Reese Barcelon
People change, as it is one of the most inevitable happening in someone’s life. There will always come a time when a person suddenly doesn’t like things he used to enjoy before, the foods he liked to eat, or even acts the way he does back then.
However, not all changes are bad. Some of them are wonderful, and truly inspirational.
Treszka Tio Oliveria’s post last April 24th seemed like a normal one as she was simply asking her Facebook friends to spot the difference in the two pictures of her and her husband, but there’s more worth reading.
Curious? Read her inspiring post below:
“Nope, [it’s] not Mark’s weight loss and not my haircut. Something more, much much more.
On the left picture, Mark and I were actually drunk. And honestly we spent a lot of time like this. On the right picture, Mark and I just finished praise and worship with the youth. We spent half of the time separated, worshipping individually, and on the second part, I laid hands on him as I prayed for him. We ended the night in prayer and praising the Lord together. These pics are taken more than 2 years apart.”
The youth nowadays are constant alcohol consumers. Despite of their age, they have learned how to be heavy drinkers and do rebellious acts to their parents.
“One night, while we were walking home and we wondered how different our relationship could have been if we did not surrender our lives to the Lord. We exchanged thoughts:
“Baka sobrang seloso mo.”
“We probably hold each other down and over protective natin.”
“Baka nagbreak na tayo.”
“Baka nag gagantihan tayo.”
“Baka nagbibilangan tayo ng mistakes.”
We laughed this off as we talked about how much our lives have changed. How much blessings we have. Nights of drinking turned to nights of worship. We even changed from eating our fave junk food together to encouraging each other to living a healthy lifestyle. We go to the gym together. There were little changes and big changes, but all lead us to becoming better.”
Treszka also shared what the word ‘change’ meant to her back then and in the present.
“But the truth is, YOU CANNOT MAKE ANYONE CHANGE.
I didn’t understand this when my mom repeatedly reminded this to me when I was 16. I had a boyfriend who would always tell me “I have changed for you. I am a bad boy but you make me want to be good” loool. But back then, I felt like a superhero. It caused me lots of heartbreaks to learn that my mom was right.”
However, how did Treszka and Mark change into active members of a religious organization?
“Change comes from love, from REAL LOVE. The love that was demonstrated to us by God. The love that forgives, encourages and the love that is selfless. Not the love we think we get from relationships. When I fell in love with the Lord, that’s what inspired me to be a better person.
And to be honest, I was ready to let go of Mark. I saw the reality that there came a point where we were so close in dragging each other down, and if we didn’t stop, we could have destroyed each other. We were happy, we were never toxic to each other, but our relationship was not God-centered. And I knew any relationship that wasn’t built out of God’s love can last FOR LOTS OF YEARS BUT WILL BECOME SO POISONING. We could date for 10 years but those can be 10 miserable years. Our situation was in a unique case that time, because I was pregnant. So I asked him to just continue giving me space to learn and pray for this.
Little did I notice that as I walked with the Lord, Mark was closely watching. And I guess that’s what gave him the inspiration. My walk in getting to know God was different from Mark’s. We knew we had to grow individually before we could grow our relationship.”
Treszka showed how the Lord touched their hearts and guided them through all the hardships they had encountered, until they finally saw the sunshine.
“I didn’t change him. You can’t make anyone change. If a boy tells you that you changed him… Run. This “change” is fake. It’s the type of change that disappears when you fight. It’s the type of “show” he puts up when you are around.
Change has to come from within. A person should desire change for his own good first. You can never pressure a person into changing, otherwise, he will just put on a mask for you, so that you’d stop whining about how he should be and who he should be.
Also, why are we always so focused on what others need to improve on? WORK ON YOURSELF. There are only two things you are in control of: yourself and your response to others. This is what I did. I let myself learn and grow.
Mark made his own decision to reduce drinking, to quit bad habits. That was him. We worked on ourselves separately… No pressuring each other. No rules set on each other.
And by God’s grace, we are now individually stable and can work on growing together.
God healed our relationship. We weren’t aware that it was at the verge of being destructive. We thought we were just having fun. But now we have learned the real purpose of a relationship.
Inspiring each other to grow, and inspiring others with the love you have for each other.
Can you really inspire others to develop their best potential if you can’t even develop your own? Can you really ask someone to stop habits that even you can’t stop? It starts with yourself.”
“In some cases, we are healed. In some cases, we are asked to let go. Remember, you CAN force what you want but it will be stressful, it will be heartbreaking. If you want something peaceful, something that will make you truly happy, then you need to give God a chance to show you what He has in store for you.
You cannot change someone just for him to fit your preferences. You cannot force someone to perfectly fit your puzzle.
Focus on yourself. The rest, if it’s God’s will, will follow.
Guys, Mark and I are sinners. We are not too different from others. The difference probably is that we choose to surrender EVERYDAY. We both need to keep on growing. Learning and growing should NEVER STOP. We share this story with you to inspire you that change is never too late and to show you the wonders God can do if you let Him guide you. Do not expect perfection, but expect things to be better than today.
And we admit, without God, there probably will be no “us” today.
The netizens who had seen her post were moved by the kind of love she had not only with Mark, but also with the Lord.
As what people say, faith is one of the most powerful things that anyone can use as their weapon. Faith transforms the fearful to brave, changes the weak to strong, and turns loneliness into happiness.
Everyone knows that it can sometimes be hard to maintain a relationship with the Lord as there are hindrances that prevent us from reaching out to the Almighty One. What do we do when we keep falling further away from the Holy Lord? We stretch out our hands even more.
