08/25/2025
SEVENTEEN MILES FROM THE COAST OF Ponce, PR NESTLED BY THE INABÓN RIVER, is the village of Jurutungo — it means far away in name, yet close in memory. It was there, at the Riverview Pool & Cabins, that I first met a young girl named Massiel when I was just fourteen. Who would have thought that a friendship of ten years, kept quietly in the chambers of our hearts, would then scatter us apart for two decades? Thirty years of trials, errors, and searching — yet in 2014, the Lord allowed me to rediscover the one He had always planned for me. “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” (Jeremiah 29:11). This time, I was not letting go. Sometimes, we have Jesus right before us but still choose everything else. But when His hand is on a covenant, no man can separate it (Mark 10:9).
Marriage is more than companionship — it is the foundation of family, and family is the microcosm of society. If the home collapses, so does everything around it. Love is tested not in fair weather but in storms, when reality strikes like a ton of bricks and you want to hide and cry. Yet, love — true love — endures. “MANY WATERS CANNOT QUENCH LOVE, nor can the FLOODS DROWN IT” (Songs 8:7). That is the flame God has kindled between Massiel and me, and after seven years of covenant marriage, it still burns with His strength. The Riverview Pool still stands under new ownership, though the cabins are gone. For us, it remains a reminder of our first love and of the God who brought us full circle.
But even our story, with its beauty and pain, is just a shadow of a greater story — the wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7–9). Earthly marriage points beyond itself to the eternal union between Christ and His bride, the Church. Love is not merely a feeling; love is a Person — Jesus Christ. He loves us with a love that no flood can drown, and He longs to share eternity with us. Beloved reader, after so many years of searching in your own life, today I know more than ever that God’s plan was you, and His covenant with us sustains us, and His love gives life to our dead soul. He loves you — would you love Him back?
— Pastor Pedro Feliciano
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