All for the King!

Editor’s Note: These testimonials were taken by Sam Ajoc and Manilee Araune from the recently concluded “Catchfire” activity which was organized by four Charismatic communities in Davao, namely Familia, Couples for Christ, Brotherhood of Catholic Businessman and Professionals (BCBP), and the Holy Trinity Community, at the PWC RSM Event Center last November 20. Photos are courtesy of Joseph Nichols Magdaherin.

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Jesson de los Santos
Familia

Jesson was invited by his wife, Gladys, to the community, Familia, to participate in a way of life very different from the one he was used to in raising up their son. His life was a clear evidence of God’s sovereignty in everything, even in building up a career in business.

Growing up in Baguio, he came to Davao and became the boss of a company with a partner Australian company.

With him on top of the corporate ladder, he said he felt as if he “can do anything [he wants] whenever [he wants]”. He did not regard his employees with compassion and mercy and “made people do things against their will and well-being” from one of his humble workers to his supervisors.

To him, they were like pawns for him to be used to win his game, to get successful in his business. It was when he lost his most prized partnership with the Australian company that he started losing everything – money, friends and even his health.

He was diagnosed with Grade 4: Fatty Liver. He got invited to a talk about God directing the steps of man and letting Him take the steering wheel. It was in that moment when he felt he needed to change.

Upon surrendering his life to God, his blessings doubled and his illness was healed. But he said it was no easy feat. It began with humility and total surrender all for the King. Truly, like what he repeatedly said in his sharing, taken from Proverbs 16:9, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

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Henry and Chit Danucop
Couples for Christ

In this year of mercy and compassion, the story of this couple exemplified these Christian virtues like no other. Having been so busy with their respective careers previously, they had less time to strengthen their family life and build their faith through community services.

This led Mr. Danucop to have an illicit affair with his friend and led to their separation despite having 4 children. What Chit learnt about the circumstance was to surrender to the Lord. Her Christian values taught her to “hate the sin but love the sinner” and to “uphold their marriage vows”.

She prayed to the Lord to change and save her husband but she felt she was the one who was transformed into a more loving and compassionate wife. Her prayers, too, were not left unanswered.

Her husband, after living separate lives for 2 years, realized he cannot afford to lose his family who then migrated to Cagayan de Oro. He couldn’t go and continue to inflict chaos to both of their families.

He asked God to help him. He resigned from work, ended the affair, and followed his family. He asked for forgiveness and by God’s transforming love, her wife was able to love him back and even extend love to the other woman by converting her. As an affirmation of the blessing, they got their 5th child.

The couple is now serving as wounded healers for other couples experiencing marital struggles. Truly, our greatest pain become our greatest ministries.

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Momong Robillo
BCBP

A member of BCBP-West for 19 years, he now holds the position as the head of the sub-chapter.

One of the sharers in the Catchfire event, he told his story of the countless redemptions he experienced in his life and the transformative power of love that led him to his conversion.

Being a person chained to so many addictions such as women, night life, and drugs and being a person with a “devil-may-care” attitude, his life spelled peril no matter what angle you may look at it.

His marriage to his wife, Olive, a Marian devotee, was, according to him, a big factor. However, that conversion did not stop him from finding himself in close shave scenarios that placed his life on always on the line, especially when he was doing logging operations.

Such situations included nearly falling in the ravine, a timber falling on the place where he was standing moments ago and having his Land Cruiser totally wrecked but finding himself alive.

But those were also the events that made him realize how blessed he was to be still breathing and got him into thinking that maybe he still had a mission in life to fulfill. He eventually found himself as a witness to situations wherein people were dying without a priest to absolve them of their sins and pray for them.

It was here that he found his mission of winning souls by praying for these people and helping these people die a peaceful death. Today, he is currently the Chairman of the Board of Philippine Red Cross.

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Mitch Taopa
Ang Lingkod ng Panginoon

Looking at Mitch, you would think of her as a pretty woman living a pretty, happy life. But it is actually her background story that is even more captivating and beautiful.

Having their family business closed down, she considered herself lucky to get scholarships, graduate and get a job to finance her family’s needs because her father had a stroke and her mother had to undergo dialysis treatment twice a week due to kidney failure.

In 2014, as if these circumstances and her services to the Lord weren’t enough, her mother has diagnosed with a tumor of the spine, stage 4 cancer, and had only 3 months to live. She felt as if she was living a life akin to Job’s.

Her questions were not answered…at least, not in the way she would have wanted Him to. God was silent. But it was this silence that their greatest communication took place, in a deeper level.

She started to surrender to Him. Her family opted not to get medical interventions and solely relied on prayers for her mother. Miraculously, to the amazement of doctors, the cancer was gone after a month and her mother lived to witness her very sharing at the concert. She considered her life story not as “a series of unfortunate events but a story of triumph, mercy and victory.” Indeed, “in [my] weakness, God proved the strongest.”