16 YEARS OF WAITING – THE LORD REMEMBEREDIt all began on April 13th, 2009, when I held Gloria’s hand as we walked down the aisle of Mufulira Central Church while Pastor Kauseni stood in front of us, anxiously waiting to declare us husband and wife in the presence of our families, friends, and the entire church community.
When God blessed the marriage union in the Garden of Eden, He charged Adam and Eve to multiply and fill the earth. Similarly, the expectation of the African traditional community is that after a year or two of marriage, there should be a cry of a baby in a home. But this was not the situation with us. Two years passed, three years, four years—no child. Well, we were not very worried until it got to the fifth year. We then got concerned, while we kept on trying. Eight years down the line, still nothing.
In 2018, we felt a sigh of relief. We thought the Lord had now heard our cry. Few weeks down the line, my wife had a miscarriage. In 2019, my wife conceived again, with hope that maybe this time around, it would be a different story. Well, it was the same situation—miscarriage. You know, in this life, there are so many situations that will test your faith, but this particular one hits differently. This journey hasn’t been easy for us.
But we held on to faith, encouraging each other and always reassuring ourselves that God would provide one day. Sometimes we would be stereotyped and face mockery from some people, but we told ourselves that the last thing we would ever give up on is our faith. We were extremely blessed to have families and friends who stood by our side without judging me or my wife. Not even a single day did my sisters, brothers, or mom ask about our situation—obviously, they didn’t want to make the burden heavier on us than it already was—but they kept on praying for us day in and day out.
Gloria’s faith really used to fascinate me. Sometimes she would be passing through town and buy baby clothes. She would buy baby shoes and keep them in our home. When I looked at her doing all this, I was encouraged by her faith.
Thirteen years down the line, before the end of 2023, we were yet again treated to some partial good news. We were expecting a boy child. Our hearts were beginning to settle at ease. Have you ever been in a situation where you even feel that the Lord has answered your prayers now? Well, we felt relieved. Some reasonable months down the line, another miscarriage. This particular one was more painful than the previous ones, especially since the pregnancy was quite advanced. Our faith? It never shook. We remained steadfast, confident that when the time is right, the Lord would make it happen.
January 2025 was undoubtedly a period when we prayed more than ever before. In fact, before crossing over to the new year, we had a family prayer and fasting program. We shared and exchanged prayer requests. Surprisingly, most of our family members would choose to pray for Gloria and me. This was followed by an impactful 10 days of prayer with Pastor BB Mulenga and during the prayers, our fellow believers at church would join us in prayer; the Dorcas mothers would always pray for us during their monthly prayer and fasting program. Prayer band members would always remember us in prayers during the Sunday morning prayers at Mufulira Central Church.
Friends, the Lord is faithful. He answers prayers. The good news came again—we were expecting. To us, this was purely a product of prayer. Fast forward to around 03:00 hrs on 26th September 2025, my wife started feeling unwell. We called our doctor and explained how she was feeling. “Start coming to the hospital now,” our doctor said. We packed what we needed and left for Luanshya.
Upon arrival at the hospital, a team of health workers, some of whom were not even on duty that night, was already waiting for us. Apparently, our initial doctor was not at the hospital at the time we arrived, but he had left instructions with the doctor who was on duty. Upon reaching the hospital, the new doctor told me, “Mr. Matafwali from Mufulira, we have been waiting for you and your wife; your doctor has left instructions with me.” Quickly, she was rushed into the labor ward while I was removing baby clothes from the car.
Thirty minutes of waiting outside, a nurse walked out of the ward and said, “Mr. Matafwali, come and see your baby.” In my head, I was like, “Just like that?” “Wow, this is how God answers prayers.” I entered the ward, and lo and behold, a BOUNCING BABY BOY. Nothing but a product of PRAYER.
No matter how grammatically cute we may sound, we may not fully understand what you are battling with in your life—
maybe it’s an infection,maybe it’s unemployment,maybe it’s barrenness,maybe it’s financial challengesmaybe family conflicts.
Whatever it is, we stopped by to tell you that there’s a God in heaven who answers prayers.
Keep holding on to the faith; keep being faithful to Him. When the time is right, He will make it happen. If He did it for us, He can do it for you.
Credit: Mufulira Central SDA