Angela caught another glimpse of her growing waistline in the mirror. Her succulent lips parted in a toothy smile.

She recalled that excited ‘business-around-the-corner’ look on her gym instructor’s face when they had exchanged greetings in church that morning. But it wasn’t gluten this time …

She was pregnant for real.
P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T with her twins!
After waiting for five whole years – isn’t the Lord faithful!

God had answered her desperate prayers right on time! Her miracle had occurred just when she had started feeling as though her condition no longer complemented her faith… and her inability to conceive was making her to stand out like a sore thumb… A time when she was fast becoming a by-word to friends, family, colleagues and neighbours…

A time when several Peninnahs, it seemed, were being ‘anointed’ by satan to rub in her condition and make her life hellish…

A time when she felt like her shame was out in the open, and her public disgrace seemed imminent…

A time when her soul was growing weary by the day…

A time when she had died within and resurrected many times over…

As a matter of fact, those were the most torturous days of her entire life!

“… Some finance institutions … do offer Maternal Health Support (MHS) packages which every average working-class couple can exploit… Why don’t we liaise with our doctors and bankers for the best options, as we wait, and trust God with the outcome…”

But thanks to God, the wait was over now! She was twelve weeks gone already. Pregnancy, for her, had come with no symptoms – no morning sickness, dizzy spells, breathlessness, heart burn, or inconsistency – not one symptom. She felt even stronger than usual! And apart from an extra inch or two on her hips and waist line, she wasn’t showing yet.

Her miracle also explains the powerful twist to her recent ministrations, unction apart. The melody oozed from deep within, as she remained grateful indeed to Yahweh…
The never- changing God…
The Lord God Almighty…
The King of all earthly kings…
The Lord of hosts …
The One who was, and is, and is to come…
The Ancient of days…
The only Living God…
Jehovah- the covenant-keeping God.

Those Torturous Moments…

She was dressing up to attend House Fellowship at Deaconess Esther’s residence just few streets away. How she had dreaded those meetings in her waiting days, for the torture certain happenings had caused her already weary soul.

However, she dared not stop attending. She understood the purpose of small group meetings, and would go any length to see to the success of such groups.

Besides, she couldn’t bring herself to stop doing the right things for such petty wrong reasons: the Captain of her soul doesn’t raise quitters, but overcomers – whom He loves with reckless abandon, and eventually, handsomely rewards.

Nevertheless, some of those experiences were more fracturing than words could express. And it wasn’t paranoia, as might be expected of someone with her condition: some people just never got along well with her, no matter how hard she tried. Including Deaconess Esther, her House Cell leader. Out of sheer envy of her social status? In all honesty, she couldn’t fathom why.

A knowing smile parted her luscious lips again as she visualized that evening’s meeting. She knew the fellowship outline would not be complete without the deaconess finding a way to chip in that God never delays. Or she could ask one of those peculiar questions which ‘only a mother can answer’...

She would also likely read some scriptures which link delays and hardship to presumptuous sins … especially, ‘pride’.

She would then clench her fists, and gnash her teeth with a big frown, as though trying to force a po.op while suffering from constipation, and proceed to raise special prayer points for those experiencing ‘embarrassing‘ delays, particularly those who have everything one could wish for, but still lacked what mattered most…

Angela burst into laughter … Finally, she had the last laugh. She offered quick thanks to Jesus. Unlike before, it all seemed funny now.

How she used to cry secretly upon returning from such meetings. Secretly, because hers was one of those grievances which can’t be expressed without being misunderstood; those pains which no one could know, except they’ve walked in her shoes.

Nevertheless, Teddy had caught the tears down her cheeks on several occasions. Jehovah be praised for such an understanding husband, she thought… who never despised her vulnerabilities, but was always apt to comfort her through it all…

“But Why Lord…?”

She was dressing up for House Fellowship at Deaconess Esther’s residence just few streets away. How she had dreaded attending those meetings in her waiting days, for the torture certain happenings had caused her already weary soul.

“But why must we have to keep waiting and praying hard for so long?” She had wondered aloud on one occasions.

“The proof of desire is pursuit.” Ted had replied.

“When God wants to give to you a special brand of something you desire, He often creates a vacuum so that your pursuit can justify how badly you want it…”

“God never fails. His word confirms this.”

And each time she was tempted to think that God had abandoned her, Teddy would say,

“God never abandons His chosen ones. Searching through the scriptures, even when His children incurred His wrath and warranted His punishment, before there ever was a Saviour to atone for their sins, God never made a total end still. He always left a remnant- a seed of their restoration, that is, in the seeming abandonment.”

“So we have to keep holding on: the proof of our faith is to keep asking and not give up.”

Such words had given Angela the courage to keep on praying with high hopes and expectations.

Through her deep sorrows, she never stopped rejoicing.
She cried her eyes sore, but at the same time, she never stopped laughing.
Through her weariness, she never for once stopped praying in hope.
Through the torments, she never quit. She never even considered not serving God as an option.
She never for once found in her problems anya excuse to opt out of life…

According to Ted, that is the spirit which receives from God, the victorious spirit, which God rewards. Those words encouraged her to hold on till the very end.

Thinking Outside-The-Box…

As she put finishing touches to her make up, her heart welled up with gratitude to God for putting her under the tutelage of such an enlightened Spiritual Father like Reverend Tunde, who had stood by them in every capacity through those trying times!

She smiled as she recalled that day when the Reverend had invited Teddy and her to his home for a dinner about six months earlier.

She had never considered any medical procedure or intervention prior to that time: Teddy and her had been certified OK by specialists home and abroad, so the only available option in her frame of reference was keep waiting on the Lord without any medical intervention, which they could very much afford. However, Ted had later confessed he had been thinking seriously along that line, but didn’t know how to tell her because of her growing anxiety.

“… Some finance institutions these days do offer Maternal Health Support (MHS) packages, which every average working-class couple can leverage; for example, there is this ‘W Initiative’ by Apex Bank, which supports fertility treatment. Why don’t we liaise with our doctors and bankers for the best options, as we wait, and trust God with the outcome. After all, there’s no harm in trying…” The Reverend had suggested.

Thus, the eventful journey to her miracle began – from a frantic Google search through many actually rigorous appointments and engagements.

Finally, they were able to secure their most convenient and affordable option, which had eventually yielded results. And through the help of ever-faithful Jehovah, their misery was history within few months.

When God wants to give to you a special brand of something you desire, He often creates a vacuum so that your pursuit can justify how badly you want it…

Angela could not stop blessing God for those wonderful days. She wouldn’t have been strong enough to walk that path alone for the rigours involved, if it hadn’t come from a spiritual father whose opinion she trusted: and Reverend Tunde was steadfast all the way.

And there she was today, awaiting Chloe and Zoe (earnestly wishing they turn out to be girls).

However, apart from the vital few people who should be in the know, Reverend Tunde and the couple had agreed to keep the miracle from the general public until the day of her delivery…

Credits: Featured image Photo by Lucxama Sylvain from Pexels. This story was culled from the reviewed version of Daughters of Eve (1): The Sweet Temptation by Funmi Adebayo, launching soon.