Our Love Story (Summary)

We wrote this summary special for all of you who can’t understand Indonesian :)

This story is about one girl, named Marcella (Cella) who lives in Jakarta. She surrendered her life to Jesus when she was 12 years old and she made a commitment to not making relationship with any guys until she is really ready to get married. She only wants to make a relationship with one guy (the Godly one) in her life time, and that guy will be her husband :)

During her “single” times, she kept focusing her life to God and to serve the people. There was a time when she also felt lonely and worried about her future spouse, but God always strengthened her and put faith in her heart. She believes that God has prepared the right man for her and they will meet in the right time. She likes to write a letter and also a prayer for her future husband. And God does answer her prayer!

In the beginning of 2012, when Cella was asking God about her life calling, God put a big desire and passion in her heart to do mission and to bless the nations. God opened the door for her (through some friends) to join a mission trip to Cambodia. Before the trip, she got connected with the leader of this mission team who lives in Australia. His name is DM (Daniel Martin). They had never known each other before.

DM was 33 years old at that time, and he also never been in a relationship with any girls before. He has a great heart and passion for a mission, especially in Cambodia since 2006. He also believed that God knows the best and has prepared someone out there for him :)

One day, during the mission trip, when Cella was having a devotional time in the morning, she opened her Bible and this one verse came out:

“It’s better to have a partner than go it alone.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9, MSG)

She was very surprised! “God, what does it mean?” She felt that God wanna say something related to her future life partner, and she asked God for a sign. Actually, she already had DM’s name in her heart at that time, but she was not sure yet.

Few days after that, God really shown His sign to Cella through the pastors (Ps. Edu and Ps. Elly). On the way back from one village to the city, Cella sat beside Ps. Elly, and suddenly she whispered to Cella: “It’s ok if you will get angry with me... but please don’t tell this to anyone... I wanna tell you that... I WANT YOU TO PRAY FOR... DM!”

WOW! Cella was speechless and didn’t know what to say... but deep in her heart, she knew that this is the sign from God and she started to pray for DM.

DM also has another story... At the last ministry that they had in one of the villages, there something happened in his mind when he saw Cella doing her things with the children. He can have this thought: “gosh... this girl was good dealing with children, I wish I could have that kind of character in my future wife…”

That was his simple wish... but he was surprised when suddenly Ps. Edu and Ps. Elly called him to their room and then they mentioned Cella’s name for him to pray over. And then he said, “Yes, I will pray for her...”

After the mission trip, DM stayed in Jakarta for about a week and met Cella couple times. He also invited Cella to come to his sister’s wedding and introduced her to his family. Before he went back to Australia, he decided to talk to Cella and asked her about the future of their relationship. She was ok with that, but she asked time to test and pray. Then, they decided to take 3 months of prayer time and used that time to get to know more about each other. They also shared about this to their parents, pastors, mentors and asked them to support in prayer.

Finally, after 3 months... 11-11-12, on that special date... Cella gave her answer to DM... and she said... “YES!” Woohoo! Wow... They are in a relationship now! And they are not single anymore :p Praise the Lord! So, since that day, they started to be in LDR (Long Distance Relationship). LDR is not always easy. They faced so many trials and challenges, especially in communication. But they always believe that love never fails... :)

In December 2012, DM gave a very special surprise for Cella. He flew back to Jakarta without telling her. He suddenly appeared right beside her when she was having dinner in one restaurant with DM’s family. He also gave her a bouquet of purple flowers and then introduced himself to Cella’s parents. What a surprise! :)

After few months in a relationship, they decided their wedding date (February 8th, 2014) and also decided to write this book. Cella always had a dream to write a book about her love story with her future husband, and to make that book as a wedding souvenir... and here it is... her dream does come true! God has written a beautiful love story for them... and through this book, we can see how faithful our God is and He never break his promises. Amen! :)

For free-download "Our Love Story" book, click here:

http://www.4shared.com/office/ABk28UWZ/OurLoveStory.html

Prayer For My Husband

Sejak beberapa tahun yang lalu (sewaktu masih "single"), aku selalu rajin berdoa buat pria yang kelak akan jadi suamiku.. Meskipun saat itu aku blom tau pria-nya ada di mana and kapan bakal ketemunya (hehe..), I kept praying for him, baik lewat surat, postingan-postingan di blog, di diary dsb. (Kamu bisa liat foto di bawah ini, itu semua surat-surat yang aku kumpulin dari sejak taon 2008.. and akhirnya aku kasih ke DM setelah kita udah menikah :))

Trus sewaktu jadian and akhirnya udah ketemu sama DM.. aku juga tetep terus berdoa buat dia, supaya Tuhan terus jaga hubungan kami sampai masuk ke dalam pernikahan, and Tuhan persiapin kami berdua untuk jadi husband and wife..

Nah sekarang, setelah udah menikah.. should I stop praying for him?! Of course NOT! Haha.. Justru harus lebih dibanyakin lagi doanya.. Every morning and night kami selalu ambil waktu untuk doa bareng.. Kalo siang-siang gini juga kadang Tuhan suka ingetin aku to pray for him yang lagi kerja and lagi "berperang" di luar sana, hehe..

Tadi pagi aku iseng search di google tentang "prayer for husband" and aku mo kutip sebuah doa yang aku dapet dari salah satu link, biar ini jadi doa aku juga hari ini for my husband, DM.. and bisa jadi doa kalian juga (para isteri) buat suami-suami kalian.. Let's keep praying for our husbands! That's one of the best gifts that we can give to our husbands today :)

"A Wife's Prayer For Her Husband"

by Jennifer Smith

http://unveiledwife.com/a-wifes-prayer-for-her-husband/

God,

Thank you for your unconditional love for me. I am so undeserving, yet you pursue me daily! Thank you for your grace and for your perfect provision. I am so blessed and grateful for my life and for my husband’s life. Thank for trusting us with each other’s hearts, blessing us with the covenant of marriage. You have given us an opportunity to love each other unconditionally and sometimes that is hard to do, but I ask Lord that you would help us to love like you love.

Please show me how to be a joyful wife, a compassionate wife, a humble wife, and a truly forgiving wife. I pray for wisdom. I pray that you would equip both my husband and I with whatever we are lacking so that we may bless each other and be a beautiful example of a healthy marriage to other couples. Help me to understand that my expectations for my husband may never be met, that he is human and capable of sin. Give me a discerning spirit and the courage to speak truth into my husband’s life, which will encourage him. Keep words of disappointment and regret, lies from the enemy, far from me.

Lord, if my husband is struggling with anything, please remove it from him. Heal my husband and give him a strong desire to seek after you. I pray that he is the spiritual leader of our family that you have called him to be. May your characteristics manifest in him as he grows in his relationship with you.

God I ask that you would protect our marriage, keeping Satan and his ways far from our family. Holy Spirit walk with my husband today, call out his name and reveal yourself to him. I pray that our love for each other continues to grow deeper and deeper everyday. Please grant us time to spend intimately with one another, and especially time and desire to pray with and over one another! I pray for restoration in our marriage! May you be at the center of our marriage FOREVER and EVER! Reigning in our hearts, motivating our love and guiding our actions!

In Jesus Name AMEN!

When God Made You

Morning from Melbourne! :)

Cuaca di sini udah mulai dingin, apalagi sekarang tiap hari kita harus bangun jam 4:30 pagi karena pekerjaan DM yang baru.. masih gelap and dingin banget.. but enak juga buat saat teduh, hehe..

Anyway, pagi ini lagi keingetan aja sama 1 lagu yang kita pake waktu wedding dance.. Judulnya "When God Made You" (By Newsong and Natalie Grant) Suka banget sama lagu ini! Thanks to Sari yang udah bantu nyari-nyari lagu and "gak sengaja" ketemu lagu ini, haha.. Waktu itu lagi bingung banget mau dance pake lagu apa, and waktunya juga udah mepet banget, blom latian dsb. Eh pas denger lagu ini, langsung suka, terutama sama liriknya.. And pas DM dengerin, dia juga setuju :)

Kita dance gak lama, kira-kira cuma 2 menit pertama dari lagu ini, but it was fun and unforgetable :p apalagi kita berdua kagak ngerti gimana caranya dance, hahaha.. Thanks to July yang udah bantuin kita latihan :) So, enjoy this song.. and siapa tau ini bisa jadi masukan lagu buat kalian yang lagi persiapan wedding, hehe..

"When God Made You"

(Newsong with Natalie Grant)

It's always been a mystery to me

How two hearts can come together 

And love can last forever

But now that I have found you, I believe

That a miracle has come 

When God sends the perfect one

Now gone are all my questions about why 

And I've never been so sure of anything in my life

[Chorus:]

I wonder what God was thinking 

When He created you 

I wonder if He knew everything I would need 

Because He made all my dreams come true 

When God made you

He must have been thinking about me

I promise that wherever you may go 

Wherever life may lead you 

With all my heart I'll be there too 

From this moment on I want you to know 

I'll let nothing come between us 

And I will love the ones you love 

[Bridge:]

He made the sun He made the moon 

To harmonize in perfect tune 

One Can't move without the other 

They just have to be together 

And that is why I know it's true 

You're for me and I'm for you 

'Cause my world just Can't be right 

Without you in my life 

[Tag chorus:]

He must have heard every prayer I've been praying 

Yes He knew everything I would need 

When God made you 

When dreams come true 

When God made you 

He must have been thinking about me

Our Wedding Highlight

So, finally! Here is our wedding highlight video!

I really couldn't wait to see this video.. and finally yesterday Faz (the camera man and the video-maker) sent this link to my email! I was so excited and then I watched it together with DM last night :) Thanks so much Faz and the team! You guys did a wonderful job! I have watched it many times and still wanna watch it again and again :p

I hope through this video you will see not only about me or DM.. Yes of course, we love one another (hehe..) but there is a greater love between us that has brought us together.. it is the love of our wonderful Father and Savior, Jesus Christ.. Love that never fails..

May this video be a blessing to everyone who watch it and will glorify His name.. Amen! ^^

 

Daniel & Marcella Wedding Highlight from Pastel Studio on Vimeo.


Or if you wanna watch it on YouTube, click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KizWMcPq1vU&feature=youtu.be

Call Me Mrs. Widjaja :)

Yep... since February 8, 2014 I have officially become Mrs. Widjaja :) Yes... I'm a wife now!

Gak berasa udah hampir sebulan kami menikah, and udah banyak banget hal-hal seru yang kami alamin bersama selama sebulan ini..

1. Thanks God, all the wedding preparation and our wedding day went very smooth and well here in Melbourne :) Ada sekitar 150 orang yang kami invite.. (videonya menyusul ya..) Kami adain pemberkatan di gereja DM, and then we had a simple reception di hall gerejanya.. We did our first kiss and our first dance as well! Haha.. Aneh rasanya :p But beneran deh, kalo kita bener-bener jaga kekudusan pas masa pranikah, pas udah nikah itu jadi seru banget rasanya, kayak orang yang baru pacaran, wkwkwk.. Pas mau first kiss di altar aja, sempet bikin aku nangis terharu karena itu bener-bener for the first time in my life I kissed and di-kiss sama seseorang, hihi.. Hayo buat yang masih single and belom married, inget jaga kekudusan ya.. ^^

"My first kiss is my wedding kiss"

Our first dance :p

2. After the holy matrimony and wedding reception (masih sore gitu) kita pergi ke taman to take post-wedding pictures :) Udah bisa mesra-mesraan kali ini gayanya, haha.. Trus malemnya, DM bawa aku pergi short honeymoon selama 3 hari 2 malem.. Aku bener-bener gak tau dia mo bawa ke mana, it was a surprise! Haha.. But ternyata dia bawa ke satu tempat nginep yang bagus banget di daerah mountain :) It was a short honeymoon, karena masih ada family and friends dari Indo, jadi kita harus buru-buru balik untuk spend time sama mereka juga.. But tenang aja, everyday is a honeymoon for us, karena sekarang juga cuma tinggal berdua, haha.. Sekitar 1-2 minggu after our wedding, all the family and friends went back to Indonesia.. Nangis-nangisan deh di airport, hehe.. Thanks all for coming here! Love you all!

Post-wedding pictures

Honeymoon :)

3. Setelah semua family pulang, mulai lah perjuangan kami berdua buat pindahan rumah! Haha.. Kami pindah dari daerah east ke west.. And by the end of last month (February) semua udah harus beres.. Seminggu terakhir sebelum kami pindah ke west, itu masa-masa yang cukup seru.. karena kami harus tinggal di rumah yang lama and udah kosong, cuma ada 1 single bed sama komputer, semua barang yang lain udah pindah ke rumah baru :p But it was unforgetable.. Setiap hari kita makan, duduk di lantai and masih bisa enjoy sambil nonton film bareng di komputer, haha.. Tidur berdua di single bed juga ga jadi masalah, untung kita berdua langsing.. LOL :p Trus lucu juga pas DM birthday, aku cuma bisa kasih kue yang sederhana, soalnya udah gak ada kulkas and gak ada alat-alat buat bikin kue juga di situ, haha.. But still, we are happy :) It's not what you have, but who you have by your side that matters (uhuy!)

His first birthday as a husband :)

4. So, this week.. kami udah bisa mulai fokus buat beresin rumah yang di west :) Mulai set-up our daily activities juga as a family.. Pray together every morning, personal devotion every morning and have a devotion together every night.. Siapin bekal buat suami tercinta (wkwkwk..), always give hug and kiss before dia berangkat kerja and after dia pulang kerja, anterin dia sampe ke pintu (aku tungguin sampe dia berangkat), trus abis itu baru kerjain house chores (laundry, masak, beres-beres rumah, belanja dll.) I tried my best supaya pas pulang kerja, si DM udah bisa nyantai and ga repot sama urusan-urusan rumah.. Dia juga hobi banget nonton, jadi malem-malem kita suka nonton film bareng di rumah kalo lagi nyantai, haha.. Seminggu ini kami juga lagi urusin documents buat apply spouse visa.. Minggu depan DM juga mulai start kerja di tempat baru (Thanks God! But harus bangun lebih pagi, karena jam 5 dia udah harus berangkat kerja :p) Please keep us in your prayer!

Our new HOME :)

Sempet sih dalam sebulan ini ada masanya aku ngerasa hectic banget, pusing karena harus urusin ini-itu, masih dalam masa-masa adjustment juga karena tinggal di negara baru, ada di komunitas baru, culture shock, dll.. But thanks God everything went well, satu per satu bisa dilewatin and I can experience God's faithfulness in my life :)

Last but not least, I just wanna say that I am a happy wife and marriage life is awesome! We really pray so that our marriage can be a blessing and inspiration to others as well.. (Amen!)

So now.. you can call me.. Mrs. Widjaja.. :) :) :)