Love

In a nutshell, we would like to share one of the things we've learned in our 3 years of being husband and wife. Since it's February or the LOVE month, we sum it up into the 3 kinds of LOVE in Greek.

First is Philos- affectionate regard/friendship/brotherly or sisterly love. Alan is my best friend, my best travel buddy, my confidante whom I can talk to about everything and anything. Even though we were miles apart, he would be very supportive in all the things I do. Having someone who has your back and someone you can trust is very crucial in any marriage.

Second is Eros - desire/longing/sexual love. God created physical attraction between man and woman. In a conventional, Christ-centered courtship, after a couple gets to know each other in a deep personal, emotional, and spiritual way, normally they decide to take the relationship to the next level which is marriage. And I'm sure all of you who are married knows what comes next after the wedding, the honeymoon or sexual intimacy. That's where we came to realize God's greatest gift to husbands and wives. Eros is crucial to marriages especially when it becomes life giving. (Praying and hoping we can give life to wonderful babies and would be blessed to become parents in God's perfect time) But some of you might be wondering how our marriage survived through 3 years of long distance relationship with less and long abstinence to sexual intimacy. Only because of the last type of love...

Third is Agape- divine love. It mirrors the love of God through Jesus when he died on the cross for our sins. It is the love that is self denying and self sacrificial. Truthfully, Alan could have demanded me to go back home and live there for good. Alan was living a good life, he had a good job with good pay, his family and friends were there, and yet he allowed me to stay here in the US to support my family. He gave up everything he established, moved out of his comfort zone, moved here, started back from zero, to be with me so we could be together. I am so grateful that Alan would do such a sacrifice. Indeed, I can feel God's divine love for me through him.

Now that we are together, we know there's so much more we have to learn, challenges and trials we have to deal with but through these 3 kinds of love and only through God's grace, our marriage will be victorious. 

My husband and I were asked to briefly share during a gathering of our community, a testimony of God's love and faithfulness to our marriage. Our love story has always been an open book with the hopes of bringing light and hope to others for the greater glory and honor of God.  Hope this helps. 


xoxo,
Joselle