If I did not give my testimony about the miracle God’s has done in my family’s life then I would fail to give God all the praise and glory for blessing my husband Rodney and me in such a tremendous way.

My husband and I decided to start our family in April of 2001. I wanted to start my family early even though we were only married September 13, 2000; I was concerned about my age and thought we should give it a try immediately.

However, “I” had it all planned out without putting it before God. “I” had MY plans. After trying for 6 months, I was devastated that nothing happened. During those months, I cried and prayed, but still nothing happened. We eventually visited the doctor to find out if anything was wrong and were told that we should try for one year and then, if nothing happened, to come back to do some tests.

So, we did as we were told, and much to our disappointment, nothing happened. I spent my time crying and asking God, “Why? Why not me Lord? All my sisters were blessed with families of their own. Why not me?" My husband was very patient and very positive in all this, but I was in total disbelief that “this” could happen to "me."

After a year, we returned to the doctor, and after doing some tests on Rodney and me, they concluded that we would NEVER be able to have children. I was told by two different doctors that it would NEVER happen. This broke my heart terribly, but despite all of this, my very faithful husband told me that was the report of the doctors, not of God. He kept on believing that it could still happen. On the other hand, I had already wavered in my faith. I kept telling Rodney, “But this is what the doctors said.” And he kept insisting, "But this is not what God said."

We were eventually sent to the InVitro Fertility clinic in Boston to see if they could help us. After making several trips to the clinic, and after doing several tests, the specialist told us that there was still a little chance for us to conceive. But still, nothing happened. They determined that I would have to start taking fertility drugs. I was broken, this couldn’t be happening. I said, "Lord, I don’t believe this is the way you wanted it to be." I came home that day from the clinic extremely depressed and still determined that that is not the way the Lord wanted it to be.

The Lord had taken me down a road during that time and my faith grew stronger as I learned to depend solely on Him and not on my own understanding. I repented several times again for past sins that I may not have confessed, and also I gave the Lord total control of this situation. As we prayed and trusted in God, little did we understand that while we were looking at this one little area of our life, God was looking at the whole thing.

During the time we were trying to conceive, our living situation was not a very healthy one so we had to move. While looking for another apartment, Rodney was looking for a proper job and a whole bunch of other personal things were taking place. God is a God of timing; I know that for sure. We got our new apartment in March of 2002. Rodney got a better job in September of 2002, and I found out that I was two months pregnant in November of 2002. We were supposed to start the infertility treatment in September 2002.

It’s amazing because the day I was supposed to start the treatment, I called my sisters and told them that I had come away with a very depressed spirit and didn’t think I wanted to go through with the treatment. I kept saying, "This is not right, and I am going to do this in faith and wait on God. I will tell them at the clinic that I do not want to go through with the treatment anymore, and I will wait on the Lord."

I then called the clinic and told them I was not emotionally ready to take the treatment and that I would let them know when I was. As I hung up the phone, with God as my witness, I felt a heavy weight lifted off me. I actually felt happy and relieved. I called back my sisters and told them I felt so much better and that if I did not conceive by January of 2003, then I was going to consider the treatment. I wanted to give God a chance.

The thing is it didn’t stop there. After finding out I was pregnant, Rodney and I were tested for sickle cell and found out that we both had a trace. The doctors said that our baby had a 25% chance of getting the full-blown disease. Now, I did some research on this sickness, and I would not wish it on my worst enemy. The doctor asked me if I would want to keep the baby if I found out that he had sickle cell. Tearfully, I said, "Yes!" I was appalled at being asked such a question.

In addition to that, my husband was born with a hole in his heart that closed up over time. We were told that this could be hereditary, so they had to do an echocardiogram on the fetus to see if they would have to do emergency surgery on the baby when he was born. Then, because my age during pregnancy (35), there was also a possibility of him being born with Down syndrome so we had to do a whole bunch of tests and running back and forth to the doctors. It was a very stressful period. The stress only increased when during an ultrasound the technician performing it stepped back and exclaimed "Oh, my gosh!" When I asked what the matter was, she said that my baby had tumors in his head! I was wondering what was going on.

They even had to take him one week before the actual due date because his heart rate was dipping.  My labor was very hard and distressing. The baby got stuck in the passage and they had to do a cesarean after two days of labor. But, I would just like to testify today that my heavenly Father still does miracles because our beautiful baby boy was born on July 5, 2003, with a very strong heart, not even a trace of sickle cell, no down syndrome and the tumors just melted.

Someone once told me nothing good comes easy and I know it. I prayed several times during the process of trying to have him that God would give Rodney and me heavenly wisdom and understanding to bring this child up in the ways of the Lord. I also made a promise to God that I would give this child back to him. I pray that the Lord gives us the strength to honor our vows and to bring our son up in the ways of the Lord, come what may.

I will never forget this experience and what God has done for us. He has been very good and I am very grateful for his goodness. I just wanted to share my testimony in the hopes that anyone who might be going through this same kind of thing would know to never give up on God, that He promised He would never leave us nor forsake us, and that we should trust in Him with all our heart and soul and might and not lean onto our own understanding.

My son today is extremely hyperactive and very intelligent. He might be a lot to handle sometimes, but after all that we went through, I would not ask to change a thing. For, it has made us better and stronger people who believe that in God all things are possible - Beverly Durham

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