Let me tell you a little bit about our couple: My name is Christina and my spouse is called Toshiki. My spouse and I were born 8 months apart, but over 6,000km away from each other. He is from Japan and I am from Russia. We have different backgrounds, traditions, cultures and languages. Also, very different personalities and ways of thinking. What unites us is our common dream to create a happy God-centered family that will contribute to realizing the vision of “One Family Under God”. We both came to Korea, at different times, to start our education at Sun Moon University. He is studying Theology, and I am majoring in Media Communication. Since we do not share a common native language, we thought that the official language of our coupe should be the language of Cheong In Guk – Korean. Therefore, from now it will be our task to practice the language, culture and traditions of CIG in our family.
My parents received the Blessing when I was a baby so I grew up surrounded by God’s love coming from my loving parents and older brothers. For me it was obvious that one day I would receive the Blessing and create a happy family. As I was making those steps in my life of faith, searching for answers and creating my personal relationships with God and TP, God was revealing more His unconditional love towards me. It helped me to discover my true value and gain confidence. Step by step, I got to understand more about God and his sorrow and pain due to the Fall. It made me become more determined to create a family that God would love to dwell in. Once, I listened to Yeon Ah Nim’s speech and she said that “If we are not blessed, we are still in satan’s dominion. Only when we receive the Blessing, God can truly call us: my son, my daughter”. Since then, receiving the Blessing and offering it to Heavenly Parent, for the occasion of vision 2020, became my dream. After finishing my one year leadership training program, I finally applied for the Blessing. When I was preparing for the matching, filling out forms, making conditions etc, I was praying to invite God into everything I did. He is the one who gave me my life and guided me through it, so in this extremely important and exciting time in my life I wanted Heavenly Parent to share what I was feeling. When I first got the profile of my future spouse, I was very nervous and little bit scared. But as I was reading it, my feelings changed to gratitude: God entrusts me with His precious son. A few days after our first meeting we went back to our countries and started doing condition after condition. It was a very special time that helped us to look deeper into ourselves and our relationship with God, meet limitations and have new determination. To be honest it wasn’t always easy. There were moments when I felt that I was loosing confidence and hesitating. But one day, at the end of my deep prayer, everything suddenly became clear for me and I made a decision.
After our first meeting, and before the Blessing, we met three times. A few days before the Blessing we met with each other’s parents. It was a very special time. Our parents could not understand each other without our translation. I realized that, when our hearts are sincere, there is no need for words. Talking about my personal experience during Blessing preparation workshop and the Blessing ceremony itself, it is hard to put in words what I was feeling. First of all, I felt gratitude. As we began the Holy wine ceremony, tears started falling down my face. We are standing here in front of True Parents and they are holding our hands. We receive this special grace, not somebody else. During True Mother’s prayer on the day of the Blessing, we promised God that we will accomplish our responsibilities as a blessed family and next time will come in front of True Mother with a report of our victories. This is just the beginning of our journey on which we will be growing up together, learning to resemble God by becoming one centered on True love. I believe together we can do great things for God and True Parents. Aju!
Blessed Family Department 