For Nelson and Monica Ochieng of Couples for Christ Mbitia, Kenya, faith has always been their family’s anchor. Since joining CFC in 2014, the couple, blessed with four children, had built a home grounded in service and prayer.
Yet even the strongest faith can be shaken when tragedy strikes, and for Nelson and Monica, it came not once, but twice—within a span of eight months.
Their daughters, Frenzy, aged sixteen, and Seren, aged twelve, were both diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, a disease that weakens the blood and drains the body’s strength. It was an illness that tested every ounce of hope they had. The pain of watching their children suffer was unbearable. As a father, Nelson could see in his daughters’ eyes a deep longing to live and a dream to pursue the beautiful lives that awaited them as they continued to fight their illnesses.
Yet as their breaths grew weaker, he also sensed a quiet surrender, a peace that came only from the Lord. Nelson and Monica did everything they could. They sought treatment, prayed fervently, and surrounded their daughters with love. But despite their efforts, the weight of loss came crashing down on them.
Their two daughters, both so full of life, were gone in less than a year. Their grief was beyond words. In their sorrow, Nelson wrestled with questions that pierced the heart of every believer in pain: “Why me, my God?” he asked. “Why do I have to go through all these painful experiences?” The silence that followed was deafening. For a time, he struggled to understand how such loss could fit into God’s plan.
But amid the darkness, God revealed His light in the most unexpected way: the memory of Frenzy and Seren’s smiles. Despite their frail health, both daughters radiated joy.
That image of joy became God’s message to Nelson. It was as if the Lord was whispering through his daughters’ faces: “Even in pain, choose joy. Even in loss, trust in Me.”
Nelson came to realize that his daughters’ joy was not a denial of their suffering, but a declaration of faith: a living testimony that even in their weakest moments, they found peace in Christ. This revelation became the source of his healing. It was not an instant cure for grief, but a gradual restoration of hope.
He found strength in the words of Jeremiah 12:5
“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a safe land, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?”
For Nelson, this verse became God’s answer. It reminded him that life’s trials were not punishments, but invitations to deeper faith. Through his pain, God was preparing him to “race with horses”—to face life’s challenges not with despair, but with courage and trust in divine wisdom.
Nelson and Monica’s journey continues, and they now carry the memory of their daughters not as a wound, but as a witness of God’s presence. Their smiles remain etched in their hearts, a reminder that joy is not the absence of suffering, but the assurance of God’s faithfulness in the midst of it.
Indeed, even in the deepest sorrow, Nelson and Monica found the courage to rise, pick up their mats, and go forward—carrying with them a faith that proclaims: Christ heals.
Credits:
Written by Manuel Rabanes | Edited by Angeli Arellano | Graphics by Clarysse Catugal | Layout by Jay Lucena