Couples in Nairobi blessed with children after many barren and frustrating years

Just as her long barren years caused unending anguish to Hannah in the Old Testament, four couples in the Nairobi church’s Metro Region suffered pain and frustration through six miscarriages and three stillbirths. The joy of expecting their first child would in each case be overtaken by the pain of losing their yet unborn loved ones. They did not lose hope, but instead, like Hannah, turned to God. And God did not turn away. They resolved to pray and fast for each other, and, as a powerful demonstration that "the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry" (Psalm 34:15), each couple was comforted by the Lord as he gave them bright bouncing babies in answer to their prayers.

Helen Onyango and her husband, Stanslaus, faced their first miscarriage in September 1999 and within 8 months, two more were to follow. The last of these was particularly trying as Helen experienced bleeding for a whole day, finally ending up in hospital at 7 P.M., shivering and with no strength left in her. "I remember Stanslaus breaking down in tears because of the pain I was going through," she says.

But they did not lose faith. Passages like Jeremiah 29:10-11 and Psalm 37:1-4 became very real to Stanslaus and Helen. They got strength from their friends, "like Anne Irungu," says Helen. " She and I would pray together and cry together. And most of all my husband was a great support."

Then Helen became pregnant for a fourth time, and on the 23rd of June 2001, after nine months of unceasing prayer, she and Stanslaus had a baby girl! They named her Elyseastans.

Titus and Virginia Syengo experienced two miscarriages within their first year together. It was a tough way to start their married life. Titus recalls, "It was depressing to see my wife go through all that pain. Also, when the two of us would argue, Virginia would think that it was because I was blaming her for our lack of children." To add to it all, Titus’ relatives would talk negatively about the marriage. "The third instance hurt the most," Virginia says, "because though the doctor said that everything was alright, it turned out that the fetus had died two months earlier." Titus adds, "We were now disciples and I had begun to value and love children."

It was time to learn to rely on God. "Up until then everything had worked out for me in life, from high school to university to quickly getting a good job after leaving campus," says Titus. This was a situation where no academic acumen or professional prowess would see them through. Only God could change the situation. And that is exactly what God did.

With the same steadfastness, Titus and Virginia prayed their way through their fourth pregnancy, and also had the encouragement of supportive disciples. On the 23rd of January 2002, Virginia gave birth to a baby girl! They named her Hope.

At the time that Nicacius and Lucy Kamani had their first miscarriage, they had fallen away from God. "We felt like God didn’t care about us and was punishing us for having left him." Nicacius recovered emotionally sooner than his wife, which at times only made things worse as Lucy would feel like he didn’t care too much about the situation.

But it all served to remind them that they needed God. They sought God, returned to church, regained their spiritual convictions, and were restored to the Lord.

Nicasius and Lucy have been an extremely fruitful couple within the Metro region. Apart from being effective in the ministry, they renewed their dream to have children. That dream became reality when on the 26th of March 2002, Nicasius and Lucy had a baby boy! They named him Comfort.

George and Anne Irungu were the leaders of the Metro Region during the period in which the three other couples were going their difficulties. They had trials of their own in striving to become parents. Twice in four months they conceived and twice they experienced still birth. On both occasions the fetus died at six weeks.

On the first occasion George was out of the country when the still birth was confirmed, and found out when he called Anne. "I felt lonely," says Anne. "I felt that George needed to be there so we could experience it all together." George was concerned, "but in it all I felt there must be a reason why it had happened. Romans 8:28 kept me focused."

The second time was much more difficult emotionally. They had seen the heartbeat of the child on a monitor and, says George, "I felt like a father." For Anne, by her own admission, it was a period of great hardening of her heart. "I was angry at the doctor and the radiologist." The breakthrough came, however, thanks to constant support and counseling from her discipling partner, Janet. "My heart changed when I learned to be totally honest with God about how I was feeling and to express it to God." With openness came surrender and an acceptance of God’s will rather than feeling that it was her right to have a child.

George and Anne kept praying, got pregnant for a third time, and on the 3rd of March 2002, they got a baby girl! They named her Joy.

All four couples learned so much from all that they went through. It also brought them closer together, both through the times they would share in each others’ emotional struggles and from the moments of excitement and gratitude as God blessed each of them in turn.

Helen learned that "God allows challenges to bring us through victoriously if we keep going and do not give up." George says, "If you keep putting your trust in God he will always deliver." Anne says that she now understands "what women feel when they go through such things. I have learned to help women in the way that I was helped.

Undoubtedly, others everywhere are currently fighting their way through the spiritual and emotional roller coaster that has turned these couples’ lives upside down but from which they have emerged standing tall. Their encouragement to others – Nicacius and Lucy: "Keep praying and trusting in God. Don’t be anxious over the issue of getting a child"; Titus and Virginia: "Pray for God to lead you to a doctor who can help. Everything will fall into place with prayer and fasting and getting others to pray for you"; Helen: "Fight for the courage to keep your faith, and find out from doctors what more can be done", George and Anne: "Don’t give up. God will vindicate your cause. Hold on to God’s promises even when you do not understand why certain things are happening. Whatever God has designed for you, whether a baby born to you or children through adoption, etc., you will look back and be thankful for all that God has taught you and shown you through it all."

Let us be encouraged by understanding how much God can and is willing to do for us, not only with regards to having children, but in every area of our lives in which we seek the power and the love of his gracious intervention. Like the faithful Father that he is, God promises that, if we put our hope in him, he will comfort us and bless us with joy.