A Father's Pride...

"Dreams come true, especially, when it is pursued with faith and prayers. This is what the salvation of our son, Tomiwa Okodugha means to us. We have been looking forward to that day since the mid 90’s when he was a young teenager. We never believed in forcing the issue of baptism on him though the pressure persisted. We always believed that with consistent teachings, love and encouragement, and God’s grace, he would make an informed decision.

I was in the Full-Time Ministry then and I remember that a couple of times he actually counted the cost but didn’t take the ‘next step’. Those were challenging times. Those were times we got anxious.  Lots of times I asked myself, ‘will our son come to the decision of becoming a disciple of Christ’? Thinking also of pressures from peers in a campus where there is no Church aggravated our anxiety but it also deepened our trust for God. We never ceased to pray for him while he was in School. 

As soon as he rounded off his program in the University and was about to proceed on the compulsory one-year National Youth Service Corps here in Nigeria (N.Y.S.C), we got more specific in our prayers by asking God to make Tomiwa his disciple before he got called up for the N.Y.S.C.  

Prior to this, we had anticipated that it could happen sooner rather than later because he had changed so much in character and attitude. We also noticed how much time he spent each day in his bible study and how he was always the first to get ready for Church services. He used to ‘disappear’ just after service to God-knows-where but now, he stayed and had fellowship greatly.

The most impact his changes had on me was at home where his love for the family and his giving attitude motivated us daily. God heard our prayer as soon as it left our lips! When Tomiwa came home for the summer holidays, he walked up to me and I will never forget what he said that day.



He asked if he could start studying the bible so that he could be God’s disciple. It was really an emotional time for me.  Tomiwa got baptized on the 23rd of September, 2007 but I know it wouldn’t have been possible if we had given up hope in God. In His time, he will always grant us His heart’s desires if our prayers are according to His will. That’s his duty but we still have our own duty to attend to and that’s doing a great job of raising our children in the fear of God. 

I know there are lots of parents out there faced with the same challenges but my prayer and encouragement is that you don’t ever give up on your children. God is forever faithful. He will do his duty provided we do ours. Our joy has known no bounds since that day but we know the victory shouldn’t stop there. We still have 2 daughters to go and just as God used Tomiwa to restore joy to our hearts, he will help us to fully realize our ultimate dream – a family of disciples of Christ!" 



Frank Okodugha
Ojo/Apapa Region
ICOC, Lagos