As a spinster and many years back, she had been assured that her first baby would be a boy. The assurance came from the Holy Spirit who ministered to her in a dream. So, when she got married in 1992 she expected the baby to come without delay. But Chief (Mrs) Ngozi Okoro, president of Sisters Fellowship International, Cotonou chapter, had to wait for a stressful 13 years for this dream to be accomplished.
In the long period of childlessness she continually questioned God, asking Him to fulfil His promise. And God replied, asking her not to question Him. Soon rumours started to spread that her husband, a prosperous Nigerian second hand clothes dealer in Cotonou, had used her womb for money rituals, but she dismissed this with a wave of the hand. And on August 16, this year, God fulfilled His promise to Mrs. Okoro by visiting her with a baby boy. Daily Sun was in Cotonou during the dedication ceremony of the baby and spoke with Mrs Okoro who narrated her travails during those 13 years without a child.
Introduction
My name is Chief (Mrs) Ngozi Okoro. I am married to Chief John Okoro from Amaeke Amankalu in Alayi, Abia State.
Actually, it was a surprise to have got married at a tender age, but finding myself unable to conceive. I was actually married to my husband in 1990 and by 1991 we were living together and in 1992 we did our church wedding. But all these 13, 14 years we have been just there looking for the fruit of the womb. But now, I understand it is divine, something that God did so that He will be glorified.
My mind in those 13 years
Yes, I was disturbed from the second year. The fifth year was the worst for me. If you are unable to conceive and still be able to live with your husband for seven years and you are not divorced, you won’t be divorced again. You will get pressure from every nook and cranny of the community, the family and even your own environment will be against you.
Yes, as a woman I felt threatened during the period, but one thing that gave me confidence was that God was always reassuring me that it was well. In 1993, when I came to Cotonou here, I had an experience when I was praying and the Holy Spirit said I should not ask him questions. This was because I was asking God questions, why this? Because I know the kind of life I lived. I was brought up in a very decent Christian home and I grew up in the fear of God. The Holy Spirit said I should not ask him any question, that he was doing that to me for a purpose, so that I would teach other people what I had passed through. And, indeed, the experience I have acquired from all these 13 years I cannot reveal in one day.
BABY JOHN OKORO
My friends
I have no friends. From my childhood, I’m not the type that keeps friends. Everybody is my pal; I don’t have a specific girlfriend. And because they know the kind of person I am, we don’t discuss such things (whether the childlessness then was from my husband).
Tests
I was fortunate enough to have a man that understands what life is all about. He knows what he wants in life. And when this problem came up, he said let’s go and check it out. And quite unlike other men, when their wives tell them, let’s go and see what is going on, they will say, I’m fit. He didn’t say that; instead, we went together to the medical doctors and to my greatest shock, he was doing everything he could, taking any kind of medicine that comes his way. He didn’t say I will not take this. That gave me a lot of encouragement.
After the tests
That was another blow, a very hot one. I only thank God because the grace of God was always there for me. My brother, not even your enemy should go through this. Childlessness is terrible!
The lesson
It taught me to depend on God. God passes you through one thing or the other for a purpose and when that purpose is fulfilled He brings forth what He wants. God has so much equipped me that today I am a blessing to many women in this city.
What kept my husband
I know he loves me and he knows what he wants. We were about adopting a child this year. He was about going home for December and he said, let’s go together and I said I wasn’t going to avoid people asking me, what’s wrong with you. Some will even be looking at me as if I’m a ghost from somewhere. And just like that he left without my knowing I had conceived. And when he came back from the Christmas ceremony, I was confirmed by my doctor that I was pregnant. So, when he came back, I told him, but he wasn’t excited. It shocked me and I was very angry. I was expecting him to be excited that we are about to have a child but he wasn’t excited.
Checking the baby
So, I went to my doctor and said, doctor what am I going to do? He said he would do a scan to see what the baby looks like in the womb. The time the doctor gave me for the scan, I did not allow it to reach because my husband wasn’t excited. When the doctor showed me the fetus on scan and said this is the heartbeat, it was just doing kpu, kpu, kpu like that. I said God and I was shedding tears and the doctor was just looking at me. He was surprised.
I tell women these days, let no situation, let no circumstance intimidate you.
The problem
Tension might be part of the problem just like in any marriage when you find out you have not conceived in the first year.
Advice to other women
I will like to tell them to calm down. You don’t get these babies by fighting, you don’t get these babies by condemning yourself. It is not your fault. Do not allow anybody around you to intimidate you because of your condition. There is nothing I don’t take part in. if they ask me to lead the whole women in Cotonou childless, I will still lead them and talk to them the way I want to talk to them without saying I have not got a child.
Even childless, I was the President of Sisters Fellowship International here in Cotonou. With childlessness, I was praying for other women, I was interceding for other women. Some people will say, she is childless, let her pray out herself first before praying out others. Yet, I didn’t allow these talks to weigh me down. Yes, they said it to my hearing, that I should pray out myself before praying for others. But it was a challenge to God. Any woman that is passing through this problem, if you look into her life, she is a star. God has deposited something into that woman that is looking for a child. Even in the scriptures, all the women that looked for children, God deposited something special in them. And because the devil, the enemy has seen that thing that God deposited in them, he will not leave them alone, but fight those things that they do not come forth.
Knowing I was pregnant
I was so excited. I wanted to jump up, but the doctor said no, calm down, this thing doesn’t like excitement. I was shocked when he said it doesn’t like excitement. He said Lolo, please oh don’t jump up, don’t be excited and I said okay, went back to my seat and sat down. When I came back to the house, I told my sister and we prayed to God. All through that month, I was just praising God. When I didn’t see my menstruation, I didn’t rush to the hospital immediately because I was just tired of checking.
The pregnancy signs
That was one other exciting period I had. The pregnancy was not quick in coming out. I have never been pregnant in my life before and I was looking forward for this thing to start coming out so that I will start doing guy with it. I told people that I will do shakara with this pregnancy and I did so.
But for the first, second and third month, there was no tummy. And I went to my doctor to say the tummy was not coming out but he said there was nothing wrong, I should go back home. And I said before I will go home allow me to hear the heartbeat so that I can sleep that night. That was because I was not feeling anything; I was looking forward to the tummy coming out. And when the tummy eventually came out, I flaunted it. Oh God! I flaunted it. And I started praying to God that I don’t want to be sick, I was so light and thin that some women started discussing in the saloon that I was padding my tummy with clothes and wasn’t pregnant.
My baby boy, John
I was aware from the first day that I will have a baby boy. Before I got married, I knew that my first child will be a baby boy. Don’t ask me because if I tell you prophetically you will not believe me.
Before I got married, I had spiritually entered into this marriage and the spirit of God told me I was going to have a baby boy. So, every year, I will ask God, where is my baby boy? That was why He told me that I shouldn’t ask him questions.
Delivery day
From the day I knew I was pregnant, I browsed the internet and luckily I saw this www.babycentre.com and I said okay, this is where I will be resting. So every week, I will go to see what the baby will look like and how it is developing. I was doing this until it got to nine months. And I said God, this is the 9th month. And a week or so after the 9th month, I went to the doctor and said, I think this pregnancy has reached nine months, and he said yes. I said I want this baby out because I was also telling God that I would want to give birth that week because I was tired.
So that fateful morning, I called my husband that I was going to have this baby today and he looked at me and didn’t say anything, he is not the talking type, anyway. I went to my aunty and said, please drop this bag for me in the car, don’t allow anybody to see you. She did that and I called my doctor and said I’m coming oh, are you ready? He said start coming, you are going to give birth today. I drove myself to the hospital. I did not want to give birth close to my house because if I do so, the whole Cotonou will pull down my house. Because just the mention of my name, even a little kid in Cotonou will tell you I know her. So, I chose a far place. When I got to the clinic, it didn’t take up to 5 hours, 30 minutes and I gave birth to my baby.
Paying God back
There is nothing that will be enough to pay God back in this kind of thing except by submitting your life, everything unto Him and to serve Him and mankind. This is one of the greatest payments one can make to God and also to make sure that the child is brought up according to God’s will.
The day I gave birth
The day I gave birth, it was as if the whole of Cotonou was looking up to it. The moment the news hit the city and entered the market, within two hours, everybody left the market to come to my house and the celebration started immediately and had been like that till today.
We are using this ceremony to tell those that are looking for the fruit of the womb that God is on the throne. Everybody in this Cotonou knows me and nobody thought I would be able to carry a pregnancy because I was so lean.
And there was this rumour in town that my husband used my womb to do juju (ritual). The young man himself did not hear this and the rumour was just spreading. But I heard it before I got pregnant. I said he is the only surviving son of his parents and his father is dead. I said how can he use my womb to do juju while in his lineage he is the only one left. So, I started asking myself what he was doing with my womb and has not given me any child from outside. So, I was not disturbed. I knew it was a mere rumour. In my dictionary there is no fear, so I did not confront my husband on this. But to God be the glory.
Most men will not be able to do what my husband has done, to wait all this 13 years. That is why I see myself privileged to be married to him. I am maybe the most privileged woman in the whole world for the kind of person he is.
In the long period of childlessness she continually questioned God, asking Him to fulfil His promise. And God replied, asking her not to question Him. Soon rumours started to spread that her husband, a prosperous Nigerian second hand clothes dealer in Cotonou, had used her womb for money rituals, but she dismissed this with a wave of the hand. And on August 16, this year, God fulfilled His promise to Mrs. Okoro by visiting her with a baby boy. Daily Sun was in Cotonou during the dedication ceremony of the baby and spoke with Mrs Okoro who narrated her travails during those 13 years without a child.
Introduction
My name is Chief (Mrs) Ngozi Okoro. I am married to Chief John Okoro from Amaeke Amankalu in Alayi, Abia State.
Actually, it was a surprise to have got married at a tender age, but finding myself unable to conceive. I was actually married to my husband in 1990 and by 1991 we were living together and in 1992 we did our church wedding. But all these 13, 14 years we have been just there looking for the fruit of the womb. But now, I understand it is divine, something that God did so that He will be glorified.
My mind in those 13 years
Yes, I was disturbed from the second year. The fifth year was the worst for me. If you are unable to conceive and still be able to live with your husband for seven years and you are not divorced, you won’t be divorced again. You will get pressure from every nook and cranny of the community, the family and even your own environment will be against you.
Yes, as a woman I felt threatened during the period, but one thing that gave me confidence was that God was always reassuring me that it was well. In 1993, when I came to Cotonou here, I had an experience when I was praying and the Holy Spirit said I should not ask him questions. This was because I was asking God questions, why this? Because I know the kind of life I lived. I was brought up in a very decent Christian home and I grew up in the fear of God. The Holy Spirit said I should not ask him any question, that he was doing that to me for a purpose, so that I would teach other people what I had passed through. And, indeed, the experience I have acquired from all these 13 years I cannot reveal in one day.
BABY JOHN OKOROMy friends
I have no friends. From my childhood, I’m not the type that keeps friends. Everybody is my pal; I don’t have a specific girlfriend. And because they know the kind of person I am, we don’t discuss such things (whether the childlessness then was from my husband).
Tests
I was fortunate enough to have a man that understands what life is all about. He knows what he wants in life. And when this problem came up, he said let’s go and check it out. And quite unlike other men, when their wives tell them, let’s go and see what is going on, they will say, I’m fit. He didn’t say that; instead, we went together to the medical doctors and to my greatest shock, he was doing everything he could, taking any kind of medicine that comes his way. He didn’t say I will not take this. That gave me a lot of encouragement.
After the tests
That was another blow, a very hot one. I only thank God because the grace of God was always there for me. My brother, not even your enemy should go through this. Childlessness is terrible!
The lesson
It taught me to depend on God. God passes you through one thing or the other for a purpose and when that purpose is fulfilled He brings forth what He wants. God has so much equipped me that today I am a blessing to many women in this city.
What kept my husband
I know he loves me and he knows what he wants. We were about adopting a child this year. He was about going home for December and he said, let’s go together and I said I wasn’t going to avoid people asking me, what’s wrong with you. Some will even be looking at me as if I’m a ghost from somewhere. And just like that he left without my knowing I had conceived. And when he came back from the Christmas ceremony, I was confirmed by my doctor that I was pregnant. So, when he came back, I told him, but he wasn’t excited. It shocked me and I was very angry. I was expecting him to be excited that we are about to have a child but he wasn’t excited.
Checking the baby
So, I went to my doctor and said, doctor what am I going to do? He said he would do a scan to see what the baby looks like in the womb. The time the doctor gave me for the scan, I did not allow it to reach because my husband wasn’t excited. When the doctor showed me the fetus on scan and said this is the heartbeat, it was just doing kpu, kpu, kpu like that. I said God and I was shedding tears and the doctor was just looking at me. He was surprised.
I tell women these days, let no situation, let no circumstance intimidate you.
The problem
Tension might be part of the problem just like in any marriage when you find out you have not conceived in the first year.
Advice to other women
I will like to tell them to calm down. You don’t get these babies by fighting, you don’t get these babies by condemning yourself. It is not your fault. Do not allow anybody around you to intimidate you because of your condition. There is nothing I don’t take part in. if they ask me to lead the whole women in Cotonou childless, I will still lead them and talk to them the way I want to talk to them without saying I have not got a child.
Even childless, I was the President of Sisters Fellowship International here in Cotonou. With childlessness, I was praying for other women, I was interceding for other women. Some people will say, she is childless, let her pray out herself first before praying out others. Yet, I didn’t allow these talks to weigh me down. Yes, they said it to my hearing, that I should pray out myself before praying for others. But it was a challenge to God. Any woman that is passing through this problem, if you look into her life, she is a star. God has deposited something into that woman that is looking for a child. Even in the scriptures, all the women that looked for children, God deposited something special in them. And because the devil, the enemy has seen that thing that God deposited in them, he will not leave them alone, but fight those things that they do not come forth.
Knowing I was pregnant
I was so excited. I wanted to jump up, but the doctor said no, calm down, this thing doesn’t like excitement. I was shocked when he said it doesn’t like excitement. He said Lolo, please oh don’t jump up, don’t be excited and I said okay, went back to my seat and sat down. When I came back to the house, I told my sister and we prayed to God. All through that month, I was just praising God. When I didn’t see my menstruation, I didn’t rush to the hospital immediately because I was just tired of checking.
The pregnancy signs
That was one other exciting period I had. The pregnancy was not quick in coming out. I have never been pregnant in my life before and I was looking forward for this thing to start coming out so that I will start doing guy with it. I told people that I will do shakara with this pregnancy and I did so.
But for the first, second and third month, there was no tummy. And I went to my doctor to say the tummy was not coming out but he said there was nothing wrong, I should go back home. And I said before I will go home allow me to hear the heartbeat so that I can sleep that night. That was because I was not feeling anything; I was looking forward to the tummy coming out. And when the tummy eventually came out, I flaunted it. Oh God! I flaunted it. And I started praying to God that I don’t want to be sick, I was so light and thin that some women started discussing in the saloon that I was padding my tummy with clothes and wasn’t pregnant.
My baby boy, John
I was aware from the first day that I will have a baby boy. Before I got married, I knew that my first child will be a baby boy. Don’t ask me because if I tell you prophetically you will not believe me.
Before I got married, I had spiritually entered into this marriage and the spirit of God told me I was going to have a baby boy. So, every year, I will ask God, where is my baby boy? That was why He told me that I shouldn’t ask him questions.
Delivery day
From the day I knew I was pregnant, I browsed the internet and luckily I saw this www.babycentre.com and I said okay, this is where I will be resting. So every week, I will go to see what the baby will look like and how it is developing. I was doing this until it got to nine months. And I said God, this is the 9th month. And a week or so after the 9th month, I went to the doctor and said, I think this pregnancy has reached nine months, and he said yes. I said I want this baby out because I was also telling God that I would want to give birth that week because I was tired.
So that fateful morning, I called my husband that I was going to have this baby today and he looked at me and didn’t say anything, he is not the talking type, anyway. I went to my aunty and said, please drop this bag for me in the car, don’t allow anybody to see you. She did that and I called my doctor and said I’m coming oh, are you ready? He said start coming, you are going to give birth today. I drove myself to the hospital. I did not want to give birth close to my house because if I do so, the whole Cotonou will pull down my house. Because just the mention of my name, even a little kid in Cotonou will tell you I know her. So, I chose a far place. When I got to the clinic, it didn’t take up to 5 hours, 30 minutes and I gave birth to my baby.
Paying God back
There is nothing that will be enough to pay God back in this kind of thing except by submitting your life, everything unto Him and to serve Him and mankind. This is one of the greatest payments one can make to God and also to make sure that the child is brought up according to God’s will.
The day I gave birth
The day I gave birth, it was as if the whole of Cotonou was looking up to it. The moment the news hit the city and entered the market, within two hours, everybody left the market to come to my house and the celebration started immediately and had been like that till today.
We are using this ceremony to tell those that are looking for the fruit of the womb that God is on the throne. Everybody in this Cotonou knows me and nobody thought I would be able to carry a pregnancy because I was so lean.
And there was this rumour in town that my husband used my womb to do juju (ritual). The young man himself did not hear this and the rumour was just spreading. But I heard it before I got pregnant. I said he is the only surviving son of his parents and his father is dead. I said how can he use my womb to do juju while in his lineage he is the only one left. So, I started asking myself what he was doing with my womb and has not given me any child from outside. So, I was not disturbed. I knew it was a mere rumour. In my dictionary there is no fear, so I did not confront my husband on this. But to God be the glory.
Most men will not be able to do what my husband has done, to wait all this 13 years. That is why I see myself privileged to be married to him. I am maybe the most privileged woman in the whole world for the kind of person he is.
1 comment:
Today is my happiest day again is life. This is a confirmation that God has answered me also. I am a waiting mother for more than 10yrs. I tell u God has been so faithful to me and my family. My husband who is my family has been there for me all these years. The facts are unbearable but I promise myself no to use the facts to pull me down. I have been living in the promises of God. Presently I am the president of SFI in chapter. I pray for women and God answer them. I have never mention my case of childlessness to them. That does not mean that some persons don't know me. But with what God is doing in my chapter I am even crying and thanking God everyday. In deed as my beloved p as we call our selfs in SFI said any woman believing God for a child and is having delay is a great woman. Every day I keep seeing myself preaching d word of God in the world. I have been confirm an end time preacher of the word of God. I know that the God who have done it in the life of president (mummy john) is still able to do it in my life. Congratulations my p. more babies as you desire in Jesus name.
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