In April 2013, I had a life-threatening chest surgery and
developed severe complications thereafter. I was in induced coma for the next
four weeks. Because of these complications, I suffered insufficient blood flow
and oxygen supply to my hands and feet resulting in necrosis of the cells. My
husband was told that amputation of both my hands and feet may become necessary
but they decided that decisions on this will wait until I came out of coma.
When I came out of coma, I realized that something was very
wrong with my hands. They trembled almost nonstop. I could not hold anything
without dropping it. My fingers were discoloured with bumps and swellings
around them. My nails disfigured with dark bands across them. I wrote about this
in the blog post: Blog Post 100: Not Static. Not Stagnant.
It was difficult to feed myself or write. It took almost 30
minutes to type one sentence of text message. It was a frightening and
frustrating experience. While all these were going on, my mind was plagued with
the thought of not being able to write again. It was simply unimaginable for me
not to be able to write. Writing was non-negotiable. I knew I have been called
by God to write. He placed the passion to write inside me and for me it is a
foregone conclusion that I am God’s warrior of words. At this time, my writing
future looked bleak. But I had to hope against hope that God would restore my
hands. I refused to accept anything to the contrary.
God gave my husband and I an assurance that He has given me
the Feet of Grace and I believed that the grace also extended to my hands and
so by extension, I have the Hands of Grace. I realized in 2010 that my hands
are a gold mine when God impressed on my heart that I was sitting on a gold
mine and led me to start writing actively (see Sitting on a Gold Mine).
Slowly but surely, God restored strength to my hands.
Healing and restoration became manifested as I began to hold the cutlery and
fed myself. I started writing what looked like chicken scrawl, which became
more and more legible as time went on. By July, I was able to type on my laptop
and my physiotherapist encouraged me to practice this as often as possible to
strengthen the muscles of my fingers. Even though, I had three fingers in
bandage at that time, it did not stop me, I started blogging again right there
in the hospital.
With the confidence that there will be a complete
restoration of the use of my fingers, a desire began to stir up within me to
have an income generating activity. I knew it might still be a while for me to
go back to my professional career as a Nutrition Specialist and I was not even
sure at time if I still wanted to do that fulltime especially within the
context of my new definition of normal. I had a strong desire to be able to
support my husband with the huge burden my medical expenses had placed on our
finances. It was in the process of ruminating on this that the thought of
beading and making jewelry with semi-precious gemstones was laid on my heart.
Right there, in the hospital, I started to research the
subject. I took online courses and made my first order for the materials and
tools required. I drafted my business plan and formulated my vision for my
beading business. Within a couple of weeks of returning back home in August, after
4 months hospital stay, my materials, books and tools began to arrive.
I made my first bead necklace set in September and wore it
for my thanksgiving on Sunday, September 29th, 2013. It was in
October, that God reminded me of the dream He laid upon my heart in 2009. In
the search for an article I wrote years ago, which I wanted to include in my
book, I stumbled on another document titled: “My Dreams and Vision,” in which I
wrote my desire to have a Youth Center that will provide scripture-inspired
apparels for our youth. I could not find such apparels with inspired
inscriptions in English readily available in my city and I believed that these
could provide great opportunities of youths to share their faith in God. It was a much-needed confirmation that I was in the right direction.
My friend and Sista, during her visit to Geneva in November
2013, encouraged me to make my jewelries with a difference; “Let it tell a
story.” I pondered for many months after that: “what story can my jewelry tell
to make them unique?” In a flash, it came while I was preparing for the
launching of the jewelry. They can certainly tell of the grace of God in
restoring my hands and indeed, my health. I knew I could not talk about Hands
of Grace Creations without sharing the testimony of God’s amazing grace in
restoring me to life and full health.
On Saturday, March 8th, 2014, Hands of Grace
Creations made its debut as we launched the handmade beads jewelries, made by
hands that were once considered for amputation because of the season of
lifelessness and loss of functionality that visited them. The God Who restored
the dead body of Lazarus to life and wholesomeness, the same God Who caused dry
bones to live again is the God Who restored life and functionality to my hands.
He caused them to do detailed work of beading, creating beautiful and unique
pieces, in addition to writing the words God keeps giving me.
Indeed, I have recovered all. Not only did I recover the
capacity to write again, I recovered much more. I was compensated with the
skills to bead and do detailed beading work with my hands (Gen 14:16, 1Sam 30:18).
Each piece of jewelry I make is assigned a name, which
describes the attributes of God and denotes a piece of my testimony of Who God
has been to me through my seasons of storm, affliction and trials. They speak
of the might and faithfulness of God as He intervened in my situation. Hands of
Grace Creations will share a part of my story. Such that each person who buys
and wears Hands of Grace Creations is not just wearing a piece of jewelry but
is wearing a piece of my testimony and story, and by doing so, also join me in
acknowledging the goodness of God.
Here are some of the names:
- Titilailailopemi: I will give thanks to God forever.
- Oluwafifehansimi: God puts His love on display in me
- Oluwadamilare: God justified me
- Oba Awi ma yeun: The Lord that speaks and does not renege on His Word
- Oluwasoromidayo: God turned my story into joy
- Oluwaferanmi: God loves me
- MotilayoninuJesu: I have joy in Jesus
- Oluwasegunfunmi: God gave me victory
- Oluwamayomikun: God made my joy full
- ModupeoreOluwa: I am grateful for God's goodness
It will be a memorial to the wearers that the same God Who
worked on my behalf is not partial. What He did for me, He is faithful to do in
their lives too, and what He promised He will do because of His unfailing love.
The “I am” series will serve to remind the wearer of who God
says they are according to His Word. They will be a reminder to the wearer to
say “I am who God says I am.” These series will use engraved messages and
colours to present the truth of God’s Word and promises to the wearer.
A portion of the proceeds from the sales of Hands of Grace
Creations will be used to support three charity efforts:
- Feet of Grace Foundation, which is positioning itself to provide opportunity to those who are compelled to sit down in a stand-up world to walk again, through the provision of prosthetic limbs.
- Funmi Adewole Foundation: The Education Trust Fund.
- Education Fund for a missionary family.
