My family and I extend our greatest appreciation and love to our community who have reached out to us in tremendous support following a tragic loss this weekend. The home my husband Jason and I have raised our family in for the past 17 years burned completely to the ground last Friday, along with everything we owned.
But our God is awesome! My entire family was safe and were not at home at the time of the fire. We were able to gather safely, all together, and watch as rescue efforts were made to save our home. But fire is like an animal, devouring everything in its path in a matter of seconds. And although it was a bitter pill to swallow, watching everything we have worked for in our lives go up in smoke, we take the blessing that we were able leave our hill together alive. We were even blessed to find our two pets alive and safe the next morning.
I broke down several times in tears, watching my home burn to the ground. As the chaos settled down, I even retreated to my mother-in-law's bathroom and broke down alone. But as I entered back into her living room, I saw my family together. And I knew then that their presence, and His presence, are the true treasures. It breaks my heart to know that all our possessions, family heirlooms, family photographs and more are gone. But you can’t take it with you anyway, and the memories my family and I have in our heads and hearts are what matters.
Among friends, I have even joked that I hope the local library understands they won’t get their books I checked out back. But I must laugh, even in between tears. Because even though my photographs of my sweet Paw Paw are gone, he always told me, ‘if you can’t laugh, you got nothing.” The fire took his photographs but not his life lessons.
The love and support we have received has been beyond words. Yazoo may have its bumps and bruises, but her people are incredible. I cannot put into words the amount of prayers, love and support we have received.
I use our experience to say that we intend to rebuild our home and create a new chapter. It continues to be a hard pill to swallow, but Jason and I have faith that God has a plan. We might not understand it right now, but we have the faith that He will put into place what He wants for us. And I am at peace with that, relying totally on my God.
Along with my family and pets being safe and the presence of our community’s love, we have already had a few precious moments that reminded me that He will take care of us. Finding our pets the next morning, alive and well, actually waiting for us in our yard was one. Our youngest son Jase had a favorite stuffed animal based on the Stitch cartoon character. While in the store, picking up a few items, a basket of stuffed animals on sale appeared around a corner. Guess what was on the top of that pile? An identical Stitch stuffed animal that he loved, on sale to be exact. Heartbroken that I had lost all the jewelry Jason gave me over the years, I found my favorite opal ring he gave me a few years ago in my purse in a side pocket. I must have put it in there and didn’t realize it. Returning back to work, I looked over at my bookshelf and found a photograph of my Maw Maw and Paw Paw, along with other photographs of my mother and our three children when they were babies. One of those photographs was a smaller version of our first family portrait that hung in our living room. I thought I had lost it, but now I can replace it with my office copy. I even found a vintage hat from my collection in an office chair. All these small things are a start and a reminder of blessings.
But a great moment was actually captured when a friend who arrived at the scene of the fire took a photograph of my family in a prayer circle as our home burned to the ground. That is what I want to share in my column as an awesome blessing.
Even in our darkest hours, you must keep the faith. Do we understand why this happened? Perhaps not. Are we uncertain or scared? Absolutely. But having that inner faith and confidence in our Lord offers great comfort. Seeing what He has blessed us with already is fantastic. We have each other! I can hug my kids all to sleep tonight. I can feel my husband next to me while we go to sleep. I can even hear my dog and cat getting into things they aren’t supposed to get into in the distance. We have a roof over our heads. We have hot meals. We had a church to walk into two days after the fire. We have family and friends who love us and are helping us. I had a job to return to Monday with clothes on my back. And even if that is all I am left with from here on out, that’s pretty awesome!
I am heartbroken over the loss of our home and everything we owned. But look at what I do have! My family, friends, community, a job, a roof and hot meals. We can fill in the gaps as we go, but I know God has a plan. And I have faith that He will reward me with what He wants me to have.
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
My family and I have faith that we will be taken care of by God. We have the hope that we will be rewarded after the trials. But, most importantly, we have each other with love!
And if I live the rest of my life with only those three things, I am the richest person in the world. Thank you again and please take our situation to know that with faith, hope, love and God…you are blessed.
