me telling me of THAT man. That he actually exists and that they are now together as a couple.
It is the little things, she tells me, that made her know he is THE one.
It’s the way he is able to finish her sentences, the way that he was able to relate to her all her stories because besides being both involved with developmental work of some sort, loving the outdoors, having a heart to serve the needy in distant places, they also went to the same school in elementary but never had a chance to know each other then. It’s like he has known her all his life and yet they’ve just met.
One time, he insisted buying her a second-hand bike, which all the more convinced her of the rightness of this man for her—her being the reigning queen for scouting bargained second-hand items and him only reinforcing that more. Early on, he got her a “malong” – an ethic outfit—from his vacation in Davao—something that she would really love to wear yet she does not even told him that.
My friend has in mind the gown of her dreams—an out-of-the-box ethnic inspired modern wedding dress, which some of her friends thought no man would permit such craziness and yet they already went to a seamstress to know how much it would cost to create such intri-crazy.
He was not only appreciative of what she does of her life—the life of a missionary doctor—braving militant groups, ethnic rivalries, epidemics, poverty, riding through rough roads, escalating heights to arrive at mountain villages… He knows exactly what that means because he himself lived that life. That made him curious about her—awed perhaps, which begun this whole magical affair borne out of a common love for social relevance. It was rather an uncommon and unromantic picture to start with. But it was a picture of maturity, of knowing what kind of partner actually suits you and your lifestyle… of knowing yourself first, before knowing the ONE.
They have the same principles in life especially in raising kids, how many kids to be raised, the values that they share, the dreams they would like to weave together as a family… This man step up to what she is in her simple spirituality. She made him want to be a better person in the way that she reflected the love of God in others perhaps but most of all, in the way that she exudes that love within her. She made him wanna know God more maybe not as much as he wanna know her yet; but he started to pray fervently with and without her the holy rosary while away in a middle eastern country and that is a very encouraging to say the least.
He, on the other hand, made her feel like a princess–one thing that this girl really needs especially since she has that tendency to forget herself in her outpouring of herself to others. It is really time, as he once said, that someone take her of her too and that she allowed him to do that. She was afraid of him backing off from knowing her frailty. He was emboldened all the more to show how much she means to him instead. Nothing could be an obstacle for this man to love her it seems. What could my friend princess ever hope for a knight?
I was near tears out of sheer happiness for her as she related to me these stories, building on one another, fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle. What was once a perplexing promise is now being set before our very eyes. My heart overflows with wonder, admiration, and surprise listening at the fulfillment of God’s plan and purpose in her life more than anything.
It was really happiness, pure and unadulterated, that is the gift that God has wrapped for us in His time. I see that happiness glistening in both our eyes even as I was simply listening and she was there to simply tell. It was no gospel story from the Bible and yet it is good news, a promise of God fulfilled. I wonder whether Mary and Elizabeth felt the same way when they met during the Visitation as Mary blurts out her Magnificat.
Darleth or Daniela was no Mary or John, Luke, Matthew, and Mark. But like just any other gospel story–a story where God is involved–it tells a lot about who God is, His faithfulness and His love, His majesty and splendor in astonishing us (He never runs out of surprises indeed!), it captures our hearts to respond to the love story God courts us with.
It made me hold on to the hope of His own promises being fulfilled in me. It requires, of course, that He be involved in my own story. But that is another love story.
POST SCRIPT:
After that light dinner with Daniela, we both went to our weekly prayer meeting. During the said activity this was one of the prophecies given which strengthens my conviction about the faithfulness of God. The verse came from Hebrews 10:23 and it says:
Let us continue to hold firmly to the hope that we confess without wavering, for the One who made the promise is faithful.
Thanks, Imee! If we have tears reserved for every touching love story in our life, mine FINALLY flowed after reading this. Your piece has managed to open floodgates so to speak. Only another person, equally enamored to the greatest Lover, would be able to capture the essence of my meaningful encounter with Him.
Please allow me to clarify one detail though. Rogelio is not a doctor, his background is Economics and Business and he engaged in developmental work with an NGO in West Visayas some years back. This initially did not seem to agree with the prophecy of him “doing the same things you do”. But as the days passed, I realized that we shared even more things in common, the important things – similar opinions, principles to adhere to and dreams. All the more now do I believe that the ways of the One who loved us first are not like ours at all. =)