Nikaō

Hope sets the target but faith pulls what is hoped for, bringing it into the now-PP.

My mum probably never got to receive a gift of gratitude for birthing me, so as long as I live, I'll make it a duty to always say thank you. It's an honor that my birth is a product of her faith. 

The just shall live be faith, faith is a currency, a substance and you need it for transactions. I love my Pastor's definition of faith. Faith is the right or positive response of the human spirit to the word of God(Rhema). It is the believing, confessing, and acting on the word of God concerning a specific situation. 

I was born premature at 8 months, cause otherwise only God truly knows.

 From the first few months of my mother being pregnant with me until my birth, she bled profusely. She was on hospital admission till the 8th month when she conceived me. Now you may think this is the almost regular story you hear about every pregnant woman, but no, not this one.

My mother lost three babies before she miraculously conceived my sister prematurely, now that's a whole story. My sister was born in May mid-90s, and less than a year later, she lost another baby; a boy at full term- born dead. 

Two years later, she gave birth to my brother at full term, healthy and strong.

 So she has two children now; a boy and a girl having lost four. Many would wonder “For someone who's gone through a lot and lost four children why try for a child again?” Even I wonder.

 Years later, she is pregnant with me! And a few months in, she had to be hospitalized from bleeding profusely and being ill. It becomes critical and the doctor is advising for an emergency termination of the pregnancy, by surgery or any other means.

 The odds are the child may still eventually be delivered dead, even if she endures. And possibly, she may also die, because she's losing too much blood, and it was not getting any better. 

 They are running out of time, the pregnancy is not due for an induced delivery, the baby might die eventually again, and they may lose a mother of two, and a wife. There's too much at stake to keep risking and delaying the termination of this pregnancy, it's a 20% probability that the child would live, and a 50% that the mother would survive.

 The father is furious, his wife has laid a curse on anyone who tries to harm her baby.

What manner of faith will allow a woman who has two children at home to risk her children growing up without a mother because of an unborn child who may be born dead as four others in the past? The doctor isn't just speculating, he knows her history, he knows four of her children are dead. So what's hard to believe that this 7th child her stomach is harboring wouldn't be born dead?

What manner of faith! Truly the just shall live by faith. 

So here I am, twenty fine years later, beautiful strong, intelligent, how can I not fear the Lord? And I will for the rest of my life. 

I am a witness that God cannot resist faith. Real faith always gets God's attention.

Dear best friend, I'm giving you your flowers and I won't stop. 

My life is a testimony and it started with your testimony: three beautiful children, the most wonderful siblings I have got, you gave birth a little too well. The most amazing part is the relationship you built with us all, the way you stand up for us and defend us, shield us and I know if you could carry us in your belly to keep us sometimes and protect us, you would, but since you cannot, your knees have not stopped touching the ground. You're old now, not as strong. My knees will always be on the ground for you and yours. 

My partner, my soulmate, my mother, I love you, and I am grateful for your faith in the Lord.

Dear friend this isn't just a memoir, faith is the technology God has put inside of us that causes us to conquer the world. Live by Faith