Dear Pastor,

I am 21 years old. I am married and I am also a Christian. My husband and I are together from I was 14 years old and he was 23 years old.

We are having some problems now, and it is because he needs a child. I lost our first child in 2008, and I have been trying from that time until now to conceive again, but it seems not to be working. It is only my faith that keeps me going. The other day he looked at me and said that we are together for too long for us not to have a child, and every month I have my disappointment by having my period.

He curses me and gets miserable. Yesterday, I couldn't take it anymore so I was telling it to my co-worker. She said she is going to get me some help. He makes me feel really bad at times and, because I am a Christian, sometimes I don't answer him. He is not a Christian. I know he really loves me, because he told my pastor and others about me. They said that he is very proud of me. I love him dearly as well. I heard his mother saying that he should not marry a woman if she cannot get pregnant. That makes me feel discouraged as well.

I really need your help and support. Pastor, please help me.

S.M.,

Dear S.M.,

Don't give up. You are still very young and God knows what He is doing. Don't give up. I am sure that you have gone to many doctors and they have given you different reasons why you have not conceived again.

I know many couples who have waited for years before having children. They didn't use any protection and they were in good health. Some of them gave up, but God didn't disappoint them. The women became pregnant.

I am sorry to hear that your husband is cursing you. He should know better. He is frustrated and his mother is not making it easy for him. She should learn to keep her mouth shut.

There was a wonderful story in the Bible about a woman who was eager to get pregnant and when she saw that nothing was happening, she went into the temple of God to pray about her condition. The story can be found in First Samuel chapter one. The passage says, "The Lord had shut up her womb. And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb."

Eli, the priest, saw her in the temple while she was praying and spoke to her. He prophesied that the Lord would bless her and give a child. And the Bible said, "indeed she conceived and gave birth to a son whom she named Samuel."

Continue to check from time to time with your doctors, but don't give up on God.

Pastor