Name: Anil and Rita Philip
Married 11 years
We were not in love with each other on our wedding day. We are from India and so had a semi-arranged marriage where God, not family, was the matchmaker. We met exactly four times before our wedding day, which was one month after our first meeting.
We weren't enthusiastic about each other because as my wife put it, We are as alike as chalk and cheese! She was looking for a charismatic Christian, I was from the anti-charismatic brethren church and was looking for a computer programmer.
We lived in different states, 700 miles apart and had only English as a shared language. We have different personalities too. She was healed from Stage IV cancer through her strong rhema faith and loves people and fun; I had lots of emotional baggage from a dysfunctional family.
We had difficult times in our marriage. When we faced up to the fact that God ordained our marriage, we sowed into each other in sacrificial love, obedience to His Word and counseling. Our hearts became knit in love.