“Pray, hope and don’t worry” is one of the most famous statements attributed to St. Pio of Petrelcina, a Catholic saint well-known for miracles and prayers granted through his intercession. Devotees, and even local personalities like Tintin Bersola-Babao have sought St. Pio’s help in granting their prayer requests. Personally, my family did not know about St. Pio until 2011, when he helped grant a prayer -- a miracle that we had been waiting for.
My husband, Rhenee, and I got married on December 23, 2000. I distinctly remember telling him on our second anniversary that on our tenth year of marriage, we would renew our vows, with our own children standing as part of the wedding entourage.
We celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary in 2010 but sadly, this dream we had did not come to be — because we were still childless.
After many check-ups and various unsuccessful natural fertility treatments, we were resigned to the fact that we would be one of those couples that would grow old together without the blessing of our own children. We had even discussed the idea of adoption but never seriously considered or explored it as we were both working in Brunei.In the last quarter of 2009, Rhenee’s employment contract ended and he decided to become a mission volunteer for our Catholic community. As for myself, I was blessed with a new and more stable job with an international company, which was really timely as we were facing a very challenging financial situation. We continued to remain active members of our Catholic community, serving in our parish and wherever else we were needed.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
