Rica Peralejo. Image: Instagram/@ricaperalejo
Rica Peralejo spoke about the impact of her faith in God in helping her cope with three miscarriages, and explained that facing her own feelings helped her go through those difficult times.
The actress admitted that each miscarriage was a different experience for her, when she guested on broadcaster Pia Arcangel’s “Surprise Guest with Pia Arcangel” podcast, as released on Spotify yesterday, Dec. 7.
“I had my first born and then I miscarried twice. Then I had my second born, and then I miscarried again,” Peralejo narrated. “Magkakaibang bagay [sila]. Napakahirap.” (They are different things. Difficult.)
“For every time it happens to me, it always is just God [who helped me pull through]. But in very different ways… every time is a new struggle. Believe that God is good and that God can take me through the ‘Red Sea,'” she added, comparing her struggles then to the biblical narrative.
For Peralejo, her faith in God and support from her husband, Pastor Joseph Bonifacio, helped her endure those difficult moments.
“I’m very glad I already have God in my life, because if not for that I’d be more broken and I think it helped that I have a good husband who can support me with a whole lot of prayer and just being around me,” she told Arcangel.
Aside from faith, Peralejo also stressed the importance of acknowledging that what she went through was difficult as she tried to recover.
“Hindi mo pwedeng i-deny sa sarili mo na nahihirapan ka at masakit siya kasi the more you deny, the harder it is to actually heal, kasi kapag hindi mo na-address ‘yung sugat, hindi ka rin talaga maghihilom,” she said.
(You can’t deny to yourself that you are struggling and that it hurts because the more you deny, the harder it is to actually heal, because when you cannot address the wound, it will not heal.)
“[I] have this propensity to suppress my feelings because I’m always afraid na if I feel too much, baka hindi ko kayanin. I think lately, ang tinuturo sakin ng Diyos is, ‘I-feel mo lang. Huwag kang matakot na maramdaman iyang lahat. Hindi ka babagsak,'” Peralejo continued.
(I have this propensity to suppress my feelings because I’m always afraid that if I feel too much, I might not be able to manage it. I think lately, God has been teaching me, “Just feel it. Do not be afraid to feel all of it. You will not fall.”)
Peralejo, who shares two sons with Bonifacio, had her first two miscarriages in 2016 and 2017. She then revealed in July that she lost another baby.
Despite her loss, Peralejo described her most recent miscarriage as “calmer,” since it was unlike her first two miscarriages, when she experienced the same pain of delivering a baby but a lifeless one. /ra
RELATED STORIES:
Rica Peralejo reveals suffering from miscarriage for third time
Rica Peralejo opens up on surviving COVID-19 with husband, kids being spared