When Hope Turned to Joy: Yewande Zaccheaus’ Testimony

A nine-year journey through secondary infertility miscarriage faith and answered prayer

When Yewande Zaccheaus welcomed her first child in June 1990, she had little reason to imagine that having another baby would become a nine-year journey of waiting, medical interventions, disappointment, faith and, eventually, joy.

She began trying for another child when her son was a year old. After conceiving easily the first time, she expected the experience to be much the same. Instead, seven years passed through what she describes as painful, undignifying and expensive medical procedures. Doctors could find no medical explanation for why she and her husband were unable to conceive, and their condition was described as unexplained secondary infertility.

During those years, Yewande became one of the earliest members of the Fruit of the Womb class at Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju. Every Thursday, women gathered as Pastor Bimbo Odukoya taught about faith. As an executive of the Married Women’s Fellowship, Yewande was also asked to help prepare scriptural confessions for women trusting God for children.

There was a painful contradiction in this assignment. Women she invited to programmes received their testimonies. Friends abroad to whom she sent the confessions conceived and passed them on to others. Yet she continued to wait.

Looking back, Yewande writes candidly about the emotional reality behind her faith. There were seasons of prayer, fasting, confession and strong belief, but there were also periods of doubt, tears and depression, particularly when another month brought disappointment.

In 1997, seven years after the birth of her son, Yewande conceived again. Shortly afterwards, she miscarried.

Her response to that loss became a defining point in her journey. Following counselling from Pastor Taiwo Odukoya and drawing strength from Habakkuk 3:17–18, she resolved that disappointment would not determine her relationship with God. Whether or not the answer she desired eventually came, she would continue to serve Him.

That conviction was tested almost immediately. Just days after the miscarriage, Pastor Bimbo was unavailable for the Fruit of the Womb Fellowship and Yewande was asked to minister. Still carrying her own emotional pain, she stood before other women who were waiting and encouraged them from the Word of God.

She subsequently decided to stop pursuing further medical interventions after years of unsuccessful treatment. In recounting this decision, however, Yewande is careful to make an important distinction: this was her personal decision, not a prescription for other women. She acknowledges the value of medical care and that doctors can diagnose and treat conditions requiring medical intervention.

A message from Luke 1:37, “For with God nothing shall be impossible,” later became particularly significant to her. In September 1998, after realising that the Scriptures she intended to confess had instead remained largely untouched beside her bed, she recommitted herself to speaking them consistently.

That same period brought a remarkable convergence of experiences. At church, Nora Akin-Akinyemi shared the testimony of her own 11-year wait and spoke of Luke 1:37. Pastors Taiwo and Bimbo Odukoya prayed for Yewande. The following Sunday, the church’s Scripture promise was again Luke 1:37. Weeks later, Pastor Bimbo encouraged her to attend an all-night service where prayers were offered for women believing for children.

Yewande recalls leaving that season with an overwhelming conviction that her own time had come.

The following month, she confirmed that she was pregnant.

On 30 June 1999, exactly nine years after the birth of her son, Yewande gave birth to her daughter. Among the names she gave her were Iretidayo, “My hope has turned to joy,” and Iretioluwadaju, “Hope in the Lord is certain.”

For Yewande, those names captured what the years of waiting had come to mean. The words of Proverbs 13:12, which her mother had repeatedly prayed over her, had acquired intensely personal meaning: hope deferred had finally given way to joy.

Her waiting had become her testimony.

Read the Full Testimony

This is an abridged account of Yewande Zaccheaus’s testimony from God’s Waiting Room 1. In the book, she tells the complete story in her own words and shares it alongside biblical principles and other testimonies intended to encourage women navigating their own seasons of waiting.

Read God’s Waiting Room 1 and discover more stories of faith, waiting and answered prayer.