She was a 24 year old single mother with a past that made bible prostitute Mary Magdalene look more like Mary mother of Jesus. He was a 29 year old former Mafia thug that had worked in the human sex trafficking industry. They were two broken vessels that no doctor could fix; two wounded souls that no drug could heal; but two yielded spirits that God could indeed restore...
On April 30th, 1999 they met at a meeting called "The Christian Club". Emmanuel was one of the head ministers of The Christian Club. He had at that point in his life been celibate for nearly six years. A few women had been prospects for a wife in the past but he had known that none of them were his destined help-mate. He had made a vow before God to remain celibate and not date but to instead allow the Lord to reveal to him by His Spirit who his wife was. A woman who was a wealthy Christian Minister had been hotly pursuing him declaring that The Lord had said he was her husband. Yet that is not what he heard in his spirit so in spite of his poverty at the time and the tempting lure of her money, he turned her down and was faithful to his vow before God.
Laneen at that time was still reeling from the devastating blows of church-hurt. She had been born again for about 18 months but had spent about a year of that time in a back-slidden mode. Her disappointment in learning that men in the church didn't treat her any differently than men in the world, using her only as a sex object, caused her to reject God for a season. But by His mercy He had brought her back after several falls into sexual sin with clergy members at her church. And just when it seemed she was out of the woods... he came... satan's decoy. She was engaged to a man who put a $7,000 engagement ring on her finger. He was the son of a pastor. She was going to be a part of "the first family". It seemed like a dream come true, but she knew deep in her heart that God was not in this union. She broke off the engagement according to God's instructions and chose to wait on her true soul mate.
Then just months after they both had nearly stepped into disaster by marrying the wrong person they laid eyes on each other.
"The day I met Emmanuel, he preached the gospel with fire. I knew that this was an anointed Man of God. I thought he was handsome but arrogant! He was bragging about his six years of celibacy. I admit that I was impressed, but it made me feel so small. It had only been about two months since I had last had sex with my ex-fiancée. Having a relationship with Emmanuel was the furthest thing from my mind", says Laneen.
"When I saw Laneen the first time I saw the hand of God all over her. She was petite and beautiful. I walked up to her and called her 'Evangelist'. Her smile was so bright, her spirit so warm... but... she had a son! There was no way that I was even going to consider a relationship with a woman who had a child. I was not willing to deal with any 'baby daddy' drama. Having a relationship with Laneen was the furthest thing from my mind too." says Emmanuel.
Later that night on the day they met, as Laneen was on her couch communing with The Father Emmanuel's face flashed in her spirit and she heard the Lord clearly say, "This is your husband!" She was in a state of disbelief, literally. She opened up her mouth and said, "Satan I rebuke you! You will not pull me back into sexual sin with another minister!!!" But she knew the voice of her Lord, she was His sheep. She could not understand God's mercy though. Why would He want to bless her with a husband after she had lived such a sinful and wicked life of sexual perversion? Especially since it was so soon since her last fall, didn't God need her to suffer loneliness for a few years first and get her cleaned up?
The Christian Club met once a week. Every week when Laneen would go to the meetings and see Emmanuel she would again hear Father say to her, "This is your husband". She could not deny what she was hearing, but she made no sudden moves. She instead relied on the Word of God to prove true in her life where it says, "He who finds a wife, finds a good thing." She understood that if this anointed man of God that every single female in the church seemed to want as their husband, was truly for her, he would come to her as God led him to do so.
It was then that God appointed the circumstances through which he would speak to Emmanuel to confirm what he had spoken to Laneen. She was appointed to run a service at her church. She invited everyone from The Christian Club to come. At least 10 people had committed to come, but on the actual day one by one they all cancelled except Emmanuel. The service at her church was scheduled to take place on the same day that The Christian Club met but at a later time. The plan was that all those who were going to go to the service would just leave straight from the club and travel together. Since all else had cancelled... there they were... just she, her son and Emmanuel alone. As they walked down to the train station Laneen grabbed one hand of her four year old son Ja’Keim and Emmanuel grabbed the other and the Lord said to Emmanuel, "This is your family".
Neither of them shared right away with each other what the Lord had spoken to them. They just continued to build a friendship that was founded in prayer. However, Laneen felt like she was going to go mad if she couldn't get a confirmation on this word from God. She recalls this occasion.
"It had been six weeks since the Lord told me that Emmanuel was my husband and every week I went back to the meeting He would tell me again. Now The Christian Club met in a building that sat on top of a hill and my son's daycare was right across the street. As a matter of fact that is how I found out about the meetings. I encountered some of the attendees one day while picking my son up from school. Anyway, on that particular day I was running really late. The meetings started at 3:00PM and it was almost 3:30 by the time I picked my son up and started walking across the street to the meeting place. I can remember saying to The Lord as I walked, knowing that I would see Emmanuel again, 'Lord, this is driving me crazy! If Emmanuel is really my husband I want to see him outside today before I go into the meeting!' I was in front of the building by that time and had closed my eyes to pray this prayer before I went in. You have to understand the audacity of this prayer because Emmanuel usually opened the meetings up so he always came early and here I was 30 minutes late demanding that God have me encounter him outside of the building before I go inside. Basically I was asking the Lord to make him appear out of thin air (laugh)! The truth is that I still could not believe that God was going to bless me with this man for my husband and so I prayed a ridiculous prayer like that in order to prove that he was not my husband. Well... much to my surprise before I could even finish releasing the words from my lips, there was Emmanuel standing right in front of me, outside of the building before the meeting started! OMG, he really is my husband after all is what I was thinking."
That day Laneen's prayer was answered immediately. A divinely appointed encounter outside on the sidewalk led Emmanuel to ask Laneen if they could hang out together after the meeting was over. Laneen although she was bursting inside, calmly answered yes. They left the meeting together and went to the park where they talked for hours and hours. They then walked back to Laneen's house where she made dinner for the three of them. They talked for hours more. It was nearly midnight. Neither of them wanted to part, but they knew it was time for Emmanuel to go home. Emmanuel recalls how he felt that night as he spent time with Laneen.
"The Lord had already shown me the vision of us as a family. I lived alone at that time in a basement and had been seeing so many visions of us together. When we went to the park it was like I was living the vision. I felt so much peace when I was with Laneen and her son... our son. I enjoyed the fellowship. I never wanted to leave that day and go back to that lonely basement. Then when I went back to Laneen's house for dinner, I felt like I was in a dream. I had such a wonderful time and the food was so good (laugh). All I could think about was being with my family again the next day. I asked Laneen could we do it again and I was so glad when she said yes. I couldn't explain this to anyone, it was so God. The next day when Laneen and I returned to her apartment after our second trip to the park it all poured out of my spirit; I could no longer contain what God had shown me. In spite of my human fears I pulled Laneen close to me and looked into her eyes and said to her, 'You are my wife and you will be the mother of my children.' I never asked Laneen to marry me. I guess that was a little crazy but I was so sure in my spirit that she would receive me because of what God had spoken to me and how warm she was toward me. We had a destiny together and it was time to speak it into existence. Soon I would be Laneen's husband and Ja'Keim's father and I was so looking forward to that. "
Just five weeks after that divine encounter on the sidewalk, on July 28, 1999, Emmanuel and Laneen became husband and wife in a small private ceremony performed by Laneen's Pastor, Moylan Jackson. They couldn't afford a fancy wedding, reception or even a honeymoon... but they knew destiny could not be delayed and they surrendered themselves to God and each other to become one, a powerful force for The Kingdom of God.
One of the things that the Haniahs can remember most about the five weeks leading up to the their marriage is the day that Laneen shared with Emmanuel about her past. With courage and humility she presented her fiancée with the raw and heart-breaking truth about her former life of prostitution and sexual perversion. She was afraid but held onto the Word that God had given her about this man being her husband. Emmanuel was never moved by what Laneen shared. He knew that the jewel that he saw was the woman that God had made and her past mistakes didn't change that. They also remember Emmanuel's stress over marrying in such poverty. He couldn't provide for his new wife and son financially and it was distressing to him. But as he took Laneen the way she was, she too took him the way that he was as well. His financial status didn't matter to her. He was rich in spirit and brought so much healing to her life. They both knew that with the help of God they would overcome all of their challenges.
Ten years later they have been blessed with six additional children, making seven total. Emmanuel and Laneen have an awesome relationship and an awesome ministry. They grow more in love each day and are truly an inspiration to the Body of Christ, to both married people and single people alike. Don't ever lose the faith that God will lead you to your destined mate!
