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The
Asuncions
A Family Made Strong By Faith
by GEMMA LEE ASUNCION
JUST
like any other family, ours, the Asuncion family, has its
share of ups and downs. Our ups are quite common: being
properly clothed, well-fed, being enrolled in good schools,
being healthy and enjoying some of life’s luxuries
like going abroad, spending quality time together by going
to church and praising God, eating out, watching movies,strolling
and visiting friends and loved-ones...The list is endless.
Of course, problems and conflicts are the down-side. Thirteen
years ago, my father, Gene Asuncion, simply Daddy Luv to
us, suffered his first heart attack, which had him confined
at the ICU of the Philippine Heart Center. He almost underwent
a bypass procedure which normally has a 50-50 guarantee.
I still recall that on the day of his operation, we were
all at his bedside, uncertain and scared. In fact it was
also my sister, Gracious’ elementary graduation. You
guessed it right, we weren’t able to attend and instead,
a now-late aunt of ours accompanied her to the commencement
exercises. Up to this day, I still get the shivers every
time I think of it. We all thought we would lose our dad.
Fast forward Y2K, it was Mommy Luv’s turn. When she
detected a lump in her breast, she went to her doctor and
was diagnosed as having the big C, almost at its second
stage! She immediately underwent operation.
Now that my mother is cleared of the cancer cells, the fear
factor is still there as it could come back anytime. We
four sisters could even inherit it, too. But praise God,
He has been faithful and has blessed us with good health.
It cannot be helped that, as much as my parents have struggles
with health conflicts, we, their children have also had
our own personal struggles. I for one was beset by a romantic
relationship conflict the same year my mom underwent surgery.
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I
could go on and on about this, but one thing is for sure:
During all our trying times, we have held on to our faith
in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We have always believed
that God will never give us anything that we cannot handle.
Our family has remained intact. I am proud that our lines
of communication have remained open. In fact, whenever there
are concerns to be raised, trivial or otherwise, we bring
it out in the open during our family devotion and dialogue
every Saturday or Sunday evenings. Be it big or small ones,
God has continually showered us with blessings through the
years. I am sure too that God is doing the same to everyone.
This serves as a testimony that the family, aside from being
the basic unit of society (as our Social Studies teachers
have told since time immemorial), matters most. Just like
in any other relationship, it’s up to each member to
help make it last. But this won’t be possible if one
does not know what his or her focal point is. Let’s
look deeper into ourselves and see what we really prioritize,
but…“as for me and my house, we will serve the
Lord.” (Joshua 24:15). |
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