The Senior Pastor of Trinity House, Ituah Ighodalo, speaks to MOBOLA SADIQ on the life and times of his late wife, Ibidunni
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Since the death of your wife, you have displayed a great level of strength. What has been your motivation?
It has always been God and a refusal to think about myself, pain and sorrow. I decided to think first, about God and secondly, about my wife. I asked myself what would my wife want and thirdly, I decided to think about other people. How can I send the right kind of message in the midst of this to help other people? I refused to think about myself and what I was going through. I thought more about what God would want me to do. As soon as I focused more on those things and less on myself, it wasn’t a very difficult thing to do.
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How did you break the news of the death of your wife to your children?
My children are young. My daughter is nine years old and my son is two and a half years old. So, it wasn’t so difficult. When I got home that evening, I hugged and kissed them. Then, I whispered to my daughter, “Your mum has gone to be with Jesus Christ.” She asked what I meant and I explained that her mum had passed on. She understood what passing on meant, so the question was, “I won’t see her again?” I said, “Not physically but in eternity.” Then, she cried. My son was too young to understand what I was saying but he knew that his mum had gone somewhere. He eventually saw his mother in a coffin. My daughter asked me more questions and I did my best to console her. But then, children are strengthened by God. From time to time, even till today, she asks me one question or the other and I answer her.
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Many people described your wife as an angel in human flesh. How do you feel now that she’s no more?
It’s not that she’s no more. She may not be here physically, but angels are spiritual beings. She was an angel that lived with us for 39 years and 11 months and now, she has disappeared. But, angels don’t stop working. They keep moving in the spirit, making things happen, interceding on our behalf and reminding God what needs to be done”
Yet he’s been able to find calmness. He’s spending more time with his children, thinking and managing the activities that Ibidunni used to oversee. “My life has changed and I hope the other people I’m responsible to (my professional practice and church) will understand and accept that they have to deal with me from a slightly different perspective going forward,” he says.
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