Damjan & Charito

September 20, 2021

"God's Unfailing Grace – Love at First Sight"

Year 2013, someone prophesied to me that I am a "Rebecca" to someone. To me it was a hope that one day in God's timing I will meet my Isaac – my future husband.

March 16 of 2019, God spoke to me about cmatch.com, a Christian dating website which I heard once 5 years ago from a beloved friend. I signed up and wrote down my testimony on how I met the Lord and savior of my heart (Jesus Christ). Night of 17th, I received a comment to my testimony about Matthew 5:6 "Blessed [are] those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled". The one who commented to my testimony was Damjan. I was in Jeddah Saudi Arabia that time and he was in Slovenia. We were 4,568.2 kilometers away from each other in a different time zone. Still, God has His miraculous ways to connect us. The first moment I heard Damjan's voice, I felt I've already known him for so long. There were no awkward moments and I felt secure of just being me. I felt that deep connection between us most especially when we talk about Jesus. It sparked something within me that I knew from the start that is special. Going back to year 2012, when I started to pray for my future husband, my heart's desire was that God will connect us in His spirit. That if we'd meet one another we'd feel comfortable. And this prayer was answered.

One of our prayer nights via voice call, God said to Damjan that He entrusted His daughter to him with the command to take care of her. When Damjan told me about the word "daughter" it showered me with bliss, a word of confirmation that God, my heavenly Father, was entrusting me to his beloved son, a manifestation of God's heart. Though I didn't preserve myself to someone after His heart, God's redeeming grace always calls me His own, His "daughter". I was already a Christian in Jeddah but I failed to keep myself in purity while waiting for the right man because I got into wrong relationships with wrong men. Knowing Damjan, he really preserved himself for the right woman for 15 years while doing missions in Spain and Australia. I felt unworthy for God's best choice for me but yet He lead him to me. I fell to wrong relationships, but He was still there to deliver me and lead me to the right one.

Back then, when Damjan and I continually connecting through chat, I got to know him more. We shared prayers and we received more confirmations from Abba, our Heavenly Father. We were overwhelmed by His love that's flowing in each of us through the Holy Spirit. March 29 2019, God led me to buy an infinity ring which I told Damjan. He said that he poured out his heart towards God to buy an engagement ring for us. But back of his mind he asked God "How?". He was in Slovenia and I was in Jeddah. We were thousands miles away from each other. Yet, Daddy God intervened few days after. He gave us this verse: "As he delighted himself to the Lord, He gave his heart's desires" – Psalm 37:4. Yippee we were engaged by God's timing. We were just so amazed on how He beautifully planned everything.

Five months had passed, my job contract in Jeddah ended. With strong convictions and love of the Lord that connected us, we decided to meet in person. The place that we planned to meet was Philippines, my home country. But this meeting would also be the time of our wedding. August 11 2019, we got our first hug in Ninoy Aquino International Airport Philippines. I felt like I was Rebecca hugging my Isaac. The 2013 prophecy was fulfilled.

August 23 2019, we had our intimate garden wedding ceremony with my beloved family and friends. It was an outstanding moment, because God has given us more of His blessings through His presence. The next day, Damjan needed to go back to Slovenia for work. But there was one more thing that we had to attend. We both needed to go in front of a judge for our marriage certificate in the next 2 weeks. God never failed to show His faithfulness because He let Damjan return to the Philippines for our judge appearance. September 5, we were one in God and officially married by human law. Two months later I received my Slovenian family visa in Tokyo, and with this visa I went home to Slovenia in the arms of God's best choice, my husband Damjan.

Now, two years later, we are happily married and blessed of having handsome sons named Emanuel (God is with us) and Mikael Yeshua.

Our love story is bonded by the love of our Heavenly Father who prepared and chose Damjan and me to be married for the greater purpose, to His wonderful Kingdom. As the Scripture says in Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." We laid our own plans and negative thoughts down at the feet of Jesus. We allowed His own plans to prevail. We allowed Him to create our love story. He did. He never fails us. We were just two singles who were completely trusting the Lord. We were both in different nations in doing missions with God. We were both hoping and holding on to His promises that one day we'd meet our suitable helpers. Then one night, God connected us through cMatch, a group of God's faithful servants who are doing God's will.

We thank and praise God for orchestrating everything. He is our Perfect Lover! He put His mark in our hearts and that is His everlasting love. We are also giving thanks to all the brothers and sisters in Christ who are working behind cmatch.com. May the Lord continually bless you all.

Love in Christ Jesus,

— Damjan & Charito