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SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 29, 2020, PAGE 21
us.
“We prayed about it but <strong>as</strong> a family, we
never went to the mountain or declared a
special f<strong>as</strong>ting on the challenge.
“Although there were signs of concern
from our two families, there w<strong>as</strong> no
pressure from them”.
Message for those waiting!
We were on the
verge of adoption
when my wife took in
— P<strong>as</strong>tor whose wife gave birth to triplets after 18 years of waiting
By Olayinka Latona
IT w<strong>as</strong> time of celebration, joy and
thanksgiving <strong>as</strong> well wishers and
members of the Grace Impacts
Church joined the General Overseer,
Rev. Eseme Unen, and his wife, Esther, to
dedicate their triplets after 18 years of
waiting.
The couple had their first daughter a
year after their wedding and, quite
naturally, hoped for a second within a few
years but that w<strong>as</strong> not to be <strong>as</strong> months
turned to years without any sign of
fruitfulness.
The long wait went into years and being
founders of a ministry, P<strong>as</strong>tor & Mrs
Unen, faithfully and joyfully, attended
members, friends and family members’
children naming ceremonies and
birthdays among others.
Narrating her experience, Esther said,
<strong>as</strong> a human being, the challenge weighed
heavily in her heart but she never lost hope
of having another child.
She narrated other challenges she faced
when she eventually got pregnant,
especially how she spent six months in
hospital, receiving treatment before the
delivery.
Her words: “Life h<strong>as</strong> taught me
patience, trust and bonding between my
husband and I because when you are in
unity and agreement, you can achieve
anything.
Pregnancy
“When I took in, there were some
challenges that made me spend six
months at Lagos University Teaching
Hospital (LUTH) but the day I w<strong>as</strong>
delivered of my children w<strong>as</strong> a day of great
joy for my husband and I
because that w<strong>as</strong> what we
had been waiting for.
“Finally, after over a
decade of waiting, God
smiled on us”.
“Were there mockers
from any quarters?” she
w<strong>as</strong> <strong>as</strong>ked
The new mother replied,
“I did not personally
experience any. People
might talk at my back but
there w<strong>as</strong> no
confrontation”.
When <strong>as</strong>ked to advise
those trusting God for
babies, Esther answered,
“They should be patient,
focused and trust God.
They should desist from
the idea of running from
one church to another,
from pillar to post because
of the fruit of the womb.
“They should rather focus on God and
the couples should encourage one
another and jointly face the battle”.
Grace
We prayed
about it but <strong>as</strong>
a family, we
never went to
the mountain or
declared a
special f<strong>as</strong>ting
on the
challenge
The husband, Eseme, appreciated God
for granting his family the grace to be
steadf<strong>as</strong>t during the waiting period.
He said: “It is an experience that I
would not wish an enemy to go through. I
come from a family of
five and I am the only
male child of my parents.
“And coming from our
side of the country where
there is so much
emph<strong>as</strong>is on male
children, sometimes you
want to find an alibi,
pretending that nothing is
happening but the people
around you are talking
even though you are not
hearing words.
“It is e<strong>as</strong>ier said than
experienced, it w<strong>as</strong> not a
ple<strong>as</strong>ant experience. It is
an experience that is
sweet to talk about but
the process is not sweet
but God’s grace
sustained us.
“One thing worked for
us, God h<strong>as</strong> always been
there for us and our confidence is deep
rooted in God and my wife and I share
the same ideal and we hoped in God and
trusted Him to handle the situation for
He advised expectant couples to be
patient, focus on God and shun the
temptation to run to different churches
looking for a solution.
He said: “I will tell them not to run from
pillar to post because it doesn’t make
sense to make oneself an Automatic Teller
Machine, ATM, for some jobbers who
parade themselves <strong>as</strong> prophets.
“They should develop a personal
relationship with God and put their trust
in Him. They should not allow anybody
to make a merchandise of them.
“They should also do all necessary
medical examinations that they need to
do to <strong>as</strong>certain where the problem is
coming from.
“Our biggest problem is that we give
undue attribution to the devil. It is not
everything that happens to us that is from
the devil.
“They should make sure that their
relationship with their spouses is intact.
They should have regular sex <strong>as</strong> they
should have, take care of their health and
when you do all that you needed to do <strong>as</strong>
human and couple and there is nothing
wrong, then you keep praying and trusting
God.
“I also believe that there is nothing
wrong with adoption, if they can afford
it, they should prayerfully go for it.
“We believe in God and at the same time
we know that we had our own
responsibility to put in place.
“Before now, I made several attempts
to adopt here in Lagos and in my state
but it did not work.
“A month after my wife tested <strong>positive</strong>
of pregnancy, I received a call from Lagos
State Ministry of Women Affairs that I
should come for pre-adoption interview
and I applied to adopt a baby boy.
“I discussed it with my gynaecologist
who discouraged me from doing the
adoption and <strong>as</strong> of that time we did not
know what w<strong>as</strong> coming. Amazingly, God
gave bless us with two boys and a girl.
“As a human being, my dream w<strong>as</strong> to
get married, have all the children I
needed and train them while still young
and strong.
“I desired to have all my children on
time but they did not come, but that did
not diminish my faith or reverence for the
Lord. The challenge did not diminish my
love for God.
“Those who are already blessed with the
fruit of the womb should know that having
children is not enough but training them
in the way of the Lord, adding value and
morals to these children.
“Being the only male child in the family
and having only one female child means
my lineage would have been closed if the
triplets had not come.
“Even if people did not say anything to
my hearing, I know that I w<strong>as</strong> the l<strong>as</strong>t
man standing, that if I did not have any
male child, my family would have ended
in my time.
“The fact that I had a female child is
not the issue but it is my confidence
in God and the fact that I believed I
shouldn’t bother myself over things
that I did not have control over”.
Asked if <strong>as</strong> the head of a ministry,
there were comments from members
during the period of waiting, he
answered: “One of my p<strong>as</strong>tors, who
w<strong>as</strong> also trusting God for a child,
walked up to me and told me that a
member of the church told him that ‘if
your senior p<strong>as</strong>tor is looking for a child
and h<strong>as</strong> not gotten it, do you think
that you can get any child from the
ministry?’ That p<strong>as</strong>tor left my church”.