On the 2nd of October 2008, after choir rehearsal for Oasis, I got home to hear that my son was running a fever. I gave him a cold bath and prayed for him. By Saturday morning he was fine, so I took them all for a friend’s child’s birthday party. On the morning of Sunday the 19th of October, he woke up again with a very high body temperature and just wanted to sleep. We took communion and then we came to church.

After service when I went to check on him at the children’s church, I was told he slept through the service, which was very unusual. The children’s church workers also said he woke up at a point with seizures and his father (a children’s church leader), was notified about it. He checked on him, removed his clothes and left him to sleep some more. By the time I checked on him, the seizures were even more severe. So I just prayed and rebuked the spirit of “whatever infirmity”. I left him with my mother-in-law in the car to wait for my husband who was to take them home. Later, my husband called me to say that Toby [my son] was in a very bad state and we needed to see the pastor and then take him to the hospital.

My son was brought in with a stiff neck and he could not see, talk or hear us. In that state, Pastor Nkechi just grabbed hold of him and was praying right into his ear and took him to the tap which she turned on full blast, soaking her clothes, watch and all. Under that cold water, my son did not flinch. Pastor prayed and assured us he will be fine but seeing my state of panic, not faith, she advised that we see a doctor. We had never had to take our kids to the hospital, thanks to God, and we did not want to make a mistake. So I called a sister in church who is a medical doctor and she asked us to go over to her house since she was at a function with her husband. We got to her house and waited for her. After seeing the child, she prescribed some drugs and asked us to come to the hospital the following day, being Monday the 20th.

By the time my son woke up on Monday morning, he was completely different. He was jumping around, and playing ball with his daddy. The healing had already been done, but we just wanted to conclude the tests, and to God’s glory the tests all came out good. The doctor did not want to say anything to us initially, but he later said he was suspecting meningitis or epilepsy. My mother-in-law told me that while they were waiting for my husband in the car that Sunday, my son had a worse attack. The doctor told us that having two of those seizures in a day was too much and could mean a whole lot of things; but he had it four times.

I thank God there is a Name to whom other names must bow: meningitis, epilepsy, or whatever name. I thank God that when we treat things carelessly, the covenant stands for us. Truly, the race is neither to the swift, nor the battle to the strong but it is the Lord that shows mercy. Children are a blessing from the Lord, and His blessing makes rich and doesn’t add sorrow.