Bro. Reginald is from a broken family: a child who grew up without a father. His family suffered a lot of struggles due to their father’s absence. As we read his story, let us watch how a sovereign God can fix broken things and transform it into something beautiful.
Regi is from the Young Adults Ministry. His testimony is about his family’s story. To begin with, Regi is the second child of the three siblings in their family. They are children of a wrong relationship. His father is married to another woman and his mother fell in love with his father when she was still a maiden. They lived together for approximately 15 years. During Regi’s childhood, he and his siblings thought that their parents’ relationship is normal. They knew that they won’t be able to be with their father always. They knew that their father will only be there during special occasions like their birthdays and graduations. Even though Regi’s mother is not a Born Again Christian yet, she realized that this kind of relationship is wrong.
Last 2003, when Regi was still a high school student, he remembered clearly the time when he witnessed his mother breaking up with his father through the phone. Even his mother was the second wife of his father, still he had another woman. At that point, Regi’s mother decided to totally break up with his father. But during that time, Regi’s mother was worried and hesitant to push through with her decision. Because their father was the only one providing for them. His mother resigned from her job and her only means of income was their sari-sari store. Regi remembered the time when his mother was talking to him about how she cried to the Lord about her worries on how to provide their financial needs. She pleaded to the Lord and made a deal with Him. She said that she was not going to entertain suitors, nor she was going to find a husband, in favor that the Lord would allow his son, Regi and his sister to finish their studies. She asked the Lord for their father to still provide for their family’s financial needs even after their separation. And the Lord was faithful to their family because Regi’s father provided for their studies from elementary up to college. It was hard for Regi to grow up without a father. It was not enough that they could get financial support, but Regi longed for a father that would guide them and that would be always there for them. Regi and his siblings experienced various struggles during their childhood because of their parents’ separation. In spite of this, Regi’s mother served the Lord faithfully. She raised and guided Regi and his siblings properly.
At some point in time, Regi’s family experienced a lot of hardships during their father’s absence. Summer of year 2011, when her mother experienced bleeding for almost more than a year. She had abnormal menstruation daily. It is like the story from the Bible where a woman experienced bleeding for so many years. She was brought to a hospital due to blood loss.
Then November 2011, Regi’s family were forcely evicted from their apartment because the owner had a problem with them. Then, the most feared experience of Regi and his family came when his mother experienced a heart attack last April 2016. The doctor found out that his mother’s heart has three clogged veins. It’s not that severe but the other two veins were in critical condition. The doctor recommended that Regi’s mother should have an angiogram and angioplasty. The veins must be cut open for his mother’s blood to flow properly. Way back then, the Lord was faithful to Regi’s family and He provided financially for them. His mother was also cured from her illness. During that time, Regi’s mother was already a servant of the Lord. She became a worker even before Regi did. She is from the Outreach Ministry and she leads a C2S group in their neighborhood.
Regi personally believed that, no matter who we are in the past, no matter what we’ve done in our lives, no matter what we’ve been through, when we truly surrender our lives to the Lord, He will bless us and our families.
Regi stated that, “Naniniwala po ako na, ang Diyos ay tapat; ang biyaya Niya ay sapat, kaya Siya ay karapat-dapat na pasalamatan. To God be the glory po!”
