My Personal Testimony
My name is Godwin Izuegbunam. I was born in Nigeria and a citizen of United States of America. I am a medical doctor by profession with specialty in Anesthesiology and sub-specialty in chronic pain management. I practice in Phoenix, Arizona where I also reside with my wife, Edith and three wonderful children. I also have an amazing son from a previous marriage and he lives with his mother.
We regularly attend the Way Ministries here in Phoenix. It is a non-denominational church headed by Pastor Dan Brodeur. The Lord Jesus specifically directed us to this ministry for guidance and discipleship. It is through Pastor Dan’s mentorship that we began to be challenged to the ways of the Lord especially in believing what God has promised, and garner courage to launch out into the deep and conquer the encumbrances of our carnal nature. I am a born-again Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ. I love Him with an incredible passion that flowed from His unconditional love for me. I know that I do not deserve His grace and there is no task He directs me to do that can measure up to what I have gained in my walk with Him. I remain eternally grateful and will not be shy in expressing it in whatever I do, wherever I am and however I am led by the Spirit of Holiness. Hallelujah.
Now lets take a brief look into my childhood years and past life. I am the second child but first son in a family of five children. My father was a truck driver, and mother a petty trader. We were very poor and moved from our village mud house to a one room rental house in the city of Lagos, Nigeria. Our living condition was extremely terrible and just reminiscing about it makes me shudder. I know there are millions of families who endure more horrendous situation so I mention this with the hope that someone in similar dynamics will look beyond the present onto what God is able to do. I learnt hard work, courage and determination from my sweet mother. She taught us the importance of daily early morning prayers. My father( deceased), though he had his personal issues, made a huge positive impact in my life during my formative years in two ways.
First, he taught me how to read and write. My father had little education but he appreciated the importance of it and not only motivated me towards academic excellence but kept me away from so many distractions. I did not enjoy the luxury of playing with my peers but every moment was geared towards intensive studies and after-school lessons. At that time I felt like a stranger among my peers but it later paid off in a great way. The passion and joy of maintaining an excellent academic record until my University years was incredibly empowering. The family’s income was quite unreliable but I shut my mind from it all and rather focused on my studies believing that God will make a way as my parents often said.
Second, he directed me to the Catholic church which was the predominant denomination in our hometown. He was a pagan but made sure I was highly involved in the catholic ways, even to the point of serving as an altar boy. I loved the sacred things and the rituals to the point of aspiring to be a priest someday. My studies and religious activities served to further keep me out of trouble. However, it was during this time that I began to observe some inconsistencies in the moral framework of my parents at home and the people I looked up to at the church; the senior altar boys and the priests. What was intended to build strong moral character succeeded in sowing the seeds of disapproval and resentment against the unacceptable strange characters I observed for so long.
The dark era of my life began from my university years to my late thirties. The positive impact of family expectation and restraint was now weakened by peer pressure from close friends. I delighted in the ceremonies of the church but my life was empty. I had no resistance against the immoral ways I observed in the family house, the church and my friends. I battled against sinful thoughts and deluge of passions in the power of the flesh. I resisted the urge for female friendship and sexual intimacy I had seen all around me. At one point, while vacationing in a friend’s house an older boy taught me how to masturbate and I began to indulge in the habit until I lost all self- control. I looked forward to being alone in the dormitory to fantasize and masturbate, and was eventually introduced to a life of sexual exploits with multiple female partners. There was no godly role model to educate me on the challenges I was facing as a young adult, and impact my life positively in proper self-awareness and godliness. In fact, I did not know that though I hated the immoral ways of living, I lacked the inner strength and power to resist temptations.
The three -headed monsters: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life griped me so terribly I almost drowned in all kind of temptations. My academics suffered seriously and the same guy who maintained unbeatable academic prowess was now struggling for survival. Moreover, from early childhood until early forties I battled a strange and overwhelming night terror that robbed me of invaluable sleep hours. This culminated to a chronically fatigued brain and all sorts of ungodly fear. Everything looked good on the surface but people hardly knew the internal turmoil that had been raging inside me for so long. I was very determined and willed to survive at all cost. I knew where I came from; abject poverty, and all my survival instincts were called into action.
Yes, I had excelled in learning from the world around me. And as I learnt from the church, keep your secrets secret and wear a façade of holiness. The business world taught me that you accomplish a lot by who you knew and associate with. Once you knew how to play the game, then wealth creation becomes easy. In my years of medical practice in Nigeria, I quickly learnt and practiced unscrupulous business maneuvers including termination of pregnancy for self-enrichment. I believe the God that I loved so much from my youth had allowed me to pas through all these to teach me a profound lesson with a divine purpose. He gave me over to all sorts of uncontrollable passions, evil ambitions. Idolatry reigned and almost destroyed my life. I kept away from the church at this time because I reasoned that just attending church services and the un-empowering confessions did not help me to overcome the indulgence of my sinful nature. Fatigued brain, my internal turmoil and frustrations culminated to a disposition to anger and rage at the slightest provocation or sense of injustice. Even with the worldly successes I lapsed into deepening fear, anxiety neurosis, insecurity, depression and almost suicidal when my marriage of about 6 months failed woefully. But the God I had love for, but did not know, kept me and did not allow me to fall by calamity. He had mercy on me for I had been taken captive by and controlled by a spirit and power I could not resist by my own strength and ability.
But thanks to God who created me and separated me from my mother’s womb for His divine purpose. It was while at my wit’s end that I cried out to God for mercy and even made a vow to Him. The Almighty God heard my desperate cry and was amazingly moved with vengeance in His mighty and awesome arm. The heavens stopped and God stretched out His mighty hand and rescued me out of many demonic waters. He delivered me from the satanic stronghold of oppression and captivity. He led me to salvation in Christ Jesus, opened my eyes of understanding through the Book of John in the Holy scriptures. He has baptized me with His Holy Spirit and the fire of His awesome presence. I still have my fallen human nature but armed with His Truth and the power of His Spirit I am better equipped to war against the spirit of lies, deception and idolatry. Hallelujah!!!
To my greatest surprise and contrary to what I hear from, I believe, well meaning Christians, God revealed Christ to me despite my unworthiness, wretchedness and the failures from my past life. God made good His promise that when we come to Christ for salvation, all our unrighteous ways are forgiven and He remembers them no more. The devil had deeply traumatized my mind and ability to trust in God’s presence, and have confidence in what God is able to do in me and through me. Our great God who transcends in wisdom, understanding and power began an incredible work of healing and reconstruction in my thought process and ways of life.
First, God revealed His glorious voice from heaven in the midst of a great difficulty I was experiencing over a feud in the family. In the midst of my struggle over restraining my mother’s controlling nature over my wife, God appeared to me in a dream and His voice echoed into my heart, “ I am the Lord thy God. Thou shall have no other god beside me.” I cried uncontrollably and my wife was startled out of sleep and wondered at my strange behavior. Any attempt to explain what I heard only provoked increased laments and cries with tears and running nose that would not cease.
Next, He inspired me to do a forty days fasting as Jesus did prior to beginning His ministry. At the end, all I could think was for God to teach me something I needed to know. Of course, that same night He gave me a dream in which all my immoral ways while in Nigeria flashed through my eyes like one washing a movie. The sure and expected judgment of God’s wrath was revealed. I was severely convicted and prayed for forgiveness. I was subsequently baptized in a non-denominational church. He inspired me to pray according to His promises which I did and later received the promise of the Father; Holy Spirit baptism!
Some people still made mocking and taunting statements that I was not good enough especially with the knowledge of my awful past life and obvious struggles with memory lapses and speech difficulties. Deep inside me I was sensed a feeling of apprehension when called to discuss and share my views with the intelligent men and women I encounter on daily basis. The thought of ever speaking or addressing the public often sent waves of panic down my spine and sometimes me feel dizzy. Then God who has been watching closely all this time showed up again. He beckoned unceasingly at me who was dumbfounded at the idea of a dirty and wretched man walking to a Holy God who was wrapped in unapproachable and dazzling light. Since He will not stop motioning to me to come to Him, I became convinced that He meant it and my inner being flowed towards my Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
I am complete in Christ Jesus. What may be lacking in me He is filling up daily as I fellowship with Him and all the excellent saints of God. God has anointed me with His awesome presence and unleashed the grace of abundant revelations and prophetic anointing to declare His divine Will and Praise to this generation. I am deeply humbled and eternally grateful to God, and I take His Counsel seriously. Jesus rescued me from the power of darkness and deception that sought to destroy my life. Christ has become my Salvation and Lord. He is my Praise and my Joy and the life I live in the flesh I live by the power and strength of Him who died for me but rose again in power and glory. Hallelujah!!!
This personal testimony, which makes me feel awkward in exposing my infamous past, is not a kind of self-effacement because I now know who I am in Christ. Rather, God knows that there are millions of young people out there who the devil has bound in all kinds of strongholds. The parents want the best for their children just like my parents but either lack the resources or are bad examples or not striving in prayers for the mercies and grace of God over their children. Most of the churches or other religious faith are blinded to the Truth. Sound education is great. Teaching moralities of dos and don’ts are great also. However, excellent education, great career path and strong moral upbringing have no power against the overwhelming temptations of this life.
God declared in the book of Jeremiah that the heart of man is desperately wicked and beyond cure. In the Genesis account before the flood God lamented at the extent of wickedness and sexual perversions in the carnal mind of humanity. But God has an unprecedented solution. Hallelujah!!! It is through His eternal grace in the blood of the everlasting covenant in Christ Jesus that can we can claim this new and blessed heart, and prayerfully have a renewed mind by the words of the scriptures, and empowered through His Holy Spirit to overcome the temptations of our carnal nature. And thus lead a victorious life as sons and daughters adopted into the precious family of the living God. It is the anointing from the Anointed One that breaks any yoke of bondage in our lives. Hosanna!!!
As God has revealed to me, the temporary and fading glory of this life pale seriously in contrast to the exquisite Glory of heaven—Jesus Christ. He is the Spiritual House of God. Jesus is the mighty Pinnacle where the Spirit of God, and resplendent throne of God dwells unto eternity. He is eternal life and desires that our hearts, our homes and the mystical church of God becomes His indwelling home. My Lord Jesus is an incomparable gentleman. He only goes where He is invited and remains as long as He is appreciated and exalted to His rightful place as your New and Worthy owner. It is either Jesus Christ or the devil. Jesus Christ is humble, gentle and His yoke easy. He also provides rest for your troubled soul. I like that. Who would not like His peace in this troubled and distressing world? The devil entices you with money, fame, power and all sorts of exciting pleasures but this do not endure; for your misery and woes will eventually destroy you.
The bible warns that he who sows to his or her flesh, as I did, will of the flesh reap corruption but he or she who sows to his or her spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. The wisdom counsel in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 10 echoes the same truth, “ Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, and cause it to give off a foul odor….” Look around you and examples of those the devil had fooled by his tricks and lies and intrigues abound every day, even in the churches. But in Christ, the Holy Spirit is faithful to guide and lead and correct and expose hidden works of darkness and usher you into everlasting fellowship of bliss and joy in heaven. Hosanna!!!
Godwin Izuegbunam, MD.
Jesus Christ, my sweet and faithful friend, I give you my praise:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine; Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
- This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long.
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