Greetings!
I am so excited to see many of you taking steps of faith in obedience to God. We heard from Eric and Tiffany Kawaguchi how they are leading their family to spend time with God in His Word daily. We heard how Mari Shimabukuro saw a need and together with her family, conducted a food drive for the Hawaii Food Bank. Taking steps of faith and walking in obedience to God is what being a disciple of Jesus is all about.
Anne Fung took a step of faith to bless a business, Mike and Billz Fire Grillz, near her office. I asked her to write what God has done as she took her step of faith.
Mike worked in the restaurant and banquet business since graduating from High School. His wife, Billie, has bartended for over 25 years. Mike’s mother and two, older b
rothers have successful restaurants and food truck businesses which inspired him to branch out on his own. Mike and Billie started a food truck but it wasn’t as successful as Mike's brothers’. They moved their business from place to place and finally settled at a sports bar. Unfortunately, the environment of drugs, alcohol, and prostitution furthered their business demise. Mike felt that his distance from the Lord fostered the continued failure of his business. After losing everything and becoming homeless by the end of last year, Mike turned to God. He went to church and upon hearing the worship team play, tears started to fall uncontrollably. At that point, Mike surrendered to God. On January 10, 2020 Mike started a 40-day cleanse giving up alcohol, drugs, soda, meat, and other sinful behavior. Although he was still working the kitchen at the sports bar, he filled his ears with Joel Osteen and Christian music. God started to intervene and prevented other co-workers from doing drugs and things in the kitchen where Mike worked. Soon after, God pulled them out of the bar and placed them at LCC where they worked the kitchen on a percentage basis. They raised enough money to get themselves into a home the Lord had given them. Their situation was so dire that they didn’t even qualify for a 2-bedroom, low income house, but God is so good, He got them into a 3-bedroom house. They have four girls (two live at home), so this was what they needed. In late March, a small restaurant space became available. Mike and Billie immediately went down to the building that night and prayed all around it. They gave it to God and said that whatever God did with it was good with them. Of course, God gave it to them. I decided to stop in at Mike and Billz Fire Grillz and grab a quick lunch one day since it was finally open. First thing I noticed was that their menu looked like every ‘t’ was a cross. As I was leaving with my lunch in hand, Mike yelled, “God Bless!” The entire way back to my office I had a smile on my face and I asked God to bless their business, their family, and to give them provisions especially during this time. While showing the takeout menu to my assistant, we noticed an Ephesians verse on the bottom of the menu. God put it on my heart to invite them as a business on our Bless page. The next time I visited, I noticed a picture of praying hands on a shelf--God’s sign of encouragement to me. When I mentioned KCF’s Bless A Business, they immediately said “YES!” and were excited about the opportunity to be a part of a community that would pray for them. During my phone call with Mike and Billie, they shared their amazing testimony and expressed what a blessing it is to be part of our Bless page. They felt that God led me to them that day and they are extremely thankful. I’m grateful to have another brother and sister in Christ! Every day, Mike and Billie pray with their girls at home and journal together. Each one takes a part in leading the journaling. If friends sleep over, they are included in the prayer and journaling as well. In fact, Mike sends out daily Bible verses to his friends. They praise and credit God with everything they have and are doing. I am so amazed by God’s grace over them and their obedience to our Lord.
Thank you, Anne for another wonderful testimony of what happens when we take steps of faith and God intersects our faith with His faithfulness. I pray that we would all look to God, ask Him what He wants us to do, and step out in faith. Blessings! Mark
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