“PRAISE the Lord! My name is Ijeoma Chukwuemeka and with me is my son Samuel Uzoemeghe Chukwuemeka. I am a member of the Iba Parish of the Watchman Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement, Lagos. I want to testify of God’s divine visitation to my family. After ten years of waiting, God blessed us with a baby boy. The devil had waged a serious battle against me when I was pregnant, but God gave me victory over him. Prior to the birth of this baby, God had blessed my marriage with three children. I had my last baby in September 2003. I was quite okay with that, but later, we wanted to have another baby. But I left it in God’s hands for His will to be done.
In March 2012, we had a programme in the parish during which one of our senior pastors (Pastor Mike Ihenacho) ministered. In the course of his ministration, he asked everyone looking unto God for a child to go and carry any baby from among the children in the congregation and begin to bless God for the child. I carried two baby boys and he declared that my desire had been granted. I saw myself laughing and I believed it whole-heartedly.
Few days after our Easter Retreat, I called Pastor Nnamdi (Onwugaje – Diocesan Pastor of Umuahia and former District Pastor of Iba, Lagos) and he asked me: how about your son? I was amazed when he said this because he knew that I did not have a son. Then he added: “tell your daughters that their brother is on his way”. Of course, I believed him and told my daughters exactly what the pastor said and we kept our fingers crossed while also praying in that direction. Brethren, I took in shortly after that and that was how a ten-year yoke of delay in conception was broken. However, there were threats of miscarriage; the devil fought, but he lost the battle and as you can see, God has given me victory. Today, I am carrying my son. I had a safe delivery but after about five hours the enemy afflicted me with postpartum preeclampsia. My Blood Pressure (BP) shot up astronomically. I became restless and lost consciousness. I was referred from one hospital to another because of its severity until I was finally placed in one of the hospitals where I was on admission for one week. My pastors and the entire church continued to pray for me and God in His mercy answered their prayers and gave me a touch of His divine healing.
In conclusion, brethren, when I was pregnant of this baby, God made me to know that I would give birth to a Samuel, so after I had put to bed, I needed a confirmation. I asked the Lord to confirm the name through any of His servants. Though my pastor named him Uzoemeghe (Road has opened), I was still looking for the confirmation of the name Samuel and it was not until January 2014 when we had our first Charismatic Week tagged: Steps To Superlative Thrills that one of the ministers who came to our location was led in the course of ministration to prophesy upon him and declare: ‘this baby is a Samuel’. My joy knew no bounds as it became evident that indeed God had spoken to confirm that he is Samuel. Praise the living God”.
