She had been a ‘good girl’ in the true sense of it.

No messing around, no frolicking with the ‘bad boys’, no late-night outings; she was perfection if such existed.

She graduated as one of the top ten students in her class and soon after travelled to a West African country for her Master’s degree. Naturally, she aced that too and graduated with a top grade.

After youth service, she got a job as an intern in Nigeria’s biggest advertising agency and after the internship programme, she received what could be called a double promotion, life was indeed smiling at her.

At work, she had two crushes, an intern just like herself who was promoted to an executive position and a married director who just couldn’t take his eyes off her. Yes, she hung out more with the executive but her curiosity about the tall handsome director made her go on a date with him. It was such a thrilling experience as he took her to an exotic restaurant and spoilt her silly after that. Yet, in spite of that, she decided dating a married man wasn’t her thing.

Years passed and she remained single, then the magic happened. He had come to her office for some business and their paths crossed. It wasn’t really a love at first sight thing, it was a gradual process as they moved from acquaintances to friends and finally marriage. Oh! Her heart was filled with so much joy.

The first year of her marriage, nothing happened – well they weren’t really ready to have a child as they wanted to enjoy each other without the distraction of a baby. Then the second year passed and nothing happened even though they were not on any form of family planning. Then the third year came and they decided to try out IVF. They had to save for it and this quite frankly wasn’t an easy task, but they remained determined and raised the money for the procedure. Unfortunately, this didn’t work out, leaving them especially her completely shattered.

They continued trying for a baby as their bond grew stronger and stronger with every passing day. There wasn’t the issue of in-laws putting her under pressure and her husband was quite understanding too. In the fifth year of waiting, she decided to adopt a child. She and her husband had begun the process and were close to completing it, when one day she realized she had missed her period.

At first, she thought nothing of it, after all her menstrual circle was anything but regular. Then the second month came, and again she saw nothing. Having endured the pain of a failed IVF and hearing the report of the doctors that she had to undergo an operation for fibroid, being pregnant was definitely the last thing on her mind. Then she started feeling sickly and decided to go to the hospital for ‘treatment’. All tests were carried out on her – after all, it was the company’s HMO that was footing the bill so the hospital was willing to go ‘all-out’ for her.

She went back home, having been told to come back for her results and a check-up in a few days time, which she did. All results showed that there was nothing wrong with her – her results were absolutely normal – well besides the fibroid they already knew she had. Then out of the blue, a doctor came an entirely different doctor who knew absolutely nothing about her history. He went through all the results and then looked at her for a moment and just said in passing ‘has she taken a pregnancy test?

The look she gave the doctor was priceless. If looks could kill, he would definitely have been six feet below in a matter of seconds. But then he was a senior doctor and the team had to consider this option. To fulfil all righteousness she took the test after all she had nothing to lose. She went home as usual and mentioned absolutely nothing to her husband apart from the fact that the doctors said all her test results were ok, so technically, she was clinically fine.

Then the phone call came. The words were uttered. She pinched herself several times to be sure she was not dreaming. For a moment she looked at the phone to be sure this was not a wrong number – but sure enough, it was her doctor and he sounded so excited. She pulled the dining table chair closest to her and sat down as she didn’t trust her feet at this moment. A tide of emotions swept through her, she closed her eyes and tears ran freely down her face.

Nine months later, she was at the hospital again. This time with her husband, doctors and nurses as she endured pain so great yet interestingly felt so beautiful at the same time. After twelve hours of labour, she finally heard the best sound ever – the cry of her very own baby boy! He was cleaned up and handed over to her husband, his hands shook terribly as he stared at the little miracle in his hands, and although she was exhausted she reached out her hands with a smile that glittered like diamonds.

It’s been close to two years now, and her miracle has started running around the house. Yes, sometimes he gets some spanking as all children do, yes, it’s a lot of exercises trying to catch him as he runs around the house, yes there were sleepless nights when he was a little baby – but she enjoyed and enjoys every part of it and says of herself ‘I am a living testimony that God never fails.

So what’s your story?

What challenges are you going through at the moment? Do you feel like giving up and throwing the towel? Hold on dear one! God is mindful of you and loves you absolutely. You might not feel that way now because of what you are going through or because of your expectations that haven’t been met. Just wait on Him and as you do so, He shall renew your strength as you mount up on wings like eagles, you will run and not be weary, you will walk and not faint. Someday soon you will testify.