The Favor of God

On Sunday, March 23rd, we came home from morning church service to find water dripping from the ceiling in our kitchen. We immediately checked for the source of the leak. When one could not be found, we turned off the water to the house and called a plumber. I had no idea who to call, but a local newspaper was sitting on my desk. I found a list of over a dozen companies but kept being drawn back to the first name on the list. It was Easter Sunday, so I did not expect to reach anyone, and just left a message. I felt an incredible peace at that moment. I walked away from the phone and continued about my day.

About 30 minutes later I received a telephone call from the plumber. After explaining what had occurred he offered to come that afternoon. He was in an adjacent neighborhood to our own with his family. Thoughts began to immediately run through my head of events that were to happen that day. We were to be at church that evening for their 11th anniversary service. Not just that, but the newly formed choir for which both my Husband and myself had joined, were to debut that evening. If I chose to have the plumber come then, we would be unable to attend the service. The enemy was tempting me to say yes, come fix it now and not go to church. I said to him “Come in the morning, I can be without water for 24 hours,” and chose to put God first. Little did I know how important that decision was!

We went to the evening service that night, and God did a mighty work through the people that evening. When we returned home, there was even more water dripping from the ceiling. There were puddles on the dining table and on the floor, and the ceiling was becoming very mushy. Despite the looks, I still had an incredible peace. I knew God was going to take care of this. We mopped up the water and set out buckets to catch the drips and went to bed.

The plumber arrived the next morning at 8am. After hearing what had happened he grab a device that measured moisture. It looked like a barbecue fork with two prongs at the end. He started poking around with it in the master bathroom, which is above the kitchen on the second floor. A little alarm started to beep everywhere it touched. Just in the preliminary examination, he said there was about $10,000 in damage. Upon hearing that, we decided to file an insurance claim. We were told that we would have to pay our deductible and the cost to repair the broken pipe, but that the insurance would pay for the rest. He then went on to do a more extensive examination and found water damage in several other areas. A few hours later we had holes in our kitchen ceiling, kitchen floor, master bedroom floor and wall and half of our master bathroom was gone completely.

Even seeing all this damage, I knew God was going to provide and felt an incredible peace. The plumber left and told us to await word from the insurance company. About seven days later we received a phone call from the adjuster with a date and time for the inspection.

On April 2nd, the adjuster arrived and started his inspection. At this time, I had heard from family and friends what to expect to receive. But I knew God had more for us. I sat quietly and watched him move about the house, touching and measuring. When he was done, he started to give me a list of what they would cover.
1.    They would paint the ENTIRE interior of the house with the exception of the kids’ rooms and the two smaller bathrooms.
2.    New laminate flooring fro the ENTIRE lower level.
3.    New carpet for the master bedroom AND hallway and stairs, but not the kid’s rooms.
4.    New flooring in the master bathroom
5.    New cabinets in the master bathroom but we had to use the old countertop.
6.    Money for damaged furniture.

Just from this list we knew we already had supernatural favor from God. But I had expectations for more. The plumber called the next day and said he was sending a paint crew that Friday. He required us to have our deductible of $500 for the crew upon arrival. We were never asked for another cent. They did all the work out of their pockets, while they waited for the insurance to pay them! This is highly unheard of. Contractors will normally require massive deposits before they begin work and let you get reimbursed instead.

The crew arrived promptly and explained everything they were going to do that day and I was given formal introductions to every member of the crew. This continued every day they worked and different teams arrived. They would occasionally stumble across things in the house that needed repair. Without even asking, they would fix it. They even brought treats and toys for the dog when they came. Upon learning of my Husband’s current health condition and allergies, they bent over backwards to make sure that the work they did was clean and free from dust. They went as far as using hand tools instead of power tools to minimize the dust.

As the days progressed and the construction moved forward, we started to get phone calls every few days with upgrades and additions to what we were to receive.

First, we were told that we could have 18” marble tile for the entire lower level of the house for the same price as our laminate flooring.

Then I was told they were going to upgrade the quality of the new carpet for us, but that if we wanted to add the kids’ rooms to the new carpet (which would complete the entire upstairs) it would cost us $800. I informed him we were not prepared to pay that at that time and to just go with the lower grade of carpet. Our phone call was briefly interrupted, and when we reconnected, I was told “don’t worry about it, we’ll take care of it.”

A few days later I received a call from the plumber saying he was going to comp us a new granite counter top for the master bath with fixtures included.

Yet a few days after that, I was asked if we had access to our kitchen. We had not been able to cook in our kitchen for over a week at this point because of the construction. I was then informed that I would be reimbursed for all our meal expenses for our time which we could not use the kitchen. It ended up being three weeks worth of meals!

The Lord had been speaking through our Pastor earlier in the year about recompense. And how there were always great transfers of wealth during times of famine in the world system. The total amount of checks received for the re-construction was $26,000. I was informed that if we had not gone through the insurance, that the work that was done would have cost over $50,000!

The entire remodel of the house was done in less than 30 days! We left the experience with cash in hand that exceeded our original deductible. Just as our Pastor had said, when the recompense happened, people around us would become jealous. I had two of my neighbors say to me “I want my pipes to break!” I said to them, “I can’t guarantee you will have the same results! This is a result of the covenant that we have with our God!”

Here is a video showcasing the restoration:

Femi’s Uncle Kunle Visits from Nigeria

Femi’s uncle Kunle came from Nigeria the week of June 16th. Femi was able to spend a few days wtih him taking him to see Hollywood and visit with family.

Miah Performs in School Play

Miah’s kindergarten class performed “Three Nanny Goats Gruff” for the school, family and friends. This musical was a story about three nanny goats trying to cross a bridge which is controlled by a mean troll. One of the nanny goats works up the courage to stand up to the troll and is able to pass the bridge.

Femi Meets Stevie Wonder

Femi went the Hollywood Pop Academy’s scholarship day to support a friend and wound up spending an hour and a half personal conversation with Stevie Wonder. They prayed together and exchanged phone numbers.

Kid’s Television Debut

Both kids appeared in a commercial for My Father’s House church international.

We Welcome Sadie to the Family

On May 29th, 2008, Femi brought home Sadie. She is a 6 week old standard sized poodle. Welcome Sadie!

Femi Receives Kidney Transplant

On April 21st, Femi received his new kidney glory to God! God has truly shown himself throughout the entire process of this sickness. He was diagnosed with kidney failure 3 years ago and started dialysis. He was hooked up to a machine 3 times a week for a little over 4 hours. This process would leave most without energy and a whole host of side effects. God showed his Glory through Femi with very few side effects and enough energy to maintain working. Many people made comments that he didn’t even look sick. God reveled to Femi in the early stages of this that the sickness would not kill him, but it would bring glory to God.

All the while we were praying for healing and asking for God’s deliverance. God moved him from Loma Linda Hospital registry to Riverside Community Hospital about 2 years into the trial. This is where things started moving. The same donor that Loma Linda denied, Riverside approved!!! Tell me God doesn’t work miracles and change policies! Femi’s nephew, Funmi was given a green light. After months of tests, the date was set for the surgery to take place.

Both Femi and myself were believing God for complete healing for him as well as Funmi. We sowed our seeds into good ground. The enemy was not happy. He tried to take him out twice through an accident and a near miss with a semi truck within days of his surgery. Come Sunday, April 20th, we went to church and released the procedure into the Lord’s hands. Monday at about 2pm, Funmi went into surgery for his left kidney to be removed. As I sat with Funmi’s mother and wife as well as Femi, worship music was playing. We knew that God ordained the entire process and that everything would work according to His plan. A few hours later they took Femi in and started on the transplantation. The surgery lasted until about 8:30 pm that evening. I was let in to see him about 10 pm. I walked into the room with mask and gloves as he was rousing for the first time. His first words were, “My surgery was fast”. I tried to tell him he had been just under four hours but the anesthesia left him incoherent. I finally convinced him to let me go to sleep around midnight when he realized what time it was

The next morning you could see God’s glory working already. He was happy and alert. The reports of the success of the surgery were already pouring in. We never though we would be so excited over pee, but he was making pee for the first time in years! When he had entered the hospital, his creatinine was at 12. Normal is 1. They had told us prior to surgery that they expect to see it cut in half within the first 24 hours. Within twelve hours it was at 4.2! By day 3 it was 1.7!

Everything post surgery for Femi and Funmi went better than expected. Funmi was released just 48 hours after surgery. Femi was released in 7 days. Both are doing very well and God is working wonders in them both.

They recently celebrated Sena’s birthday (Funmi’s mother) and are already back to normal living. They will never forget what God did for each of them and will tell their testimonies to the world!

Miah’s Singing Debut

I Live in Movies by Joshua Lewis

A Poem, by Joshua Lewis

I live in Movies
Is this where you live?
I live here in Movies
I live on Commercial Street
My friend lives on Star Wars Avenue
Do you live here Movies?
Tickets
Falls round me like rain on other folks
Soda wets my face
Cold as ice
Hot like popcorn thinking they were actors
I’ve got 15 seats where others have highchairs
And a snack for both sides of my heart
I walk around in a snack bar
Like some one wlaking on earth
I live in Movies
I live in it
Wash in it
I could even smell it
I wear films on my fingers
Theaters fall so full of cameras
I live in Movies