Pipe Burst Testimony

As many of you. have probably seen on Facebook or in person- about a month ago at ONEHOP we had a pipe burst. I've had a few people ask me about the details, so I figured I would share in a post about the whole story and God's faithfulness in it.

Last month on January 24th, our brand new heater broke. Again. This was the third time it had broken in two months. It was just installed in November (after a year of having NO heat on the community side) and already it had broken again. Given the winter we've been having, having no heat is a big deal. The repair man couldn't fix it on that Thursday and needed to order a part to replace which they said wouldn't get there until Monday. In the meantime he recommended getting a few space heaters to heat the space- which we did. I was a bit concerned about leaving the space heaters on all night without us there, but I did leave one on over that night. The next day we came in and the temperature was around 40 degrees (a 25 degree difference from the previous day). I turned on the faucet...and.....the pipes were frozen.
 
I turned space heaters on to try to help thaw the pipes and went into the prayer room. During that prayer meeting we were praying for the ending of abortion in light of the new NY bill passed on January 22nd. I was meditating on Isaiah 59:19 "...When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him." and then I heard what sounded like a shower turning on. I was deep in prayer so I ignored it for a few minutes. 

I then walked over to the community side room and water was POURING through the ceiling and lights. I quickly tried to find the water shut off valve in the basement. I had never been in some of the basement rooms in the building as we don't rent that space so thankfully one of our staff members helped me find the shut off valve within 20 minutes.

Upstairs the mess was crazy. Standing water soaked through our new carpet, rugs, and chairs. Much of the ceiling was ruined and some of the lights as well.

This is right after the water was shut off! Water still coming out of the ceiling!

After phone calls with the landlord and our insurance company, service workers started showing up. The first worker was from a pluming company. He was a believer and had been wondering about ONEHOP and had wanted to visit before he got a call to come to the house of prayer for plumbing problems!

Then the professional cleaner Dan and his crew came in. Come to find out- Dan is friends with Phil who had sold us our carpet and much of the supplies for our renovation. Phil had wanted to connect us with Dan who also runs a ministry helping young guys in transition get off the streets and learn job skills. We didn't expect to connect on such circumstances, but were glad to connect anyway! Dan has been a tremendous blessing to us. He professionally cleaned our carpet and rug and was able to save the wall. He also pointed out how the pipe burst actually exposed some other potential hazards in the ceiling from previous leaks in the roof. There were electrical wires that could have sparked a fire as well as water damage that could have produced mold spores in the next few months if not addressed.

At the end of the day, NONE of our ONEHOP property was permanently damaged. Our chairs dried off okay and other than the rug and carpet (which Dan cleaned), the only thing that we were concerned about was our new cabinets in the kitchen which had gotten wet. After inspecting them, we couldn't find any significant water damage, so we ended up having to call our insurance company and cancel our claim with them as we had NOTHING to claim!!

We also realized that the pipe burst in the perfect spot in the community side. A foot to the right would have ruined our furniture and the electrical breaker box would have also had significant water damage perhaps sparking a fire or significant electrical problems. If the pipe burst had been a foot to the right, it would have gotten our offices wet, perhaps necessitating a wall to be removed and damaging legal paperwork and our printer and electrical equipment. We were all so blown away at the Lord's faithfulness to us and His hand sustaining and protecting us and even our property! Last winter we did not have heat the entire winter on the community side and never had a pipe burst. This year we went without heat for one evening and the pipe burst! But last year without our new carpet and rugs to help soak up the water, damages could have been even greater and water could have spilled into other parts of the building requiring more extensive repairs or wall removal. With our carpet and rugs, the damage was contained to the community room and kitchen only.

At the request of one of our staff members, Dan also looked at some water damage in the rest of the building including the hallway and prayer room. He noticed significant water damage from roof leaks that needed to be addressed and had a professional roofer come to look at the property. He and the roofer submitted a report to our landlords. The pipe bursting ended up exposing repairs and renovations done totaling between $50,000-100,000 that our landlords are agreeing to pay for- all at no cost to ONEHOP! Dan did some readings of the air quality as he was seriously concerned about mold in the air due to the extensive water damage from previous leaks. However, the readings came back perfectly normal. I believe the Lord has supernaturally held back any hazards in our building from us.

In addition, we are getting an entire new ceiling grid and new can lights on the community side which we don't have to pay for or install! the ceiling and lights were the only thing we did not do in our renovations in September and now we don't have to! And while we wait for the renovations to be completed, our landlords have agreed to help pay for our increased utility costs as currently there is no insulation on the community side.

And in the process we found out that one of our landlords owns a sign and printing company and they may be able to help get us a sign for the road at less than half the price we had previously been quoted!

All in all so far we are being blessed with:

• NO ONEHOP property damage 
• New ceiling grid on community side
• New can lights on community side
• Parts of prayer room ceiling and side rooms and hallway ceiling replaced
• New insulation
• Roof leaks fixed
• HVAC units better secured on the roof and more efficient installment leading to lower utility costs for us
• Potential hazards from electrical wiring and mold prevented and taken care of
• Potentially a new sign
• ​New ministry connections and friends
  

We are so thankful to the Lord in all of this! He truly works everything for our good and does more than we can ask, think, or imagine!