Angels in Work Boots

CBN.com When parts of suburban Atlanta flooded, the Hunt family had to get out of their house by boat.

“To see all the water just come toward the house, that’s what was frightening, because that water came from nowhere,” Willie said.

When Willie and Tony were finally able to go back home, they found inches of mud. The first floor was entirely demolished.

“I looked at the devastation and I was like, ‘Wow, who do I turn to now? Lord, I know You’re going to be there for us, but where am I going to get the help to get this done?’ And I was at the point where I was ready to give up,” Willie said.

“We were going to walk away,” Tony said.

“We were gonna give up,” Willie said.

The Hunts questioned where they would go and what they would do with what was left of the house.

“We just didn’t have the resources,” Willie said. “We didn’t know how we were gonna do it."

Then, Jody Herrington and her team from Operation Blessing came walking down their muddy street.

“To this day, I speak of how they were angels who were sent to help us," Willie said.

Volunteers from Master’s Commission got right to work tearing out the old drywall and treating all the studs for mold and moisture. The Hunts were happy just to have that much help.

Still, they had a lot left to do. One of their biggest losses was a downstairs prayer room.

“We just look forward to the day we can go back and enjoy the house again and go to our little special area and have our meetings with the Lord,” Willie said. “That’s what we miss. That’s what we miss the most.”

The Hunts knew Operation Blessing was working on their drywall, but what they didn’t realize was that Jody was planning to do a lot more. The team had the idea of building the family a new special prayer room.

In the meantime, Jody asked the Hunts not to come back home for a week. They rented a house a few minutes away, but even during those difficult times, the family found time to pray, cook, and deliver food and blankets to the homeless.

“Even going through this I’m going to feed them,” Tony said. “I’m going to feed them.”

The week started with cold, pouring rain, but the crew worked through it all. Pretty soon, the ramshackle rooms were transformed. Over at their rental house, Willie was praying in a storage room filled with boxes and old furniture.

Then, the day came for the big reveal.

“When the van moved away, I was just like ‘Oh my, where did all these kids come from?’ It just blessed me to see all the young people doing the work that they did,” Willie said. “That was a blessing.”

At the first sight of their new home, the Hunts fell in love with the new place.

“Oh, this is so beautiful,” Willie said. “Look at this. You are so awesome, God!”

“Thank you, Jesus,” Tony said.

“We love it,” Willie said. “We absolutely love it! This is gorgeous!”

“Absolutely gorgeous,” Tony said.

For work the Hunts did in their community and for other people in need, Operation Blessing was happy to take this wonderful opportunity to give back with the love of Christ to a family that really needed it and deserved it.

“Thank you so much,” Willie said.

Excited to show the Hunts their special project, Jody revealed the new prayer room.

“Oh my, this is beautiful,” Willie said. “I just feel the peace in here already.”

Kneeling at the altar, Willie began to cry as she prayed, “Thank You for bringing Operation Blessing into our life, Father God. Thank You, Jesus for what You have done, for what You have made possible through them. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.”

“It’s beautiful. The altar is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,” Willie said. “When I saw that altar, I thought, let me give thanks to the Lord.”

“To take that care and to build a prayer room and put an altar, it’s just an awesome thing, an awesome thing,” Tony said.

Ready to see the rest of their new house, the Hunts made their way to one of Tony’s favorite new rooms.

“Oh, my kitchen. My kitchen! I’m back, kitchen,” Tony said.

“Now, let me tell you about the kitchen,” Jody said. “We didn’t have the time to do it. We didn’t have the budget to do it, but the people from Home Depot were out Wednesday and we told them we weren’t going to do the kitchen, and they said, ‘Jody, can we come out tomorrow and do the kitchen?’ So this is a gift from Home Depot.”

“Thank you guys, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Willie said. "We truly appreciate everything that Operation Blessing, CBN, and all their donors have done for us. You came and you did a wonderful job to restore our home and get us back in our house. I say thank you very, very much from the bottom of my heart. We love you guys. I know I’m going to stay in touch with Jody and Operation Blessing because you guys are awesome and we appreciate everything that you have done. Thank you very, very much!”

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