It was market day, and I had just gotten home from a long afternoon of selling dried fish, when I heard that one of our church ladies was in labor at the hospital. I dropped everything, and, in my market clothes still smelling of fish, I hurried off to the hospital. I wanted to be especially supportive to this family because their parents had recently disowned them because of their Christian faith. The man’s first wife had died in childbirth, and Otammari superstition says that the death of one wife will be followed by the death of two or three more wives. I was worried that Satan was trying to make sure this happened.
At the hospital, I found the woman exhausted and almost comatose. God gave me the idea to ask the midwife if they had any medicine to promote contractions. She said they didn’t have any, and they didn’t know how to administer it. So I told them to move her to the bigger hospital.
The ambulance arrived, and they loaded her in. Then an argument started among the people there about who would go with her. No one wanted to go because they all expected her to die on the way. God whispered to me, “Get in and go!” So I got in with the lady’s husband, who was already waiting to go. He was starting to sob in terror of losing his second wife. I encouraged him to be brave, trust God and not give in to Satan’s temptation to despair.
God told me to hug the lady’s stomach and pray. She relaxed immediately, and I continued to hold her and pray all the way to the hospital. As we drove, the ambulance driver kept looking over his shoulder, expecting to find the lady dead.
When we arrived at the big hospital, the nurses tried to get the lady to stand up and walk in. When they found she couldn’t, they refused to carry her. The ambulance driver would not help either. I prayed “God, since no one else will help me carry her,
You must help me.” So I put my arms under her and prayed, “Okay God, this is it,” and I lifted her right up as if she was light as a baby. “Where do you want me to put her?” I asked the hospital staff who were staring at me in amazement. They led me to a bed, and I put her down. They told me I had to undress her, too, so I did. Just then, the baby boy was born! They took the baby to another room. I stayed with the lady all night until they brought her baby back to her, and I could be satisfied that he was still alive.
Sadly, the lady’s father still disowns her. He actually seems mad that she survived, because he had been telling everyone that she would certainly die. Now he is embarrassed. He refuses to help them with food, so my husband and I have been helping them. The lady’s husband has been working for a man who refuses to pay him, so now his only income is a few odd jobs. Please keep them in your prayers.
