How Anglican Bishop of Awka ,Right Rev. Alex Ibezim and wife , Chioma had their fifth child against all odds, dedicates son

 

The Anglican Bishop of Awka, His Lordship, Rt. Rev. Alexander Chibuzo Ibezim, recently demonstrated how to be a good teacher in the vineyard. The Christian teaching is to always appreciate God for His deeds.

Thus Bishop Ibezim who is a servant of God decided to give this teaching a notch higher when on November 16 he attended the St Faith Anglican Cathedral, Awka, Anambra State, with his household and friends to give thanks to God.
The event was in all ramifications a special one and the Cathedral a spectacular place to behold on that fateful day.
The Anglican bishop and his family members had come for a special thanksgiving at the St Faith Anglican Cathedral to show gratitude to God for a special blessing done to them, a gift of a miracle male child.
However, the child is not the first of the family, but the circumstances surrounding his conception and birth were special in many ways and hence the family resolved to observe a special thanksgiving and praises to the Almighty.
The newborn baby was dedicated at a special church service conducted by the Dean Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, the Most Rev. (Dr) Friday Imaekhai, who was assisted by other archbishops and bishops.
Those who attended the church service included the representatives of His Grace Most Rev. Nicholas Oko, the Archbishop, Metropolitan and  Primate of  all Nigeria,  Most Rev. Dr.Friday John Imaekhai who is the Archbishop of Bendel Province and Bishop Dioceses of Esan; the Archbishop of Niger Province and Bishop of Aguata, His Grace Most Rev. Christian Efobi JP; the Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Nkem Okeke, the National Chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and Senatorial hopeful for Anambra Central Senatorial Zone, Sir Victor Umeh; the wife of the Anambra State governor, Mrs. Ebele Obiano; the Sector Commander, FRSC, Mr. Ajayi  and members of the Commission in Anambra State, who also came to the church to commemorate their annual Accident Free Day.
Therefore, the church hall was filled to capacity while the premises was swarming with people and vehicles.
From the Eke Awka Market area close to the church one could feel that something spectacular was going on at the Cathedral as vehicles go in for the special service.
In his sermon, the Archbishop of Owerri Province and Bishop of Ideato, Most Rev. Dr.Celeb Maduoma emphasized the need for people to thank God for His numerous blessings.
He noted that several people normally take God’s blessings for granted and, therefore, ignore the need to show gratitude.
The archbishop said that because of greed, human beings have made their needs insatiable, warning that God is not happy with those whose prayers and desires from Him is always to ask for more and more blessings without making any attempt to show gratitude.
He recalled that in the Bible, Jesus healed 10 men of their sicknesses while only one came back to express gratitude for his healing while the remaining nine went home without coming back for thanksgiving.
He, therefore, commended Bishop Ibezim and his family for organizing the thanksgiving service in order to show appreciation to God.
His words: “We thank God we are gathered here today to say thank you to God. If you know how to say thank you, you definitely must know how to appreciate God for his goodness”.
The archbishop advised all and sundry to adopt the attitude of thanksgiving and praises to God which he said move God to bless even more.
Giving the story of the miracle child, Bishop Ibezim whose joy could not be hidden said that the child by all circumstances manifested the will of God as expressed in his survival during pregnancy and birth.
According to him, the new born baby – Izuchukwu Joshua Ibezim – who is the fifth child of the marriage contracted between him and his wife Mrs Martha Chioma Ibezim (Nneoma) in July 1994 came by providence as the couple had no plan to add another child to the four which the Lord had blessed them with.
The family had already been blessed with Gospel Ozioma Ibezim; Chukwudalu Jordan Ibezim, Alex Chibuzo Ibezim (Jnr) and Obianuju Deborah Ibezim.
Apart from the pregnancy baby being accidental, the miracle behind his arrival on earth was that when Mrs. Ibezim got pregnant all tests ran in Nigeria read negative.
Thus she did not know that God was in the process of adding to the children of the family, and she was under the care of medical doctors who were treating her of typhoid which involved her taking some hard drugs which were enough to abort the baby.
But as she continued to take the drugs, the miracle baby rather than be aborted continued to develop.
It was not until the bishop took his wife to the United Kingdom after all medications for the supposed illness failed that it was discovered that the unsuspecting mother of four was in for yet the fifth child and all precautions were then taken to protect the baby.
Another outstanding point of the birth of little Izuchukwu was that he was born on the same day his father was celebrating his consecration anniversary as bishop, on Friday September 12, 2014.
Mrs Martha Chioma Ibezim, popularly known as Mama Awka, who is the President of Mother’s Union Women’s Guild and Girl’s Guild of the Diocese of Awka, is a close confidant of  Bishop Ibezim, and seen by many as a blessing to the bishop, his family and the Diocese.
She was happy that the baby arrived safely.