God is sometimes early, never late and always on time! This was a lesson that Michelle and I (Eric) learnt recently, having experienced God’s blessing and gift. Michelle and I got married in September 2016. For some reason, while we looked to anchor our wedding on a theme, the verse from Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time” jumps right at us rather than the many scriptures that has love and marriage in them.

After our marriage, we had plans to setup our family as soon as possible partly because we are no longer that young. However, as opposed to our knowledge and what we see in shows and movies, having a baby was not as easy as what we thought to be. Nonetheless, we kept trying and kept trusting in God to gift us a child.

Jumping forward to 2017, as God directed, I took up a part time post graduate diploma on theological studies. The part time studies took a fair toll on my time on top of my already heavy workload. As time passes, Michelle and I grew slightly discouraged when we looked around and many of our relatives and friends started to get pregnant within a year or so of their marriage. Although we were really happy for our friends, deep down we were struggling with God to make sense of why it couldn’t happen to us as well.

Periods gone by where we felt our prayers went unanswered and suffice to say, our faith was shaken as we pursuit relentlessly in having our baby. Some nights ended with tears as we celebrated the news of our loved ones having a baby and crying out to God to gift us one too. We started to question God and also decided that we should probably go for a health checkup to determine if our health was the key reason of us not able to conceive.

In the beginning of 2019, both of us went for the fertility medical checkup. To our amazement, the reports that came back showed that we are both in the pink of health and should not have any issues of having a child. Despite the fact that we kept trying, there was no good news. We even attributed that it could be due to stress. Even trying on staycations and vacations didn’t help. By then, we had bought and ovulation kit to help better track Michelle’s menstruation cycle. Also, we decided to surrender this matter into God’s hands and to keep trusting Him for provision. During this period of waiting, God has constantly reminded us to rejoice in Him. 

It was in October 2020 when I was having my final semester for my part time studies that Michelle broke the news to me that she thought she was pregnant. After trying for so long without any positive news, we found ourselves unable to believe it. This resulted in us buying additional pregnancy test kits to confirm this news. As we looked back to our ovulation calendar, it indicated that there were 2 ovulations that took place in September 2020. As we researched on some information online, we discovered that the first ovulation may have failed resulting in a second ovulation which acted as a second chance for another opportunity for a baby to be conceived. To us, this was a miracle. Without the second ovulation, Michelle would not have been pregnant.

Looking back, we also learnt that God is a God of order and that He has the best planned out for us. If Michelle had given birth during the course of my part time studies, I might not have been able to cope and manage my time. Furthermore, on Christmas day, we opened up a gift which was a photo-frame with the image of the verse Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time” on it. It was as though God was reminding us on this matter. 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time” – Ecclesiastes 3:11

Thus, in the final service of the year December 2020 and after Michelle had passed the first trimester safely, we gave thanks to God for His gift and provision. He is always on time!