Feast Bay Area Morning Bulletin for Mar 3, 2019

BLESSING BLOG
TWO TALES OF TWO NBSB’S
Twentysomething Alyanna Mae Ilagan from Feast SM Manila and thirtysomething Rhea Nodado, from Feast PICC AM, both
accountants, tell their different stories of finding Mr. Right.
Alyanna Mae Ilagan
writes: I planned
my wedding day
on May 14, 2022,
summertime before
I turn 26. It would
be a Saturday so
all my friends and
relatives would be
there among the 250
guests. Bro. Bo Sanchez would be one of the ninongs (No harm
in wishing, right?). I would walk the aisle of Baclaran Church
and the wedding reception would be at a hotel nearby.
More than those details, one important detail is missing in
this scenario – my Mr. Right, my would-be husband.
Not only am I an NBSB (No Boyfriend Since Birth), I’ve
never been on a date either. I was always the hard-crusher,
but hardly anybody’s crush. The dreamer, but never anybody’s
dream girl.
Whenever I am exclusively crushing, I would write letters
that would never reach my crush, I would think of what could
be and my heart would break for all the wrong reasons. It was a
tiring cycle. Heartbreaks from crushes are real. However, it’s not
the memories that made me cry, but the time wasted on making
them on my own.
“Why, Lord?” I’d then ask.
His answer came through the talk series: Looking for Mr. and
Ms. Right.
It dawned on me that I had been seeking approval from
others when my Father calls me His Beloved. I sought security in
men when the Lord holds my future. So one day, I scratched out
my wedding plan, moved on from the toxic exclusive crush I had,
sorted my priorities and straightened out my relationship with
God.
Mr. Right is not the priority – being Ms. Right is. God wants
me to be as happy, a woman after His own heart.
And when the Lord deems that I’m ready, I know that my
heartbreaks from the men who aren’t for me will be no match to
the love story God Himself wrote for me. I might have planned
when, how and where I would want to get married but I trust that
He has something better in mind.
Rhea Nodado tells Bulletin staffwriter Timothy Quintos: Back
when I was an NBSB, I was excited to have my first boyfriend.
Then, I met Jojo, through her tita, my colleague. His smile
made me my heart flutter. My father said to choose someone
responsible and mature. But I followed my heart. What if
he had no regular job? We’ll manage, I thought. We became
sweethearts.
After a year together, I got pregnant so we married in a
civil ceremony. Later, my husband decided to work in Qatar to
provide for our growing family.
Friends said, “Naku, dapat alam mo ang password ng asawa
mo sa Facebook para malaman mo kung may iba na siyang
kinakasama.”
I retorted, “Eh, di iisipin pa n’yang wala akong tiwala sa
kanya.” Check on him like that? To me that was being childish.
But fate has a funny way of showing me the truth. In 2012,
he forgot his password and asked me to open his email for
him. That’s when I found out about his affair with another
woman. Immediately, I confronted him. He explained that he
was just lonely and homesick. But when I asked him to choose,
his reply shook me, “Hindi ko alam.”
My whole world fell apart. Di ko alam kung anong gagawin
ko nung panahong ‘yon. While I sought refuge at the Chapel of
St. Padre Pio and surrendered everything to the Lord, I also
sought diversions to numb my pain. For the first time in my life,
I drank and smoked. By myself.
I pretended everything was okay. Papasok ako sa trabaho na
wala sa sarili. In truth, my heart was bleeding. I badly needed
someone to talk to. But instead of turning to my squad – family
or friends – I turned to this male colleague who lent his ear. My
biggest mistake.
Before I knew it, I was falling for him. I prayed, “Lord, I don’t
want to commit the same mistake my husband made. Please,
Clockwise from left bottom: Rhea with husband
Jojo, and sons Daniel and Christian
save me.” After a month, he was
removed in the office.
I continued my drinking and
smoking for months and fell
into depression. When I couldn’t
take it anymore, I wanted to end
my life. When I was about to do
it, I saw a picture of Jesus from
the window. He was hugging
those who pray.
That brought me back to
my senses. I realized I should stop
focusing on my husband’s misdeed and instead focus on my two
little boys –Daniel and Christian. I went back to the Chapel to
nourish my spirit.
A month later, I received an unexpected call. It was Jojo. He
was in the airport. He asked for my forgiveness and said, “Gusto
kong baguhin ang lahat ng maling nagawa ko.” Like a real man, he
also asked forgiveness from our boys. Finally, my Mr. Right was
home.
Our relationship with each other is now way better than
before. We regularly attend The Feast and our two teenagers are
active at Youth High, thanks to their Camp Calye experience.
Got an inspiring story? Email your respective Feasts.
Feast Ermita: a1media.feastbayarea@gmail.com
Feast MOA: info@thefeastmallofasia.com
Feast SM Manila: shareyourstory.tfsmm@gmail.com
Feast PICC AM: iamblessedatthefeast@gmail.com
Feast PICC OPM: fba.opm@gmail.com
Feast PICC PM: fbamedia.m3sy@gmail.com
FBA BULLETIN 030319.indd 2
2/28/2019 10:36:43 PM