Pāhonoa te oro

Esinam was 37 years old, faithful to God, consistent in prayer, and still unmarried. For over ten years she had been asking God for a husband. Ten years of fasting. Ten years of altar calls. Ten years of watching others walk down the aisle while she sat in the same pew, smiling through the ache. …

Esinam was 37 years old, faithful to God, consistent in prayer, and still unmarried. For over ten years she had been asking God for a husband. Ten years of fasting. Ten years of altar calls. Ten years of watching others walk down the aisle while she sat in the same pew, smiling through the ache. The whispers in church had grown louder. Some said she was too picky. Others said maybe it just wasn't God's will. A few simply laughed — not cruelly, but carelessly, the way people do when someone els