drawing back the curtains of yesterdays

I don’t know how to start sharing my story but let me do it in my own simple way. From the very start God has placed this unexplainable inspiration in our hearts. He has inspired us with one loving and God-fearing mother and a hardworking and very supportive father.

I was born to a very God-fearing mother in 1973. I had 5 other older siblings and one younger sister. My parents were farmers and we lived in the farm somewhere in a remote barangay in Bukidnon where we owned a small farm lot. According to my older sisters and brother, life was so simple way back then. We were raised the Christian way and were even named after Biblical names and religious characters (Emmanuel, Loida, Leah, Naomi, Meriam, Dorcas {that’s me}, and Joan {Joan of arc}). Mother nurtured us in God’s words. My father was a sympathizer then. I could just say how blessed we are to have a mother who had the heart for God and His word. She was really a woman of God.

One fateful day came in our life unexpectedly. Our father who was only 37 years old had a stroke attack due to hypertension and was confined at the hospital. I was just barely 4 years old that time so I couldn’t exactly remember what happened. The next thing I knew we were already moving from our old house in Bukidnon to Cagayan de Oro City. Accordingly, the doctor said my father’s condition was a helpless case. We were just throwing our money. Back then, our little assets in the farm were sold and leased. There was nothing left for us but the family (siblings and our mother) holding on to our faith that God will make a miracle and heal our father. Father was totally bedridden. He was fed through a feeding tube and discharged his fluid and waste through a catheter. His eyes were all white and mouth was tightly closed. He looked limp and lifeless. Because of financial problem and the doctors’ statement regarding my father’s condition, we discharged him from the hospital and brought him to the city where we built a small hut at the cliff side of a mango plantation in the outskirts of the city. We had to pay the monthly lot rental. Since the oldest was only 15 that time and my other siblings were 13, 11, 8, 6, and youngest was 1 year old and 8 months (I was 4 then), my sisters did not know what to do with our life. But they helped mother the best way they could in earning money for our daily sustenance. Mother went to do laundry, sell peanuts, vegetables, balut and penoy, and other pinoy specialty (puto, kutsinta, suman etc) which she had only as consignment. My sisters would take turn in attending to our father while the rest would help mother do the laundry and ironing or vending.

We went to a born again Christian church (Pentecostal Church of God) whose members were so accommodating and loving. They took care of us and helped us in many ways as well as prayed for and with us. Mother was a faithful servant of God, prayerful, soul-winner and an active deacon in the church. She did not make poverty as an excuse for her going or not going to church. Her love and faith for God was extraordinary. As a young girl and who was always at home, I was always tagged along in her Bible studies and other fellowships with her, including in her vending. My other sisters took turn in going to school. While the other sister was in college, one had to stop and work as a housemaid of a Chinese family just to be able to help. One sister named Leah did not go to school for 11 years. She was the one who personally took care of our father when mother was not around. She would bathe him, change him, and feed him. She was only able to attend first day of class in her freshman year but after 2 weeks she stopped and decided to attend to our father instead. It was only after our oldest sister Loida graduated in college and started her teaching job, that she was able to go back to school but this time, not as freshman student but as college student. She passed the acceleration exam and was automatically moved to enroll in college. The eldest brother (only son) Emmanuel, did not have much time at home as he spent most of his teenage and bachelor’s life away from home as a working student. He lived in the school where he graduated mechanical engineering after years of toil and labor.

Mother was a faithful giver too. There were times I asked her to buy bread because we were hungry; she told me she had nothing to buy. I told her I saw money inserted in her bible; she said we can’t touch it because it was her tithes. At first I did not understand that but every time I see all God has blessed us with, I could only say God is real and would silently say thanks to Mama for that legacy of faith in God and generosity to others. She had the heart of a servant. She was always willing to help others. Despite her being busy in the church and activities, she always had time for papa. She would take him for a jogging at the sports center or brisk walking along the highway. Mama was so proud of Papa and we have seen how much she took care of him. Her love for him was genuine and sacrificial as papa would sometimes act like a baby. He had the tendency to hurt us as his way of getting our attention.

The most amazing thing that has happened to us is that father got better and has recovered physically from his stroke. It was mother who always massaged him every night and early morning before she left for work. Until one day we were all surprised that papa could already walk and eat by himself and finally could start talking. He started to remember things. Although he could not remember everything but who would have thought that he would still live and survive and much more, recover with no medication anymore? It was all because of God’s divine miracle. My sisters were all active youth leaders and so am I. we were involved in mission and church work. Each of us had our own family now except our youngest and still celebrating the faithfulness of GOD IN OUR LIVES. He has been blessing us all the way not necessarily in material aspect but most importantly, spiritually.

In 2001, our beloved mother went ahead to her creator. It left so much sadness for us because we miss her but definitely not sorrow because we are happy that she’s finally home. It has been 31 years already since that fateful night happened, and now I am 35, I enjoy taking care of my father. He is now 70 years old. Still healthy, active and I just thank God for all that He has blessed us with. In return we also want to bless others through this testimony that God will never leave us nor forsake us. In Papa’s disability, our divine Father is just ever loving, generous, faithful and true.