The miracle of motherhood

Sunday is Mother's Day. I was blessed by a godly mother who reared me as a single parent. She worked full-time and was assisted by my grandparents with my upbringing. While I had a happy home, I always wanted to have a family of my own. It was important to me that my children would have both mother and father. This was a driving force throughout my dating years. I was careful to avoid dating anyone I did not consider someone I could marry. Friends accused me of being too picky.

God's plan for me was different from my own. I went through my 20s, and then 30s without a wife. I had served various churches and completed my education, the only thing missing was what I wanted most, a family of my own. When I turned 40, I assumed that I would never be a father, and that I probably would never marry. I would smile and tell people that I was a Baptist Priest.

Fortunately, the Lord led my future wife and her mother to visit Bethany Baptist Church. Sarah was much younger than I, and although I was attracted to her, I thought it was inappropriate to tell her of my interest. She became involved at our church and eventually, we started dating and were married in less than one year.

A few years into our marriage, we assumed that we would start having children. Her doctor informed her that she had a terrible case of endometriosis and would not get pregnant apart from IVF (a fertility procedure). We were disappointed and scared because it would cost more than $10,000 and there was no guarantee that it would work.

I asked the church, in a business meeting, if I could get an advance from my salary package to cover the cost of the medical treatments. The church denied my request. Instead, they said they would take up offerings to cover our costs so that we could start a family. I will be forever grateful for those who gave. Many of them are now with the Lord.

The week before Mother's Day, 2011, we had a doctor's appointment we will never forget. They asked us to go into a room and wait to speak with the doctor. It ended up being two doctors. Our main specialist, and another doctor came to tell us difficult news. They explained that the fertility medicine was not producing the results that would make it possible to have a successful IVF procedure. They assured us that if we quit, would could save half of the total cost. We could continue if we chose, but the probability of having a child was low.

We had heard stories of fertility treatments leading to large numbers of multiple births, but we were reassured that kind of thing is usually manipulated on purpose. We were prepared for the possibility of maybe having five children, and we were committed to trying to have as many as the Lord would allow. But we were not prepared for the news we received.

We told the doctors that we are Christians and that we were not going to quit, since this would be our only opportunity to try. We told them that we would pray and ask our church to pray for us. A few days later I shared this news with our congregation in the morning Mother's Day Sunday services. Many people went to the alter and prayed for us in both services.

The next week, the ultrasound verified a miraculous change of events.

On Father's Day 2011, I was able to share with our congregation that we heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time.

We thank God for our miracle who is now 11 years old. Every beating heart represents life, and every child is a miracle.

Some couples choose to remain childless, while others struggle with infertility. This Mother's Day, let us be thankful for the gift of life. We try to honor all the females at our church on Mother's Day. For each one in attendance, we will donate $10 to Options for Women to help couples facing crisis pregnancies.