FROM: MR. & MRS. JOEL IDUN AND THEIR BABY THEOPHAN EKOW IDUN

OUR GOD IS MERCIFUL AND FAITHFUL

Knowing therefore that the Lord, thy God, He is faithful, the faithful God which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generation - Deut. 7:9

Thy mercy, O Lord is in the heavens and Thy faithfulness reaches unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; Thy judgment are great. O LORD, Thou reserveth man and beast. How excellent is thy loving kindness O God, therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and Thou shall make them drink of the river of thy pleasure. For with Thee is the fountain of Life, in thy light shall we see light -

Psalm 36:5-9.

The Lord our God is merciful and faithful. He has shown me His great mercy and faithfulness and has given me a song and a testimony and my heart is filled with awe for Him, a reverend fear and wonder for His great faithfulness and mercy; Oh Halleluyah.

HE HAS GIVEN ME A SON, a wonderful baby boy. He has made me a father.

These nine months of conception have been some of the greatest testing times of my Christian life.

It pleased the Lord to allow so much odds and challenges that any pregnancy can have so that He can show us His faithfulness and mercy.

I would like to share this testimony with the church to let them know how powerful God is and how faithful He is amidst trials, fear, death, threats and negative medical proofs.

No God can save life like our God.

The Lord God of the Prophet William Marrion Branham, He is God.

It is the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed because His compassion fail not.

They are new to every morning, great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him – Lamentation 3:22-24.

Shortly after our marriage, the Lord gave us a seed. It brought us gladness and we praised God for that pregnancy. We told our pastor about it and we thanked the Lord together for it.

But it was the enemy's plan that we were not to have that baby and that, the pregnancy become a source of regret and misery. But our God had the master plan. Glory be to His Name for His mercy and faithfulness.

One Sunday morning, not too long after the pregnancy, when dressing and getting ready for church, my wife bled so profusely we had to rush to the hospital – a specialist hospital. Thankfully, the doctor who would usually not be there on such a day and time happened to be there.

The doctor called me privately after examination. I did not appreciate the expression on his face. He showed me a diagram on the scan and a dark spot on the diagram indicating that there had been too much bleeding that was threatening the pregnancy. And worse than that, he said that the instrument also detected more than one fibroid. And that one of the fibroids is so close to the fetus and could cause friction and more bleeding. I noticed the doctor was being modest with me in order not to get me worried, and for consolation, added that I should pray that it could be well. My wife was discharged after being admitted for some days, with caution to strictly stay in bed.

As always, we shared with pastor Idun and wife. It was always refreshing to share, because they always shared words of faith, encouragement and prayed.

Weeks after we had been discharged, we were advised to visit a far advanced specialist hospital and so we did. (I feel like pausing and saying "Glory be to God")

This new specialist doctor after scanning detected a more disheartening record. His machine had detected a line in the fetus that indicated our baby will not be normal, he might at least be a low-syndrome case.

Brothers and sisters, that was too much for a new marriage as ours. But to console us, he promised to run more tests.

We left the hospital very discouraged and down. The joy of expecting a baby left us. It wasn't a mere story knowing that one was carrying a sick child. – Oh God be praised.

This was such a shocking news. We hesitated to break it to pastor Gideon Idun but after a while we told him. His usual posture was positive and that of faith. He said we should refuse that report and look at another report. - the report of the Lord. We prayed and prayed to cancel that report. In all this, we were not ignorant of the devil's device – his thaughts he put in our minds - they were various and many and could fill a whole page. This was no easy moment for sister Pat, my wife.

Upon leaving the hospital with such bad report, we decided we would not step there ever again. So we changed to a more 'friendly' doctor with whom after sharing this report agreed that we prayed and that God could do anything.

During one of our visits to this third doctor, whilst on scanning my wife bled to clots. It was so profuse we were admitted at once.

About this time things looked life-threatening. We had been admitted two times already and this was about the 3rd time. At this time, she was advised to quit job and continue to remain in bed. During these times, she couldn't come to church. Brother Gideon and his wife were some of the people God used to encourage us. They were just wonderful.

One day, I prayed and told God that if my wife gets well enough to get down from bed, and go downstairs and as far as to church, then it will be a sign that all will be well at the delivery. The Lord made a way, the bleeding stopped, my wife was strong. So strong that sometimes when my car broke down, we walked a distance to pick taxis just so that we could make it to church.

We rejoiced greatly for this victory but the devil had not done his worse yet, neither had God His best. The worst and the best were yet to happen.

We serve a living God.

The Lord of the message of the Prophet, He is the God. Blessed be His Name for His mercy and faithfulness.

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. And the heavens shall praise they wonders, O Lord: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints for who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? Or to thy faithfulness round about thee? -Psalm 89:1,2,5,6,7,8.

About five or six months into the pregnancy, when it was so clear the Lord had fought all the battles for us and we started coming to church, my wife started having a feeling as if something was coming out of her. And to make it look serious, she started experiencing some strange bleeding.

We quickly had to see our doctor who advised us to go for a special scanning in a different hospital. The doctor, upon the results, advised we do a surgery to close the womb temporarily because the cervix was short. This caused a great upset. It was clear the devil just left for a season. Prayer also continued without ceasing.

During these times, my wife happened to read the testimonies of the wives of brothers Godwin and Jehu where the Lord delivered them from impossible safe delivery and ectopy, etc. through prayers. These testimonies gave us faith that God could do yet another miracle. At this time, we decided to go back to the first doctor who had predicted that our baby may be a sick child, for a second opinion; however making him know our unwillingness for the surgery to close the womb. He understood and decided to put her on medication and observe her but gave a strong warning that the first sign of any blood issue or unusual occurrence, she should rush to the hospital without waiting for me.

Our Lord being faithful, He kept the baby till the 9th month without any surgery.

Now the time for delivery was due. The Lord had shown us so much to build our faith and yet we were not ignorant of the devil's devices that he would put in our minds, every once in a while. Up until this time of delivery, we had switched to the doctor who said we could give birth to a sick child and it was also his hospital the baby was to be born. The truth of the matter was that we (the doctor and us) had agreed we were never going to discuss the kind of child we were going to give birth to since the doctor had earlier asked us if we would like to take the baby out if we knew he was a sick baby and we had told him we couldn't do that because we are Christians.

On the night before delivery, I prayed and cried much unto the Lord and kept reminding Him of His faithfulness – that used to be my key word in prayer. At this time brother Gideon and his wife stayed closer, they prayed and fasted for us. Pastor Idun constantly gave us words of faith. Oh how I needed those words.

The day was Thursday, 28th May, 2015. My wife was prepared for the theatre. She was weeping and scared. I couldn't stand it. My pastor and his wife came in and prayed. The atmosphere changed. She was taken in. Myself, my pastor and his wife were the only family members around. Strangely, the doctor had advised we shouldn't bring any family member around.

The first 30 minutes or so (I can't be sure) were the longest 30 minutes in my life. We were all ears to hear a baby scream. Just then the devil came around, but he was late because God had already been there by prayer. Glory be to His Name.

My wife passed out whilst they were operating on her. She had a shock and according to one of the doctors, it would have been an unfortunate case had it been in another hospital.

Our prophet said, "It is not the holy mountain but the Holy Spirit on the mountain that makes the mountain holy." So in this case, it was not the hospital (as claimed by the doctor) but God in the hospital made the difference. Halleluyah! Suddenly, we heard a baby scream. It brought sudden joy and relief. While sister Bridget, my pastor's wife, was shouting and rejoicing, I was wondering how the baby looked like. The nurse called me to have a look at the baby and take pictures of him. When I saw him, the devil told me 'that is a sick child'. I got confused because that was the first time I was seeing a new-born baby. The devil is a liar! All this time, my wife had not gained consciousness but God was in charge. She finally gained consciousness. Our God is faithful!

Theophan, our baby boy, is a normal, happy, beautiful, strong and active baby boy who has already started singing praises to our God. Oh what can I more say? Our God is faithful.

We love and appreciate our pastor and his wife. When the church prays, God moves. God bless you all.

(18/10/15)