When they gave birth to their first child, Angel, it never occurred to them that they would wait for another 20 years before a second child would come. But for two decades, Mr. Chris Uche Senor Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and his wife, waited patiently for the child.
Contrary to the norm in the African setting where such issues puts marriages to strain, theirs waxed stronger as they continued to wait on God for a seco
nd child. And when the good Lord finally answered their prayers, the Uches last December rolled out the drums to celebrate the arrival of the jewel.
It began at the hallowed sanctuary of the Family Worship Centre, Abuja, where little princess Chinaza Uche was dedicated to God in their Maitama home with friends and associates in attendance.
The excited father summed it this way: “It is a matter of great glory to God that I had to wait for 20 years to have another baby. God had shown through us that indeed, like in the olden times of Abraham and Sarah that He is still in the business of doing miracles today. To wait for 20 years for a child is not a joke. But we truly thank God because we know that it is only God that can do what has been done.
“He never allowed us to feel dejected.
He gave us the grace to hold on. Every year we continued to believe in Him, we never ever gave up, we never ever despaired and we never ever allowed it to be an issue either between my wife and I or between us and others or even between us and God. We did not grumble or quarrel but rather we believed that some day that God will come through for us.
“Year in and year out, we continued to hope and believe God for a child. We thank God that at the end of the day, God vindicated us, and rewarded us for our patience, by giving us the evidence of what we hoped for and what we believed in indeed, the rest as in the time of Paul, was for an appointed time and that even if it tarries, that we should not despair as it must surely come. We are glad that at the end of the day, God came through for my wife and I.
“As a matter of fact, the closer you become to God, the easier it is to go through challenges as this. To be honest, it never for a day crossed my mind to take another wife, I never ever contemplated that because I was very strong in my belief that it would happen for us. I saw no reason why it should happen for us. I think God allowed us to go that aspect of our live and I know that either going to take another wife or trying to have children outside my marriage will be offending God.
“God showed me both in my profession and in my life that He is in charge. He showed up for me and did a lot for me to know that He was with me. At every point even while we were waiting, God was blessing us abundantly. My wife and I understood that God was just using us to make a test case for those who are going through what we went through. So if I go and do what every other average Nigerian would have done, that would have offended God very much and I would have let Him down in this contest between Him and the devil, it would have been an issue of disappointing God.
“God has a way of preparing one for any test. He gave me the kind of wife that is irreplaceable. I would not because I want a child and do away with her. She is just a wife made for me I can’t even trade her in for 10 sons.”
For couples going through childlessness he said women must learn to relate with their husbands in such a way that even if they face challenges like his their husbands would look at them and their conduct, and the way they handing the family and conclude that it would be a great offence, not only to the wife, but to God as well, to do anything to hurt the woman:
“Because of the kind of woman my wife is, even if I had wanted to marry another wife, I would not have seen another woman like her. Again, the first child God gave me is also a very wonderful child that, God forbid, I don’t have any other child, I won’t even take offence because God gave me a girl that is special and wonderful in many ways. I’ve had cause to say she’s worth to me more than 10 sons.”
Uche is no less grateful to God for her first daughter: “She is a prize to us. God had already made things easy for me by surrounding me with two lovely, lovely ladies who made my life beautiful. That helped to ease the go through this long period of waiting for another child. You see, once we understand that God knows us more than we know ourselves and know what is best for us, it would help us to understand God and watch what He is doing for us and what He wants to fulfill through us in any given situation.
“I met my wife in a very remarkable way, showing that God made her specially for me. When I was called to the Bar, I began to mould her to my choice. Her family and mine lived in the same vicinity and her brothers were my friends. So I knew her as a toddler and I saw that she was the one made for me so I began to train and mould her according to my own expectations. She turned out to become what I wanted her to become. Incidentally, she refused to read law and preferred English.
“Our daughter, Angel, became a lawyer in January so we have more lawyers, she is into administration and has provided the variety to life and an alternative perspective to issues in the family. April 2011 will make it 22 years of married life to us and interestingly, we still behave as if we just got married 2 years ago. Having to wait for 20 years for another child did not in any way affect our relationship, rather what we had gone though together had brought us closer and strengthened our relationship. We were prepared to face anything together.
“We have seen marriages which began to despair in less than 3 years over the issue of child birth, so we believe that God was making an example with us to encourage many other families. When such families hear that God answered us after 20 years of waiting upon Him, they will be encouraged to keep holding onto Him. Such marriages would have faith in God. In fact, we are very glad that God had used us as a test case.”
