On a sunny day, a girl child was born. Her arrival received a mixed reaction from her family. Her paternal aunt clapped her hands with joy because she wasn’t a boy and her grandfather welcomed her because his eldest grandchild was a girl. Most Indian families expect the 1st child will be male, heir to the family. Her parents love her and cherish their bundle of joy with much care and protection.
Days went fast and she turned one year old. Her parents took her to the hospital to consult her unending cough. There God played a riddle. The doctor found a hole in her tiny little heart. The doctors comforted her parents that the hole might go away without any medication before 13 years old. So her parents were eagerly hoping her hole would go away. The very next year, her father went ill because his heart too had a hole. Unfortunately, his condition was worse. The doctors urged him to have open heart surgery on the year of 1994. Within a few months, the surgery was done by the cardiologists of the very best hospital in India.
Days and years rolled by, and the beautiful daughter of theirs had grown up and was in 4th grade. While she was at her school with her friends, a medical examiner found out her heart rhythm was varying with others. The happy child was confused and one of her teachers asked to bring her father to school on next day. There her father learned that the medical examiner wanted to consult a cardiologist as soon as possible.
Her parents delved deeper into the buried memories of taking her to a hospital in her 1st year. Fear crept in her mommy who patiently waited 9 hours outside of the operation theatre during her husband’s surgery. Her heart was troubled by watching the news of each patient. Thankfully her husband’s surgery went successful. Her mom went confused and asked God why such things HE allowed. God comforted them by biblical reference of a blind man who was healed by Jesus. Her parents waited patiently and asked God to heal her hole through HIS miracle but none happened; Contrary God strengthen their faith. To her parents’ disappointment, The hole in the little child’s heart didn’t go away. It was as such there and the doctors gave a green signal to go through open heart surgery. On a sunny day, she lay in an operation theatre, her mom outside the operation theatre started reading the book of the Psalm in the Bible and her father Laid her at God’s hand with prayers. Peace of God filled them while their girl child was at 7 hours of surgery.
Years went fast and the little girl became a decently educated lady. In India, most of traditional orthodox Christian families believe in arranged marriage system. The girl attained Marital age, and people around their family dug up her past surgery. Some of her relatives thought she couldn’t tie the knot with a decent bachelor. Her father trusted God in her marital process. He was praying to the Almighty Heavenly Father to give him a sign; which was like Eliezer. He made a treaty with God. He was praying about which family proposal didn’t expect the dowry would be the one that God designed for her. Divine God led by HIS divine guidance. Her relatives persuaded her father to conceal her previous medical history from the groom’s family but her father was determined to reveal it to them. He told his relatives “If it was arranged by God’s guidance then definitely they would happily accept her as such”. Her father’s desire happened as he wished. Her marriage proposal was like a treaty between two empires. Thus her marriage proposal was arranged by God’s interference.
She was happily married and believed in “happily ever after”. Her husband loved her and accepted her wholeheartedly. He treated her tenderly. Weeks and months marched ahead, and their struggles to conceive became the talk of the family. They both were happy and content in their marital bliss but they fumbled to ziplock others mouths. Indian culture praises couples who conceive within a few months of their marriage. Brides who conceive within one or two months consider auspicious. And those young ladies who are struggling to conceive are like wounded soldiers on the battleground. Childless women become inauspicious in every way; whatever happened they would be blamed. British Missionaries came to India and abolish a lot of superstitious beliefs but in the 21st century, superstitious beliefs prevail in Indian Christian society which still struggling to accept infertile couples. On some auspicious occasions, infertile couples were excluded and dumped.
Years started marching fast still both of them struggled to march into the world of parenthood. One of their relatives started spreading rumours by telling “She couldn’t conceive because of her open heart surgery” but her surgery wasn’t such horrible. The doctors were told she could bear children through natural delivery and live a normal life. But sometimes God let people talk as their heart boasts; Like David from the Bible let Shimei curse him.
She prayed that she wanted God to bestow a baby without fertility treatment. She believed in the story of Hannah from the Bible. But few persuaded her to go for fertility treatments. Her husband stood with her and both were unmoved by the stones thrown at them. 4 and a half years ran as fast as passing clouds.
Does childbearing a race? Look at the biblical characters Rachel and Lea then Hannah and Penninah; they ran in a race called childbearing. There are times, those stones thrown at them didn’t shake but she was shaken and uprooted when she was purposefully pushed by a childbearing race. One of her close relatives once mocked her for her inability was expecting baby number 3. She was knockout on rock bottom by her circumstances. She laid her meltdowns at the feet of Heavenly Father and found her strength from her Creator. People might break her spirit but God divinely works for HIS purpose. Her earnest prayers went upwards and God graciously made her conceive a baby 5 months later. Miraculous her God was! Her trust in God Almighty secured her from falling to the highest bidder of fertility treatment. God blessed her with a baby girl. The same God, who shut the mouth of lions in the den where Daniel was thrown at, shut the mouths of mockers and gossipers’.
God will sustain us when we blindly trust HIS will. God’s hand beautifully knitted a hole in her heart and made it beautiful for HIS divine purpose. The same hand can beautifully knit our stories too. Keep trusting God in our earthly journey and bring glory to God Almighty.
Pearly Gates 