A story of hope…

A couple had been married for several years and blessed with a wonderful baby daughter. In time, like many parents, they thought they would love to have a brother or sister for her. They tried for a year with no success, then went to their GP who organised some tests to see if there was any problems. The results showed not only that she was not ovulating, but it looked like she had premature menopause, that she had finished ovulating for life. So she was sent to the hospital  menopause clinic, and had more tests which confirmed this. Her ovaries were watched for 6 months and no eggs were produced. She did have one period, but no eggs.

Has anyone else here known the pain of wanting a baby and not being able to have one? It is a very deep pain. That goes through to the depths of your soul.

The consultant at the hospital sent her for counselling to help her come to terms with this premature menopause. She spend hours tussling with the fact that there she was, a Christian, who believed that God could do anything, but who wasn’t seeing a ‘yes’ answer to her prayers for a child. Yet she said to her counsellor, ‘How can I be a Christian and not have hope? I have to have hope.’ She spent time planning to come to terms with her early menopause whilst still praying for a miracle. During that time she shared what was going on with her home group, who cried with her, grieved with her, and prayed with her. They were there for her. It was a very hard time, not an easy thing, but she says now, “Even when we do not see and understand, God knows what is happening.” And she knows that God knew what was going on. The couple carried on choosing to put their faith in God. Well, she finished her counselling and went back for one last scan before being discharged from the menopause clinic. Well, that scan showed a 13 week old baby! What a miracle. There was much rejoicing.

Their sufferings were not over. July came, and the husband was told he was made redundant form his job – this news was awful – a new baby on the way, the financial strain of maternity leave looming, the stress of being rejected. His boss kindly told him to have the day off on the Thursday to redo his CV as he was going out of the office. So he wasn’t on his usual tube that came in at 8.45am at Aldgate on Thursday 7^th July, and he wasn’t blown up. They knew that God was looking after them and rejoiced.

Their sufferings were still not over. He has spent the last 8 months unemployed,  filling in loads of job applications, and going to 20 interviews, and praying fervently, choosing to hope in God rather than a job, and ask God for His answer. During this time, as during their time of intfertility, they asked their Christian brothers and sisters to pray. There was a church-wide day of prayer in February for him. And they continued to pray faithfully at home. They experienced the generosity of God through the church as people gave to them financially when they had no salary. The miracle child was born in during this time, and the husband was able to be at home and fully share the delight and work of a new baby. Then a few weeks ago the couple had a sense that God was going to give him a choice, and he would get several job offers and have to choose between them. Well, two weeks  ago he was offered a job in Lambeth, then last week one in Wimbledon, and he has a further 3^rd interview next week in Islington. Do pray for him this week for this interview.

Their experiences have felt to them like wandering in the desert, not being able to see the way, and suffering hardship like the Israelites did. They said the choice to them was this: in that difficulty, are you prepared to stand with God within the difficulty and not run away? Are you going to stick with Him as He sticks with you? They chose to stick with God with the support of their fellowship. It was very hard, but they say there was always manna – the baby, the amazing support of their church. They have a deeper understanding of the cross -  there will be a resurrection Sunday. They have a deeper understanding of hope, and increased perseverance, strength of character and confidence in their God who can do anything.

 Well, many of us will know by now that this couple is Jean and Priscah, and the church is Oak Tree. Jean and Priscah would like to thank again everyone who has supported them – they say they never could have gone through this without you.  

Isn’t that encouraging? I want to say thank you on behalf of all of us to you guys for sharing your story with us.