There are few things worse than returning home on a cold winter’s day to find that your heating isn’t working.
When Stacy and Josh Lemonds came home to find out that their heat was no longer working, they felt as if there was nothing that could be done. The couple, who live in Oklahoma City were facing the potential of dealing with freezing temperatures inside of their home.
They called the electric company, who ended up pulling their meter and declaring it to be a fire hazard because of the corroded wires. The electric company told the Lemonds that they could not get their electricity back until it was repaired and inspected for a second time.
This could not have come at a worse time, as both Stacy and Josh were out of work and struggling to pay their bills. They felt that their only option was to pray, so they reached out to their local church asking other members of the community to pray for them as well.
“We came home and it was really cold in here and we came home and it was a blank screen, and we were like, ‘why is the heat not running?’” Both of them out of work, they had no way of paying for repairs, so “We started praying,” Stacy said.
They were stunned when an electrician named Joshua Matthews responded to them personally with a surprising offer.
Stacy and Josh met Joshua through their church marriage group after the electrician’s wife had become ill. Stacy and Josh had brought some meals to Joshua’s home for his wife during her illness, and he wanted to repay their kindness.
Joshua, a veteran who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, offered to help the Lemonds with their electricity for free. He spent days working tirelessly in the cold to fix the couple’s heater, and finally, he got it up and running again!
The couple could not believe what Joshua had done for them free of charge. A few days later, the Lemonds called Joshua back to their home for what they thought was a second inspection, but they actually had a major surprise for him instead!
More details of this amazing story from Opposing Views:
Other church friends chipped in for the couple’s hotel stay, and Matthews took up the big project together with Christian Harbison, a Journeyman Electrician working for Dane Electric. They spent days and nights, sometimes well past midnight, replacing the corroded wires and getting the home up to code.
Stacy recounted, “We sat out in the car in the rain, watching him. It was cold and I just didn’t want him to hurt himself because he was going up those aluminum ladders, and I didn’t want him to slip and fall in the dark. He’s just an amazing friend and a servant of God, he’s really a servant.”
Dane Electric took on the project as a charity case, and the company was more than willing to send Matthews back out to the Lemmonds’ home for a fake “reinspection.”
That was when Stacy presented Matthews with a $400 Pay It 4Ward award from First Fidelity Bank.
“I have something for you. Thank you so much for taking care of our electricity. We appreciate you, so we have $400 to pay it forward for you,” Stacy told him, with tears in her eyes.
To which Matthews replied, “You don’t have to do this.”
“No, we do. We wanted to give back something. We know that you guys toiled over what happened, so – look at our lights! You guys, Dane Electric, you all did it, so thank you very much, bless you guys!” she said as she hugged him. “Absolutely! I had no idea what was going on! It’s just what anyone should do,” Matthews laughed.
Matthew’s a soldier who completed two tours in Afghanistan with the 45th Infantry Division.
“It’s been humbling, but it’s also been an amazing experience to see people love – just love because they love, and just give. And thankfully, today I get to give back a little bit, and that’s just amazing to me that I can pay it forward,” Stacy said. You too can nominate someone for Pay it 4Ward!
Pay It 4Ward is a KFOR-TV program where viewers can help someone they know could use extra cash immediately. Each week a person will get $400 cash because their friends or co-workers want to “Pay It 4Ward.”
When nominating, include your name, daytime phone number, who you nominate and why. Please follow all the criteria when nominating.
Watch the video report here: KFOR/Youtube
Sources: OpposingViews, Oklahoma’s News 4