Here’s a transcript of what we’ve shared during our wedding:
Ion:
For those who don’t know, Raqz and I met online—but not via Tinder. It was through her brother, Ryan, who was a close friend of mine. We got along really well, spending hours chatting every day for months, until we fell in love with each other.
Raqz followed me to Dubai to work, and we eventually got married in a civil wedding. We clicked and felt aligned in many ways. We loved each other’s humor. We seemed happy, but we never really talked about the important things in our marriage—like our roles as husband and wife, long-term plans, and so on.
Whenever we had differences, I just let them slide to keep the “happy” state of our relationship. I didn’t want to bring up issues because I thought it might ruin the mood. I avoided fights. As they say, if you avoid conflicts to keep the peace, you start a war inside yourself. We convinced ourselves that things were fine. But in reality, those unspoken issues piled up—until they became too much to handle.
There were these little things that used to annoy me, but I’d kept it to myself—like how she’d ask me to do small tasks she could easily do herself. I feel like she was always bossing me around. Minsan aabutin nya na lang, iuutos pa. For example, she’d ask me to get her a glass of water even when she was just as capable. I hated how such “requests” would break my momentum.
There were many days I went to work without food or skipped breakfast, and it made me feel bad. But still, I never brought it up to her.
I wanted deep conversations with her to share my thoughts, ideas, and dreams, but most of the time, all I got was, “Eh di wow.” I felt blocked right away. Over time, I lost the desire to open up conversations. It frustrated me that I couldn’t have meaningful discussions with my own wife.
I didn’t feel like she truly supports me in the things I was doing for myself and for our future.
I’m sure she had a lot of frustrations with me too.
I kept trying to love her more, but there was a void in my heart.
One day, I met another woman. She gave me the attention, time, and conversations I had been longing for from my wife. She was responding intellectually to my thoughts and complementing every idea I shared.
It was all friendly talks until I realized I had already fallen into sin. I had an affair with this woman. Because of that, I started to fall out of love with my wife. My character changed. I became someone she didn’t recognize. I started saying hurtful words and stopped caring.
I found myself trapped in a situation that I hated the most. I fell in love with someone else and was intentionally hurting my wife with words. Eventually, it got to the point where I wanted to escape our marriage.
Raqz:
To make things even more painful, I became very close friends with this woman. She made an effort to build a relationship with me. I confided in her about Ion’s strange attitude and our marriage struggles, asking for advice—without knowing that the very person I trusted was the one betraying me. Of course, I had suspicions. Sometimes, I asked Ion if he had feelings for her, and he just kept denying it.
Ion:
I kept hurting Raqz with my words. There were nights she went away and stayed with a friend. There were nights I didn’t come home. I was ready to walk away and give up on our marriage. I had several days where I felt guilt, but I couldn’t quit it. Then one day came, a little over a year since the affair started; the other woman walked away from me—out of her own guilt and conviction.
I felt my world was crushed. Weeks passed, and little by little, I started to let go too. While I was in the middle of the affair, Raqz started strengthening her faith, showing signs of big positive changes. She deepened her relationship with God. She largely improved on her role as a wife, in accordance with what the Bible says. She became more affectionate, gentle with words, and intentional. She became spirit-filled.
At the same time, I also realized my character was changing for the better. I felt ashamed of how I had been a monster the previous year. Our marriage started to heal. Every day, things got better. We even reached a point where we would say, “This is probably the happiest stage of our marriage.” But then, I kept getting reminders of my affair. I could not get it off my head. The guilt was consuming me.
I confided in a friend—my small group leaders actually. I shared everything with them. Weeks passed, and they advised me to confess to Raqz. They shared the gospel with me and encouraged me to repent, commit my life to Jesus, and accept Him as my Savior. They told me that if I confess and ask for forgiveness from Raqz, God would be pleased. And God rewards the repentant.
I refused. I thought, I’ve already asked for God’s forgiveness in my prayers. Our marriage is also improving. What’s the point of confessing to Raqz? I was afraid of losing her if I told her. I wanted to just move on and forget everything.
I was selfish too. I thought about my reputation—I have a known platform in Dubai, ‘Boy Dubai,’ known for advocating good relationships. What if people find out what I did? It would be such a shame. So I said, “I’d rather die than let the world know about the stupid mistake I made.”
I didn’t understand why they kept insisting that I confess. Our marriage was already in its best season. While pondering on this, I remembered one thing my friend told me about the gospel. He said we can be saved by God’s grace—that we must put our faith in Jesus Christ alone to be saved.
The following days were tormenting. I started getting visions—dreams telling me to reveal everything to Raqz. At first, I ignored them, but the voice became louder and louder. Then one night, I had a clearer dream. I saw Jesus encouraging me to tell the truth. In that dream, I saw John—our pastor right here. He was not a pastor yet back then, and we weren’t close friends—not yet.
But the dream was so clear, I knew it was God speaking to me. There was a sudden rush for me to obey. That same day, I met John and told him everything. He was very instrumental and gave me the wisest advice similar to what my couple friends had been telling me.
So I said, “I am ready to reveal everything to Raqz. No matter what happens. Wala na akong pakialam sa sasabihin ng tao. I don’t care about the shame anymore. Wala na akong pakialam kung masaktan ako o makulong.” I was ready to face the consequences of my sin, even if it meant not seeing my wife and daughter anymore.
For me, the most important thing was to obey what I knew God wanted me to do. So that night, I revealed everything to Raqz. “I had an affair with her.” I was ready for chaos. I expected her to yell at me, hit me; I was expecting rage. But she was quiet—tears just flowing from her eyes. After long minutes of silence, she started asking so many hard questions.
She was deeply hurt. But she never raised her voice. She just wept all night, asking how I could have done that to her. The reaction I expected from her didn’t happen. I didn’t know what to do next, but I knew in my heart that I did what God wanted me to do. At that moment, I surrendered everything to God.
Raqz:
Before Ion’s confession, God was already at work in me, perhaps preparing my heart. My small group leader shared the gospel with me, and I embraced it fully right there. I realized that I am a sinner, and yet God loves me—that He sent His only son, Jesus, to die on the cross to save me from my sins.
Everything Ion told me was just confirmation of my suspicions. Tama pala ang hinala ko earlier. After all, my jealousy was not baseless—there was indeed an affair. I cried silently all night. But the next morning, I was fuming mad. I wanted to confront the woman. I wanted revenge. But God had His ways of stopping me.
That morning, our daughter, Aya, suddenly had a high fever. I rushed her to the hospital. She had pneumonia. If that hadn’t happened, I don’t know what I would have done. I could have killed the woman. For three days, I prayed and cried. Then, while praying, I found it in my heart to tell Ion I forgive him.
But I told him it wouldn’t be easy at all, and it doesn’t mean the pain is gone. But I will choose to forgive him every day because that is what God is telling me to do, and I want to obey Him.
The days and months that followed were hard. We tried to move forward, but the pain lingered. We fought a lot. Ion had breakdowns. Para syang nababaliw. He had episodes where he was hurting himself because he couldn’t believe that he had done such a terrible thing.
Months passed, and one day, I felt a deep longing to have another child—a boy, hopefully. I have PCOS, so conceiving a baby was difficult. We consulted doctors. Then we had a big fight during the time we were supposed to have contact. So in desperation, I told Ion, “If I don’t get pregnant this time, I might as well just end my life.”
Days passed, and I took a pregnancy test. AND… it was positive. Ion was jumping up and down with great joy! Even Aya told us she had a dream, and Jesus said, “You will have a baby brother. His name is Savin.” That moment changed everything. It was God’s saving grace. It was the turning point where I felt the pain gradually disappearing. My heart overflowed with joy. That’s when I knew—I had truly forgiven.
We named our son Savin Grae. Because indeed, it was God’s saving grace that restored our marriage. Following Jesus meant surrendering my pain, my anger, and my right to revenge—trusting that His ways are higher than mine. It wasn’t easy, but as I chose to obey Him, He transformed my heart, replacing bitterness with His peace and love. I realized that forgiving Ion wasn’t about what Ion deserved, but about what Jesus had already done for me on the cross—His grace was more powerful than my pain, and I chose to trust His Word over my feelings.
Ion:
God is good, despite the brokenness. He said, “…that all things work together for good to those who love God, and those who are called according to His purpose.” All things—meaning good and bad. Even the worst moments of our lives—God can turn into something beautiful and meaningful.
This is indeed the essence of the gospel—Jesus met me at my lowest, when I was drowning in sin and shame, and yet, He didn’t turn away. Instead, He poured out His grace, led me to repentance, and restored what I had broken. His love didn’t just save me; it redeemed our marriage, healed our hearts, and turned our deepest pain into a testimony of His faithfulness.
And that’s how I understood the full meaning of GRACE. Grace is God’s gift; it is not something earned through our good works. Grace is about God’s love, forgiveness, and His offer of eternal life despite our shortcomings. It means that God blesses us with goodness—even though we do not deserve it—and withholds the consequences that our sins deserve. Indeed, that’s what I felt after following and trusting Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
I am not proud of what I did. Not at all. But I am in awe of how God used this chapter of our lives to bring hope—not only to us, but to others as well. Because today, we are counseling and discipling couples who are going through similar situations and imparting the lessons and wisdom we learned from our own experiences with God.
More importantly, Raqz and I have seen gigantic changes in our lives since we began to live by the gospel—we have become more loving, without pride. Whenever we have differences, we know how to talk through them to avoid creating a large conflict, rather than letting arguments simmer. We do and enjoy accountability dates where we can comfortably have deeper conversations about our marriage. Kung dati, ang sagot niya sa akin lagi ay, “E di wow…” Ngayon, “Wow, that’s nice babe!” Ganyan na!
We are happier than ever and full of joy, and we can see how it overflows to our children. Praise God! In fact, those people who knew this story tell us, “Parang wala namang traces na may ganito kaming pinagdaanan.” And… after Savin Grae, God blessed us also with another boy, Cedie. Blessings after blessings, favor after favor came in after we let God work on our transformation. Truly indeed, repentance and obedience to God bring blessings.
Raqz:
We’re not perfect, and we will never be. Following Jesus doesn’t shield us from challenges, but it fills us with God’s wisdom, allowing us to stay joyful no matter what comes our way. I was telling Ion, honestly, if I had to experience the same thing again, I would willingly go through it—because in that kind of brokenness is where I experienced who Jesus truly is.
There is no such thing as a dark past with Jesus. What we’ve realized is that Ion’s repentant heart and my immediate obedience to God to forgive Ion is what saved our marriage. Today, our marriage is stronger than ever. All because of God’s grace alone. Truly, He makes all things beautiful in His time.
Together:
From a mess to a beautiful message. From being victims to victory.
From a life full of tests to a powerful testimony of God’s love and grace.
Kay God, tunay na may forever. All glory belongs to Him.
