Pastor Taiwo Odukoya
Senior Pastor
Fountain of Life church
Ilupeju, Lagos

There is no gainsaying the fact that waiting on the Lord for the fruit of the womb can be tedious and sometimes exasperating. But for some, there is really no alternative to that long and tortuous route. That points to the need for patience and due diligence in holding on to God, especially when all else has failed.

If you look through the Bible, you will discover that trusting God for the fruit of the womb was a reality even among the children of Israel. The fact that Abraham was in a covenant relationship with God did not stop him and Sarah his wife from waiting for 25 years for the promised child. Hannah was by no means a stranger to the covenant of fruitfulness God had with the children of Israel, yet she had to wait for a long time until the promise came to pass in her life. Elizabeth, apart from being a covenant child of the Most High, had a husband who was faithfully serving in the house of God as a priest. In fact, she and Sarah waited until they passed menopause.

The interesting thing about all of them is that God came through for them in His own time. And the children they conceived and gave birth to were special in God's plan and purpose for His people. Isaac, the child Sarah gave birth to, was a kind of covenant connector to future generations. Samuel, the child that Hannah gave birth to, ended up as an outstanding prophet/priest and the first of his kind in Israel. John.

The child Elizabeth gave birth to, was the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ.

From the foregoing, it is obvious that waiting for the fruit of the womb is not necessarily a punishment from God. In most cases, if you are located in His will, the reason He allows it is because He wants to work something spectacular with the child or children who will come forth from you and/or raised by you. In that regard, the wait is a training ground, an equipping period, for the task ahead handling and nurturing that special child (or children) God will bring into the world through you. I sincerely believe that will be your case, in Jesus' name.

If Sarah, Hannah or Elizabeth were to share their testimonies, I am sure they would sound like most of the ones put together in this book. As you read, therefore, I do not have any reason to doubt that you are next in line.

I have known Yewande Zaccheaus for a while and remember very well when she went through her own waiting period. I believe the tips at the end of the testimonies are particularly pungent partly because they derive from her personal experience. Take heed to them. Indeed, your own testimony will be published or noised abroad sooner than later. And that is because the God whom we serve is faithful. If He has done it for others, He will do it for you, in Jesus' name.

Of particular interest are the testimonies of those whom God has made mothers through adoption. That tells me that there is something you can do while waiting on the Lord for the fruit of the womb: be God's arm stretched forth to the numerous children who are waiting for a mother, just like you are waiting for children.