My First Child, Deborah

Sweet, pinky skin and a perfect "o" as she yawns for the first time - my little angel. And then little Debbie opens her eyes and voila! She sees her chubby-cheeked dad for the first time and although they say Children are initially blind at birth, my Debbie lets out a little yawp (is that what they call it?) of delight.

Her little palms surround my index finger in a vice-like grip and she begins a little tug-of-war with me to get my finger to her lips. Such an adorable angel!

i look over at my wife, lying there watching us with awesome pleasure as Dad and his little girl get acquainted with each other and then I give her the best smile reserved for the best people... After all, she just made me a "baby-lonnaire" if you get my meaning.

Then the perfect picture vanishes and I wake up to the harsh reality of the world around me but even harsh realities cannot quench hope. This is the journey of my life so far in marriage...and hope!

I got married on the 26th of May 2007 after five (5) years of Christian Courtship wracked with battles and pains. My family did not want me to marry her and some of them went as far as lining up suitable ladies; but if there was one promise I made to the Lord, it was this: I will not get married just for pleasure or procreation ALONE but also to have a HELPER who will take my Ministry to the next level and build the home base to make it a heaven, and u know what...God gave me such a wife but men wanted more based on sight and feelings.

Nobody believed my marriage would be a success, nobody except the two persons marrying and the Lord who made it possible. At our wedding, people testified that they had never seen a more organised wedding even though we had nothing.

We had no honeymoon because I was just starting out in Ministry and I needed to get back to the village where I was stationed. I was earning less than $100 dollars a month and she had to keep working at her job, which kept her many miles apart from me. It was hell.

Six months after my wedding, my dad died of Liver Cancer. It happened six weeks after I had been transferred to serve as a Missionary in the Niger Delta, to plant Churches. I was devastated because it came at a time I never wished it to but God has a way of making rivers in the desert.

I buried my dad in December 2007 (I did not celebrate the Christmas - I was so much in pains) and went back to my Station, still an hour 45 minutes' journey away from my wife. However, we tried to find time to be together on most weekends when my wife made the journey to be with me with the co-operation of her bosses at the office.

Over the course of three years (October 2007 - September 2010), we were living apart because I didn't want her to quit her job since her salary helped to keep the family going. Within this period, she had two miscarriages, was twice kidnapped, fell terribly ill while I suffered burglary thrice (my laptop and phones were stolen), I became hypertensive due to the nature of the environment where I was serving but God preserved my wife and me.

It was not all thorns - there were roses (and pretty ones at that) such as the souls that came to the Lord, the Churches that were planted and the growth of the existing Churches. It was awesome, seeing God refute all the allegations made by my family against my wife one by one and making them swallow them!!! My wife became the "sought after" and we became known as the couple that God has blessed.

Still, we had no children.

I ran out of words with which to encourage my dear wife each time she lamented the absence of Children in our marriage. We did not hear so much as the cry of a baby but one thing we had and held on to were the promises of God, by revelation and through His word. He gave us perfect peace and our expectations soared.

I am not in any way trampling on the decision of anyone who wants to check himself or herself medically. In fact, I advocate it. I only have not tried it because my wife had been pregnant but had miscarriages due to the rigours of the journey she undertook visiting me, travelling on bumpy and potted roads during the early stages of her pregnancy.

So forgive my dreams about my baby...No! I am not indulging myself but rather connecting to a higher reality- My baby girl will come sooner rather than later and I am more than prepared to play out my dreams because I trust in the God who has given them to me!

The road to my dream is already decorated with wonderful testimonies. In June, 2010, I was invited for an interview (along with two other senior Ministers) to be the Chaplain of a Protestant Chaplaincy in one of our University Campuses in Nigeria. At the end of the interviews, I was chosen as the next Chaplain, to resume duty in January 2011. The icing on the cake is not the appointment (far from it). It rather is the fact that the University where I will be residing as I am pastoring is just a 5-minute walk from the Office where my darling wife is working!

It is as the Scripture says: The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places, and I have a goodly heritage...

Therefore, I hope none will begrudge me this moment of expectation and anticipation. I believe my Debbie is the next blessing in line and I want you to rejoice with me in advance. I also want to encourage all who are facing "impossible" situations with the first part of this testimony and in the next part (which will be written when my daughter is born) I will place here on hubpages the photo of my daughter. Be strong and believe in your dreams and to all the moms on hubpages, I salute your courage, your devotion and your diligence - you are my heroines!

Please, permit me to dream on: And as I held her in my arms, I admired the wonderful work of the Almighty, and smiled.....