Martin’s Plight (Ep. 2)

Martin’s Plight (Ep. 1)

Her fears were becoming real. It was the final confirmation to the whispers of that inner voice since Uncle Sam deflowered her on that unfortunate afternoon her parents left her alone with him. Now it was certain that no man would ever love her again. She covered her face and sobbed. Her pillow was drenched in tears within a short time.

“Oh, God… Oh, God…” She wanted to pray, but she didn’t know what to say. The sorrow she felt was too deep for words to express.

Martin was awakened by a phone call. He had fallen asleep on the cold floor of his cozy apartment. His eyes were still swollen from his crying. It took him some seconds to see the caller’s ID clearly.

“Wow,” he muttered softly. Pastor Tom was calling. “This is quite unusual”, he thought to himself.

“Martin! How are you, young man? It’s been a while I heard from you.”

Pastor Tom was a leader from Church, and he was in charge of the youth. He was a huge man – literally weighing almost 100 kg. He had a deep baritone voice and was an astute teacher of the word, known for his uncommon understanding of the Scriptures. He was a medical doctor who playfully referred to his medical profession as a ‘side hustle.’ “I am a teacher of the Bible. That is my full-time job. Medicine is just a hobby I do once in a while” was his famous statement whenever he ministers to students.

“I’m fine, sir”, Martin answered dryly.

“Hmmm,” Pastor Tom replied before a brief moment of silence that felt awkward to Martin. “Martin, my wife had a dream about you.”

“Oh my God”, Martin mumbled.

Pastor Tom’s wife, fondly called ‘Mama Rachel’ by the youth, was a soft-spoken woman with a compassionate look. She was a prayer warrior to the core and was known to flow regularly in the prophetic gifts. If Mama Rachel saw a vision about you, it had to be perfectly accurate.

“My wife said she saw you holding an egg. It was such a beautiful egg that you cherished it and held on to it so dearly. You were willing to lose anything to keep this egg. Then suddenly, you decided to take a closer look at the egg, and you noticed just a little black speck on the underside of the egg. You were extremely disappointed to find that speck because you had thought it was a spotless egg. Then you threw the egg into a river and sat at the riverbank and started weeping. We have prayed for you, but I felt I should still call you and relate the issue to you. Does this dream make any sense to you?” Pastor Tom asked.

Even before the question left Pastor Tom’s mouth, Martin had started sobbing. Pastor Tom knew the conversation could not be continued over the phone. He offered to pass by Martin’s apartment to pick him up later that evening. Martin obliged.

That evening, Pastor Tom drove Martin in his sleek Toyota car to the city’s outskirts. He parked on a hill from where they could see the colourful horizon and hear the sound of birds chirping. Martin had narrated the incident to Pastor Tom along the way.

“So, what do you intend to do now?” Pastor Tom asked.

“Pamela is a fraud. I’m not going to have anything to do with her anymore”, Martin responded.

“But how about all the visions you said God showed you and how He confirmed it through the brethren in your prayer group?” Pastor Tom asked.

“Pastor… I don’t think God was behind those visions. I was so blinded by my feelings for Pamela, and the enemy took advantage of me. Now I know better. I have a serious call of God over my life, and a woman with no womb cannot possibly be God’s will for me.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because God told me He has called me to raise many children for Him.”

“And has it ever occurred to you that He may have been referring to spiritual children? The essence of marriage is not just to have children. Marriage is a journey for you and your wife. Children are only passengers that join after your wedding ceremony and leave a few years after – when you eventually give them out to their own spouses in marriage. There is a deeper divine purpose that every couple is mandated by God to fulfil with or without children. The truth of the matter is that even for couples with children, the children do not belong to them. Children are a heritage of the Lord. We parents are only their caretakers.”

“I know this is easy for you, Pastor. You were lucky to get married to a decent woman who had kept herself for you. I don’t expect you to understand my plight.” Martins retorted.

“Actually, I do.” Pastor Tom replied calmly.

“What do you mean, sir?”

“My wife Rachel found it difficult to conceive when we first got married. After two years of trying, we decided to see a doctor to find out what was wrong. It was discovered that I had a low sperm count and was incapable of getting her pregnant.“

“What! I never knew about that. And Mama Rachel did not stop loving you when she found out?”

“No. I believe she actually loved me even more. You see, Martin, there is nothing as beautiful as a marriage in which both couples fight battles together. A marriage where each person treats their partner’s problems as their own problem rather than casting blames. That level of togetherness confuses the devil, and no mountain will be too high for that couple to cross. My wife and I continued to pray, and God gave us His word after 5 years of marriage. We believed Him, and Rachel got pregnant 3 months after that. We welcomed our first babies exactly nine months after she took in. Rachel gave birth to a set of twins.”

“Oh my God! What a testimony! How about the issue of the sperm count?”

“I don’t know about that issue. I only know that low sperm count no longer counts when the Creator of all things has given you His word.”

Martin returned home that evening with a lot to think about. Early the next morning, he broke into tears and pleaded with God to forgive him. “I’m sorry for not trusting in you o Lord. I’m sorry for putting your daughter through so much pain. I submit to your will o Lord. You knew Pamela had no womb before you led me to her. I’m deciding to take this step in obedience because I know you are the Creator of all things.”

As Martin prayed and poured out his heart to God, Pamela was also on her knees in her room. “Lord, I’m sorry I allowed Martin to occupy the space in my heart that only You are worthy of. I felt I had lost everything valuable in my life when he left me. I did not know how much my joy and fulfilment were wrapped around him. Thank you for using that experience to deliver me from his love, which had become an idol in my heart. Teach me again to trust you and to love you. I will not love you because I have a husband or hope to have one. I will love you because you first love me, and whether you give me a husband or not, you are still my God, and I will serve you all the days of my life.”

Pamela spent the next two hours singing and praising God with a joy that overwhelmed her. It had been a long time since she enjoyed such an electrifying atmosphere of praise in God’s presence. She felt a bit annoyed when her doorbell rang. She tried to ignore it but felt the Holy Spirit leading her to attend to it. She was shocked when she opened the door and saw Martin, on his knees, with a basket of flowers and chocolates in his hands and teary eyes.

“Pamela, I’m sorry. There’s a lot we need to talk about if you don’t mind….”

Pamela got married to Martin. They agreed that they would serve God together all the days of their lives and trust Him to sort out all the issues from their past. On the night of their wedding, Pamela had a dream. She couldn’t remember much of it, but she remembered the part where the bearded man in a white garment had said, “I have restored all things.” Martin told her to spend time in prayer to ask God for the meaning of the dream. He didn’t think there was much to it anyway.

Pamela fell ill and went to do a checkup in the hospital. 30 minutes after she left home, Martin received a text message from her that read, “I’m pregnant.” He couldn’t believe his eyes. God had indeed restored all things. He broke down and wept.

When Pamela returned home, she ran into Martin’s arms, and he hugged her. They laughed and wept together at the same time. Pamela sang a song, and Martin sang with her. They both decided to spend personal time in prayer individually for God to tell them the name of their baby. The doctor had confirmed that it was a boy. The plan was that they’d each pray to get his name from God, and they will each write down the names they got on paper and exchange what they had written with each other.

As soon as they looked at the notes they had written, they both burst into laughter. Pamela laughed so hard, and her eyes were soon filled with tears. Martin had written, “You know say this thing wey we dey do na scam”, while Pamela had written, “I know say you sabi hear God pass me…make we just use your name.”

Martin sat by the bed beside Pamela. He put his right hand around her waist and said, “I never imagined we would have a reason to laugh together again after what we went through.”

“Yes”, Pamela replied, “God has given us reason to laugh.”

After a few seconds of silence, they suddenly stared at each other, and Pamela asked, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Martin smiled and asked, “Isaac?”

“Yes, Isaac!” replied Pamela.

That day, they both decided to call their son Isaac. Nine months later, Isaac was born. He was dedicated by Pastor Tom. Mama Rachel had received a word of prophecy during the prayer for the dedication that Isaac would become a mighty prophet in the hand of God.

Martin and Pamela did not live happily ever after. They had happy moments and sad moments, but the joy of the Lord was their buffer as they learned together and grew together.

The End