COVER STORY
From
Test to Testimony The story of Mark Jenelle Kho
By Blesilda H. Visaya and Rianne Aybil U. Peñaredondo
G
od never misses His mark. He would test us in so many different ways. These tests may even break us. But He, being God, remains faithful even if we fail Him numerous times. And numerous times did Mark Jenelle L. Kho fail the Lord in the past. Mark was accustomed to a life of comfort, as he came from a family of medical professionals. They have properties that they rent to other people. This led him to meet his wife, Joycie. Mark was 16 and Joycie was 14 when they fell in love with each other. At 19, Mark became a father to a baby girl who would later on become very instrumental to Mark’s return to God. As Joycie recounts the early years of their marriage, she was very thankful to Mark who stood by her all throughout her pregnancy. She said Mark was brave enough to face the ire of her parents and calm her fears during those times. Mark had no vices and was very dedicated to the family he was starting to build. They were quite fortunate that their families were also there to support them. Mark was able to finish his nursing degree but was not able to pass the board exams. He started working as a medical
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representative. His earnings were more than enough for his young family. But Mark was not a godly man then. As Joycie puts it, the old Mark would skip going to church on Sundays and would not take time to pray, which is a far cry from who Mark became after God had changed him through a very difficult test. The difficult test came through a rare illness that befell his daughter. At the age of six, his daughter started to have frequent seizures. This prompted them to take her to hospitals in Davao to undergo a series of tests. There were times when she would have forty seizures in a day and doctors would just be dumbstruck and unable to do and explain anything
to them. That was the time when Joycie saw Mark went into deep prayer. As Mark narrates the whole experience, he tells us that he was deeply moved into
