Just like new seasons bring with them huge changes, so did this new season completely turn around the lives of Sunita and Sahil Andrews Chand – from a house that was lacking cheer to a home filled with giggles and laughter!
Unlike the early years of their marriage, Sahil and Sunita began thinking about growing their family of two after about ten years of marriage. Like all couples they made plans and sat day-dreaming about the children they would have and how beautiful their lives would be. What they didn’t know was that God had a whole different plan for them. After having difficulties in conceiving, Sunita was diagnosed with unexplained infertility. This devastating news drove Sunita into depression. She stopped eating or sleeping well, and completely gave up taking care of herself. Sahil did his best to get his wife through this dark time.
Sahil and Sunita did their best to continue to keep their faith strong in God and His ways, and God spoke to Sunita through Isaiah 54:1 “Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy.” This one verse spoke so powerfully to her that she put all her focus into rejoicing despite her heart-breaking situation. Sahil and Sunita remembered their youthful conversations and desire to adopt, and decided to put that into action.
While scrolling through the adoption website they had registered themselves on, Sahil noticed a requirement for the immediate placement of three brothers, one of them named Samuel. Something clicked in Sahil and he was instantly reminded of a time God had spoken to him years ago, “When I was praying one day, God told me He will give me a son whose name will be Samuel. I won’t keep his name; his name will be Samuel.” Sunita burst into tears of joy when Sahil asked her whether they should go ahead with the adoption. With their hearts racing, soon the couple was on a train to Orissa to get their boys!
A little boy in a red T-shirt approached Sahil and simply looked up, and raised his arms asking to be picked up. “It was love at first sight,” Sahil and Sunita recall, their eyes welling up. “After Samuel, David and Isaac came into our lives, it was a new beginning for us!” Sahil remembers clearly how painful a time it was for them to realise they would never have children, and how they found strength only in God and His word, and now joyfully says, “From a family of two, we were multiplied to a family of five! That’s how God works, I think. In a blink of an eye, He fulfilled the desires of our hearts.”
