• Says ‘I got disturbed as normal human being’
By Enyeribe Ejiogu
“Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning,” says the Good Book.
For Pat Nwabunnia and his wife, Chibuzor, the ‘night’ lasted for 19 long years. However, the morning of their joy broke about three months ago with the birth of their twins – a boy and a girl.
Understandably, Pat Nwabunnia, a deacon in the Christ Embassy Church and a maritime consultant, as well as his wife, who is a staff of the Federal Ministry of Interior, in Lagos, have both been suffused with joy.
This was very evident when the twins – Chukwuelotam, Kenechukwu (the boy) and his sister, Chukwuagoziem, Tobechukwu, were dedicated at a thanksgiving service held at Christ Embassy Champions Church, Old Ojo Road, Lagos branch.
With a broad smile adorning her face, Chibuzor, who now refers to herself as “Mama Ibeji” told Sunday Sun: “I am super, super excited that today, God has made us to laugh and everybody that heard the news is celebrating with us, after the 19 years of waiting, miscarriages and losing a child soon after birth early in 2022. But today, here we are, carrying our evidence. I am so happy that God gave us double.”
For her and the husband, the birth of the twins so late in their marriage was interpreted as fulfilment of the scripture that says “God gives the former rain and the latter rain together.”
Pat who got married to Chibuzor in 2004, agreed with the wife’s view, adding, “Today has been a very beautiful day and a day to remember. Like the Bible would say, ‘In the 19th year…,’ the Lord appeared. His mercy came. He did not just bless us, He gave us double. My wife gave birth to a set of twins, a boy and a girl. A very perfect combination. So, you see, I normally tell people that if you put your trust in God, that is all you need to do. For those of us who are Christians, the word of God has never failed and it will never fail.”
It is so easy to feel and connect with the overwhelming joy in his heart, which gushed like water from a broken pipe, when you heard him affirm his abiding trust in the faithfulness of God: “As a deacon with Christ Embassy Church, I have been privileged over the years to hear and receive instructions from our dear man of God, Rev. Chris Oyakhilome. And we have been running with the words we have been hearing from him. That was what kept and upheld us – my wife and myself – for all these years. We never strayed to the left or to the right. We kept our focus on God’s word because we knew that at the appointed time, God will show up. Just like in the days of Abraham. He was 75 years old when God had a covenant with him. At the age of 100, he had Isaac. So, God has never come late in any situation. But to us, human beings, by our own timing and expectations, we feel that a lot of things have gone wrong, that we are late, we are this, we are that. Every man has his destiny to fulfil. God has a plan and purpose for every person He created. So, if you want to live your life like the other man, you are on your own. However, if you keep your focus on God, your fulfilment is guaranteed because God will bless you. The Bible tells us that His gifts are perfect and come without sorrow. God will bless you at His own time, He knows everything. That’s why today we had the dedication and thanksgiving for the twins. Only the Lord God could have done this for us. We are so glad that a lot of our friends and relations came from Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Abuja, and other parts of the country, far and near to celebrate and rejoice with us. My wife is glad, so happy. You know women and their anxiety when conception is delayed. When babies don’t come, the woman feels that her marriage is not secured and things like that.”
Whenever his wife was tempted to fret over the delay in conception, Pat revealed that he would recourse to the Bible and lovingly reassured her that they would definitely have children at God’s appointed time.
“I am a very funny and straightforward person. Naturally, I refuse to accept pressure, because from day one, I knew from the word of God that whatever you consider a burden will become a burden to you. Challenges will come, but the way you handle the challenges determines what happens. So, I stood with my wife and gave her emotional support. Action speaks louder than voice, as it is said. What you do is more important than what you say. My wife understands my body language, she understands my countenance. So, in whatever situation, I tell her it is God first. If you keep your focus on God and trust Him with all your heart, then definitely, the desired result will come.
“Early last year, she gave birth to a baby girl. But she died after 10 days. The death of the baby brought enormous pressure on her. But I spoke to her comfortingly, urging her to calm down. I told her that we had seen one, that more will come. Just one year and few months after that loss, we got two healthy babies and they are alive today. So, that is the kind of implicit faith I have in God. I have never asked God for anything that He didn’t do for me. I have that confidence that at the right time, God will really sort me out.”
Usually when there is a delay of probably two years after marriage, some people will begin to visit doctors.
While trusting God for divine intervention, Pat said that he and his wife underwent appropriate medical checks to ensure that everything was okay with their bodies.
And if there was any problem at all, finding out through the medical investigations would, of course, help them, so that they would not pray amiss and thereby ask God for divine intervention in the specific area.
In an era when busybody individuals would gossip that some couples after a long period of childlessness would ‘procure’ babies and pass them off as their biological children, Pat happily noted that God gave them a perfect set of twins.
He explained: “In our case, like I said in church during the dedication and thanksgiving, God so perfected everything that when you set eyes on the twins, you instantly see the genetic resemblance. A cousin of mine said the boy in particular is a CTC of me. What he meant by that is that the boy is a certified true copy of me. That was how he described the boy. When I posted their pictures on social media, people said: “Wow, Deacon, did you vomit this one?” In essence, God removed and erased any doubt that could possibly arise in the minds of people. God sealed the mouth of every doubting Thomas, because they saw that the boy is an exact replica of me. God is awesome – in all His ways. When He acts, there are no mistakes, no half measures.”
When asked, all through this period you were waiting, did you consider trying IVF, he replied: “No, I did not. Besides, you know that IVF involves a lot of money. IVF is a medical solution to infertility and nobody condemns it in the Christ Embassy ministry, where I am a member. For those who have plenty of money, IVF is an option. IVF is not something you just wake up and go into – you have to be loaded. Even if I was loaded and have all the money to do it, I never considered IVF. We put our focus on God and took a rest of faith, believing that in His own time, He will sort it out as the Bible says in Eccl 3:11.
“I waited and kept my faith in God for 19 good years. Nobody ever came to my house to settle any quarrel, no matter how little – whether family or Christian members. Members of the family on both sides (my side and my wife’s side) recognised the decision we took and respected it so much.
“They rather joined us in prayers. All of my siblings did. They are all born again Christians. It was a challenge for all of us. And God settled it, because He heard our prayers. That was why we heard a thunderous shout of alleluia in our house, the family and in church.”
Just like the husband who encouraged and psychologically supported her, Chibuzor gratefully acknowledged the great support she got from her in-laws during the long period of waiting, saying, “by the special grace of God, members of the family I married into are God-fearing people. They recognise that God is the ultimate. I got all the encouragement I needed from them. Instead of pressure, I got prayerful support and advice. So, I had no pressure from outside sources. Rather, the pressure was within me – the pressure I gave myself. I was the one that was agitated, worried and anxious to have my own children. I got disturbed as a normal human being. I was worried, I had negative thoughts, but at the end of the day, I still encouraged myself in the word of God. I found strength in God’s word. In such moments, I heard the still small voice of God, reassuring me that He would actually keep His promise and make me a mother.
“Yes, we draw our references from the Bible, but as a human being I told God that I didn’t want to be like Sarah, I didn’t want to stay 90 years before I would have a child. I told God to do now, so that I would have them with the strength of my youth. And God remembered me. Finally, I want to say that I have one of the best husbands in the world, a very understanding man that has the fear of God in him.”