A video, showing a father and his son crying for joy over the birth of a baby girl, has gone viral.
In an Instagram post, captured by CBN News, Pastor João Prudêncio Neto revealed that he became infertile after he and his wife had their first child. Unwilling to undergo a medical procedure, he turned to God for healing.
"I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard me when I cried for help. After I had our firstborn son David, I became infertile. It was impossible to be a parent again with zero spermatozoids production. My wife Karolinne Prudêncio was healthy and also dreamed of having another child. Until the Lord Jesus healed me, giving me life to produce another," he wrote in Spanish.
Neto hoped that the birth of his daughter will inspire others, who are in the same situation, to continue trusting the LORD.
"Giovanna's birth is not only a blessing to our family, but also to all those who dream of one day experiencing the miracle that only Jesus can do. We prayed every day for a miracle. I became a dad again without any artificial procedure. Glory be to God! All this emotion is for the miracle done; my wife is very well and happy," the pastor stated.
There are various causes of infertility in men but the latest one is due to coronavirus.
A research conducted by Dr. Dan Aderka of Sheba Medical Center in Israel last year found that moderate to severe cases of COVID-19 reduces fertility in men.
"We don't know yet if these effects are reversible, but we do know that other diseases from the coronavirus family, such as mumps and SARS, have left a long term effect on fertility for male patients. For 20% of adult male mumps patients, there is sterility, total loss of fertility, so we know viruses can have such an impact," he told The Times of Israel last October.
To protect their fertility during the pandemic, the researcher suggested that men should wear mask to lessen the entry of viral load in the body.
Aderka explained that with smaller viral load, the immune system has a better to chance to fight the virus, and thus, reduces the severity of the infection and its impact to a man's fertility.
However, even if a person is already declared medically infertile like Neto, he can always turn to God for healing.
In the Bible, there are some characters who were barren but God's intervention enabled them to have children.
One of the most popular examples of these individuals is Sarah, the wife of Abraham. The former was already 90 years old when she and her husband had their only son, Isaac. A year before his birth, the LORD already told Abraham that his wife will bear a child and Sarah even laughed because of unbelief. But the latter indeed conceived and gave birth to a son, by the power of God.
Isaac, the child that God had promised to Abraham, went on to become a father of one of the most influential nations in the world, Israel.
The birth of Giovanna shows that the LORD continues to perform miracles and listens to His people even today.
