A scientist's witness to the reality and goodness of God -Williams Adeyemi

In 2009, I practically had nowhere to do my internship because I received no reply from the places I applied to. Schlumberger had earlier conducted their career fair in my school, but I was not one of the successful candidates. Just about when we were supposed to start the internship, Shell introduced their Accessed Internship Program to my department and I had the opportunity to submit my application. However, the timing of the internship would not match with the academic calendar of my school which had the internship planned for March 2009 to September 2009.

Since I had no other choice, all I could do was to wait for the recruitment process and hope I would be successful. I knew it would be difficult for me to complete the internship if the school would resume for the following session by September/October 2009 and not participating in TIT 499 would cost me an extra academic year. I waited anyway and the only prayer I could pray was “Lord help me” as I held my peace. As I was waiting to receive a call or mail towards Shell assessment or interview, I stayed back in school to wrap up the SPE student paper I was working on. I had enough time to satisfactorily work on the paper and debug the accompanying computer program.

Eventually, I received a mail that my paper had been shortlisted on May 26, 2009, won the SPE Student Paper Contest on June 6, 2009 and started Shell Assessed Internship on June 8, 2009 but with uncertainties regarding how everything would play out. Surprisingly, ASUU strike started about 3 months into my internship (that was the time the school calendar year was supposed to end) and lasted for about 3 months. I was able to attend SPEI Student Paper Contest in New Orleans and later completed my internship in December 2009 without any friction to either the internship or my academics. As events were unfolding that year, I could only follow through. The power at work was beyond me and I knew the perfect timing of those events were not just coincidence. They were carefully orchestrated.

Events of 2009 were not my first experience of divine intervention. In 2003, I had skin growth on one of my big toes and after about 2-3 weeks of treatment with no improvement, the factory doctor of Nestle Nigeria Plc told me to go for surgery. After thinking about it for few days, I went to a hospital where I was told the financial implication with an accompanying scary disclaimer regarding the possible outcome of the surgery.

It was when I was trekking back home that I remembered that day was September 12, a day before my birthday. With a smile on my face I said a funny but genuine prayer which was so effective: “Father please heal this leg as a birthday gift to me”. The growth dried up after few days and my toe PERFECTLY regained its healthy form and look. Such experiences and many more have increased my faith in the existence of God and I know he can do anything except he chose not to do it for a reason known to Him.

I am, however, a man who have grown up as a scientist and later became an engineer. I believe in facts and will always want to differentiate human interventions from divine interventions. We humans have incredible potentials that can make us achieve whatever we desire and create the world we want by using our analytical and scientific mind. People and nations who do not believe in the existence of God seem to be doing just fine and as it becomes more convenient to get whatever we need in life, the temptation of believing that God is irrelevant will start knocking at the door. Convenience, however is not the only thing that can make one doubt or forsake God. Challenges also can. Nevertheless, regardless of either our level of comfort or challenges. God is God.

After two years of marriage, my wife was diagnosed to have blocked fallopian tubes. The only option to have our own children medically would, therefore, be through in vitro fertilization (IVF). We believe God is not unjust. We believe God is faithful. We believe God is good. I believed if God is not going to give us a child, then He must have a reason. We opted not to go for IVF with the belief that God cannot be unjust to choose to make my wife barren and if he does, then He must have a reason.

On personal note, turning down IVF, even when it was free of charge, was not just a way to show God that I trust Him or flaunt my spiritual ego. No. It was the only way for me to keep trusting Him. I knew a successful IVF may rapidly erode my faith in God and I would have found it difficult to be able to defend the substance and reality of God in absolute sense without being hypocritical. I SPEAK FOR MYSELF. Furthermore, I believe that “every GOOD and PERFECT gift comes from God” and I want good and perfect gifts. God, however, poured His grace not only on me but also on my wife. He helped us to trust Him against all odds despite our frailty, imperfections and weaknesses. He strengthened us all along and exactly about five years after our wedding, my wife became pregnant for the first time.

As I carried our baby at about 18:22 on December 17, 2018, and looked at my wife, I could not say anything. I was more than overwhelmed. I did not have any clear answer to why God has done what He did and how He did it, but I know He did it for His own glory. I know He did it to make me a true witness of His power in that dimension. I know I just, not only witnessed, but also experienced another miracle.

God is real, and He is good to perfection. My friends and brethren, I stand as a witness to the reality and the goodness of God. He loves you all and He is ever willing to be your father and friend. You can always access Him through His son Jesus Christ. Believing God gives us His blessedness here on Earth and an everlasting life thereafter. “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”.

I thank you all for being part of my life all these years and especially part of 2018.

I wish you all a blessed 2019.

Click to read original post on Facebook.