A MIRACLE, 30 YEARS AFTER

A miracle, 30 years after

In Africa, the fruit of the womb, to a large extent, determines the blissfulness of a marriage. The inability to procreate has led and still leads to the breakdown and sometimes dissolution of many marriages. On tying the nuptial knot, couples look forward, with high hopes, to childbearing. A few years into the marriage, questions are asked and and eyebrows raised when none is forthcoming.

But Pastor and Deaconess Asuquo Dan Ukoh of the Olodi, Lagos branch of The Apostolic Church, watched the years roll by with expectations, believing in the Lord for offspring of their own. For 30 years, they remained prayerful and steadfast in their faith and confidence in God.

That finally came to fulfillment on April 2, when Deaconess Dora Dan Ukoh put to bed a baby girl. Theirs was a case of unlimited joy as friends, relations, church members and well wishers streamed into their Rasaki Street, Olodi-Apapa, Lagos residence to congratulate them. Indeed, their happiness started right from the early days of her pregnancy. “I was happy the day I got to know I was pregnant, because many men of God had prayed with us and for us. Through the prophetic message, I believe that I was going to have my own baby,” said an elated Mrs. Ukoh.
Dora said that she had gone to so many hospitals to no avail as she was always told that there was no problem with her womb after undergoing a series of tests.

“So my husband and I took it upon ourselves that prayer is the only option left,” said the 46 year old mother.
“We prayed fervently to God for children and in the end, God answered our prayers. We give thanks to God for fulfilling his promise,” added 50-year old Asuquo.

In the compound where they have been living for over 30 years, they have come to be known as a symbol of happy, holy matrimony even though they had no children of their own. Their generosity had seen them train quite a number of direct and extended relations. In fact, some of their neighbours found it difficult to believe that they were childless. Their apartment is filled with children – other people’s children who call them mummy and daddy.

“I never lost hope for I knew my God will bless us with children which he has now done,” said Asuquo.

The road to fruitfulness was not without thorns. Naturally, there were interferences, sundry suggestions and insinuations from members of both families, but the couple stood their ground, supported by their faith in God. Their parents, they revealed, were supportive of whatever actions they decided to take all along, most especially Asuquo’s father who was an elder of the church.

Both lost the goodwill of their friends when they refused to budge or seek a herbal treatment. “We don’t have friends now. They tried to discourage us and our faith, so, we took God as our friend,” Asuquo said. He also ignored all those who advised and encouraged him against his wish, asking him to look elsewhere. Said he: “there were friends who tried to mislead me, all of them left when they couldn’t convince me. I refused to abandon her. According to the Bible, once you are married, you become one. There was nothing anybody could do when I know the words of God and as a pastor, I couldn’t do otherwise.”

Indeed the temptations were high and so were the stakes. But “all through, we kept on praying. We didn’t have to go to any herbalist or another church. Our parents did not teach us to go to herbalist whenever we had problems. We prayed and we are still praying,” he said.

Were they expecting babies immediately after their wedlock? Asuquo smiled, burst into laughter, then said: “I don’t know how to answer that question because what else does one expect when he gets married?”

Asked how he felt waiting for so long, Asuquo queried:”How would it be like when you marry a wife and have to wait for 30 years to have a baby?” He was quick to add: “My wife is a woman of faith and hope. Whenever people mocked her for not being able to bear children, she normally replied in a way that strengthened my own faith by saying, “I know for sure that I will not die childless.” As for Deaconess Asuquo, she said she did not feel too bad about it “because many people had been praying for us and I told God that one day, before I die, I will have a child.”

The Asuquos were married when they were very young. They tied the nuptial knots in 1970 in Lagos at a time both were in secondary school and Dora barely 16 years. She soon joined her husband in their present residence. He met his wife in the church and made further enquiries about her having been seeing her around. Thus, when his mother encouraged him to get married even as a teenager, he quickly “rushed” her before someone else did.

“If you were the one, wouldn’t you have done the same thing?” he asked as husband and wife roared with laughter, almost tearfully, as if they simultaneously remembered that very first day they met formally. Obviously, he had the beauty of his wife in mind and she his desperation then.

How does it feel to be a first-time father at 50 after 30 years of marriage? “I am very happy. In fact, everyone who has gone through an experience for one year, two years or three years should be happy, how much more 30 years. How else can I feel?”

His wife chipped in philosophically that “it is just 30 years, afterall, Sarah waited longer in the Bible.” Just 30 years indeed, for one who prayed and believed it will certainly come to pass. Asuquo chipped in again: “Supposing it was your wife who gave birth after 30 years of marriage, how would you feel? For me, I feel like somebody who got married yesterday and his wife gives birth the following day. I have a child and thank God for that. A father is a father and I feel like I was married yesterday.”

The couple’s hope was raised last year when they encountered Pastor Cornelius Ajayi Ogunyemi, the Apapa Area Superintendent of The Apostolic Church who, according to Asuquo, prophesied “that my wife was going to conceive very soon.” He came to our house and we agreed in prayer.

“That has been our prayer ever since and God has now answered it at his appointed time. If he had allowed me to pass the year 2000, maybe I would have changed my mind and that is why he fulfilled his promise. The Lord is worthy.” In the church, he preached year 2000 as a year of prosperity and blessing and believed same for himself and truly, that has been manifested.

The pregnancy itself was not without pains, especially for a first time mother at her age. Asuquo said: “During the pregnancy, my wife had some pains and went to consult a doctor who asked us to bring N10,000 as cost for examination and treatment. But when we told Pastor Ogunyemi, he told us not to pay a kobo to any doctor or hospital, that God has laid hands on the baby. He said God who placed the baby there will deliver her of the baby safely when the time comes.” To that, they also agreed in prayer.

“Then on Sunday, April 2, I was ministering in the church and when I looked in the direction where my wife normally sits, I couldn’t find her. Later, somebody came to inform me that my wife had put to bed.”

That day’s service turned into a celebration of a sort as people came over to congratulate him, even his friends who had earlier abandoned him when he turned down their advice to divorce his wife. “What a miracle,” he said.

In fact, when he got home after the service, the whole area was filled with people who had come to rejoice with them.

The baby whose arrival has brought joy of inestimable value to the family and marriage, has been bestowed with names such as Ekemini Abasi (meaning the acceptable time of God), Precious, Aduragbemi, Happiness, Utibe and Lucy. “She is precious to me,” said Pastor Asuquo.

Penultimate Sunday, a dedication service was held at the church for which friends, relations and well wishers of the couple came from far and near. It turned out to be a celebration more elaborate than the couple anticipated. There, they poured out their hearts and experiences in encouragement of couples looking for the fruit of the womb. In the words of Asuquo: “In the Bible, Sarah and Abraham were married for so many years without a child, yet, they did not divorce themselves. God has been promising me “I will bless you, I will bless you.” I believed that and kept faith that sooner than later, before I leave this world, God would answer my prayer and as people say, the year 2000 is a year of miracles. I didn’t know that I will be one of the people the miracle will manifest in their lives.”

“We are broad-minded; we took good care of other people’s children while hoping on God to have our own. It is the promise of God which has come to fulfillment,” Dora said. “This has strengthened our faith and commitment to God with whom all things that seemed impossible have become possible,” Asuquo added.

Now that the door has been opened, do they expect more children? The question elicited a long laughter, a sigh and then: “Why not, if that is God’s wish?” answered Asuquo. Asked what advice they have for married couples in dire need of their own children, Asuquo said: “They should hope in God.” And from Dora: “They should trust in God for it is never too late. If He can do it for me, He can do it for anybody else. All we have to do is to wait for God’s appointed time. It will surely come to pass.” At that point, the baby who had been having a quiet time in the inner room cried out from the cot as if to remind her parents that she was listening.