They were without a child for 23 years, but in the last month of 2012, same month marking their 23rd wedding anniversary they got their blessing tripled. In this piece, BOLAJI OGUNDELE writes on the story of a Christian couple, who endured childlessness for 23 years and whose patience and faith in God has been rewarded with a set of triplets.
“It is joy overflow”, to use the exact words of the cleric whom God has preserved to his golden age before touching him with the feeling that humans call fatherhood. Pastor Adesoji Oni, the shepherd leading Rivers Province 2 of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), with his wife of 23 years, Mrs Dupe Oni, is part of the 100,000 babies miracle charged God by the General Overseer of the RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye. It could have been just a miracle like any other among those who would carry any of these miracle babies, but the Oni family’s case is rather unique and naturally invites attention.
They have been married for 23 years, in fact, their marriage entered the 23rd year on December 2. For those 23 years, they were on the waiting list of parenthood. In those years, the 23 years, they sure were Christians as they still are, not less than 20 out of those years have been in the RCCG. Pastor Oni has been a pastor for not less than six to seven of those years, praying for people, counselling and admonishing parishioners, some of them facing the same marital challenge he and his wife were facing. According to the elated cleric, the years of childlessness did not go without pressures from people outside their matrimonial home, especially the extended families.
The pastor and his wife, being not just members of the church, but part of the clergy, have over the years been part of the monthly Holy Ghost Service, the annual Convention and the Holy Ghost Congress, all held at the Redemption Camp ground in Ogun State. Members and non-members of the church reserve special prayer requests for these events, they go there to get ‘touched’ by God under the ministration of the General Overseer, also known as Daddy G.O, assisted by the church’s clergy, including Pastor Oni. Many of those who went for those events in search of miracles have shared their testimonies of how God met them at the points of their needs.
In the face of these very unfriendly realities, Pastor Oni and his wife were not moved, rather, as he said, they decided to wait on God through it all. He called it patience and faith in God, staying in one uncomfortable spot for years until the God they serve and trust met them at the point of their own need. Modupe, said to be in her late 40s, got pregnant and gave birth to a set of triplets. A wait and trust of 23 years got answered eventually, answered with not just one, not two, but three girls, at the same time. According to the pastor, his daughters; Miracles, Signs and Wonders, as he chose to name the girls, are his golden girls because they arrived in his golden year. The children were named at a ceremony in Abuloma, Port-Harcourt, yesterday.
Pastor Oni, in this brief interview, expressed his joy and experience:
How does it feel having three kids at once?
Of course it feels great and it can’t be otherwise and it’s joy overflow. That’s what I can say.
This is your first fatherhood experience…
That’s why it is more than just an ordinary thing, this is joy overflow, as I have said, because it is the first time.
We are talking of how many years of marriage sir?
By the grace of God, December 2 marked our 23rd year.
How was it like going through all the pressure, being a pastor notwithstanding, because we know what influence the extended family can wield?
It’s just for one to be focused; the Bible says “looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of your faith.” There were pressures from both sides, even more on my in-laws’ side than mine, but at the end of it, we made up our minds that we are going to wait on God and God has really done His work in His usual way.
What if God decides to do more of this sort of miracle in your home?
If God decides, there is nothing anybody can do about it, but I don’t think there’s going to be anything like that because like I always tell people, this is ‘once and for all settlement’.
You recently clocked 50 years of age, at this age, how do you feel just having your first fatherhood experience, three at a go?
It’s exciting. God knows why the children are coming at this time, so I call them Golden Babies because they are coming at this time that I clocked 50 and I believe that He who has brought them at this time will also give us long life to take care of them.
You are a man of God and there are many looking up to you as their father in the Lord, I believe you will have words for such couples who might be experiencing similar challenge as you did. What are you words to them?
My word is like I always tell people; we may not know when, we may not know how, but surely God will do it again. If He had done it in the old and He is doing it now, it means He will still do it again; Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. We thank God for all our fathers, especially our father in the Lord, Pastor E.A. Adeboye. At the beginning of this year, he had demanded that 70,000 children and later on he increased it to 100,000, when the children began to roll in. We thank God that out of them, we were able to pick three. We believe God that there will still be more.