She Let Me Down, but I was Lifted Up!

I left my successful film career in the United States to come live in the Philippines in December of 2009. I’d visited the country previously in 2005 and fell in love with it. By pure chance, I met a beautiful, intelligent woman who had the same affinity for guns and the military that I did. Little did I know then that she would take me for everything I owned.

Things went well for a few months. Soon I saw a repetitive pattern of her desire for men. We spoke about it in civil terms. Little did I know at the time, but she was still on dating apps chatting with other men from around the world. We put an end to that or so I thought.

One day I caught her cheating. As a Christian man I forgave her, she apologized, and life seemed to appear to return to normal. However, we agreed to move to Angeles City to get away from any further temptations.

I worked online as a writer at night for US clients and slept 4 hours during the day. I often worked 20 hours a day. One morning I woke up and she was in the CR but had left her iPad open. I took a glance at it and sure enough, she was still chatting. I even saw a naked video she had sent the guy. As you can imagine, I was angry.

I forgave her again and we agreed to move to Bonifacico Global City (BGC), get a nice condo, and change our lives. Things went well. As writers, we were making great money. And things were going quite well for a couple of years. She shopped for the latest fashion, took trips all over Asia alone, and I stayed home to keep up with the writing workload.

Then came the day I caught her cheating a third time! In anger, I smashed her MacBook Pro and tossed her iPhone to the floor. After apologizing several times to me I was unable to forgive her. After all, I had sent her daughter all the way through UP where she graduated number one, and sent her son to a private school (not to mention other expensive gadgets I bought for her kids).

At any rate, she convinced me to go have a pizza and a pitcher of draft beer at Shakey’s Pizza so I agreed. Maybe we could work things out, maybe. There she became abusive and made quite a scene. Mind you, I never hit her.

We left and went back to the condo. She spoke to the guard and asked that I not be allowed upstairs to our 19th floor place overlooking the Manila Country Club. Of course I objected, though to no avail.

She threw an object at me and I charged her, while two security guards attempted to stop me. I threw one to the ground and shoved another back. I’m no tough guy, but I learned how to fight at an early age to protect my disabled sister, and then gained more skills as a paratrooper and infantryman. I hate to fight.

Anyway, she called the police who soon arrived and placed me in handcuffs and off to jail I went, or so I thought.

Instead we went elsewhere. I won’t go into details where or what happened, but I spent the night inside the police station free to leave whenever I wanted.

The problem was, I had no belongings and only a couple thousand pesos to my name. Thankfully, the police went to the condo and retrieved a suitcase of clothing and my laptop. I never got my iMac or other worldly possessions. Luckily for me, I had stashed 12,000 pesos in my ex-military jacket with the intention of saving enough money to buy her a diamond ring worth 60k.

I had nowhere to go, no family, and was on the streets. Since I loved the beach, I took a bus to La Union. I arrived disheveled and sought out an old friend but he had moved on. The couple next door ran a water station and showed me Christian kindness. They found me an apartment near the beach for 6,000 a month. By the time I had bought food and moved in, I had 1,000 pesos left to my name, my laptop, and a pocket Wi-Fi. All total, she had taken me for 6 million pesos, all of my belongings, and a new car.

Yes, revenge crossed my mind, but my Christian values saved me from a life in prison and her a funeral. And by the way, her family were (and remain) powerful people so I really had no win. So I resolved to get to work. She had changed the password on our client email so I had to search for new clients.

I lived on a ramen soup a day to save money. Sometimes I splurged and ate Sky Flakes and a stick of BBQ. Within two months I had saved some money.

My Christian friends at the water station were always there to help me, by the grace of God.

After six months I moved to a nicer place. After a year I had a fully stocked house with all new appliances. I had to press on! Anger surfaced from time to time, but prayer and a lot of tears helped me through my grief.

It’s been six years since the day I was left homeless with nowhere to go. I have an abundance of clients whom I write for, a nice place right on the beach, and a beautiful woman and a 15-month-old son.

Yes, I still think about my ex from time to time and I pray for her because she is not a Christian. Her family has disowned her. I heard she was in CDO but whatever. She made her bed and she can sleep in it wherever it may be.

Life is wonderful again. Was it my own will power that pulled me out of my distress and dire circumstances? Many would think so, but the answer is not at all. I give all the praise and glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I’ll end this true experience with some encouraging words.  

“'…no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,'
declares the Lord” (Isaiah 54:17).

Finally, my friends, if you truly love someone, don’t cheat on them.