If you haven't heard, our house caught on fire last Thursday night, December 30th. You can see details in the copied emails below (3 in total). The Lord has certainly changed the plans we had for ourselves. But as he says in Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." He has orchestrated so many details so perfectly that I cannot help but give thanks to him for the situation. "Oh taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!" vs. 8
The Sunday before last, we sang this beautiful song, "Speak, O Lord" by Getty and Townend. Here is the text below. What sweet words of offering to the Lord for him to teach us and shape us into the people he wants us to be!
Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
to receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill Your glory.
Teach us, Lord, full obedience,
holy reverence, true humility;
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
in the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise;
cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of pow'r that can never fail-
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.
Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights
of Your plans for us-
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
that will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we'll stand on Your promises,
And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built
and the earth is filled with Your glory.
As I transition this post to the emails with details of the fire, let me focus these last thoughts on Psalm 34:4-7: "I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them."
December 31st:
Hey Friends!
Happy New Year! (almost :) I wanted just to let you know what's going on with us and ask for your prayers. We had a fire in our house last night while we were out at dinner with some friends. We are all safe, but will be out of our house for a little while. Sally was at our house babysitting Mary Frances and noticed smoke coming from the basement around 11:30. She called the fire department and was able to get Mary Frances and Maggie outside safe and sound. The main fire damage is in the basement, but there is smoke damage throughout the house and soot covering just about everything. We are at my parent's for now and are just waiting to work out details with the insurance company, etc.
We have so much to be thankful for!
Sally was amazing and basically saved our little family! We are so thankful everyone is safe. I just keep thinking what if we had been at home and been asleep (as we usually are at 11:30!). She was alert and the Lord gave her clear judgement and swift actions. The Fire Chief said she got everyone out just in time as the smoke/fire really escalated after they got out.
After everyone's safety, I keep thinking about all of the "stuff" that may or may not be ruined. The Lord so gently reminded me that He is all I need and His grace is sufficient to meet our every need. He is faithful to remind us of our need of Him and I pray that we trust in His plan for us. This is definitely not the way I would have chosen to send out 2010, but His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. They are infinitely better!
We don't have any immediate needs that I can think of, but will let y'all know if that changes. For now we would covet your prayers for clear direction and favor with the insurance company.
Love you all and Happy New Year!
Katy
January 1st
Hi Friends!
Happy New Year! I wanted to start off by saying thank you for all of your messages and phone calls over the last 24 hours! If you are confused, see email below for details. In brief, we had a fire in our house Thursday night. We are still at my parents house and will continue to do so until we are able to move back in, or they get tired of us :) Whichever comes first.
Paul and I both went over to our house several times yesterday to make sure the house was secure (the firemen had to kick in the basement door) and get the things we need. The further we get into this, the more we understand what a big job we have ahead of us. While we are still muddling through what needs to be done immediately vs long term, we have so much to be grateful for. The greatest still continues to be the safety of everyone that is most important to us. The fire so quickly could have escalated and traveled up to the first floor via one of the columns in the basement, and it didn't! Praise God!
The next blessing is that we are meeting with an agent from a restoration company today. His crew actually cleaned out our basement when in flooded in fall of 09 and specialize in water and fire restoration. He so kindly offered to rearrange his family duties on New Year's Day to come to our house to walk us through what Paul and I can do to get started in the clean up process. It seems there are several things which need to be wiped of soot immediately to prevent further damage and several things which will need to be professional cleaned. What a blessing from the Lord to have this guidance!
So many of you have offered to help us and we are so thankful for your offers and friendship. I am sure we will have a greater understanding of the things we need in the next week or so and will probably come to you with specific ways you can help. For now, prayer for direction and understanding and favor with our claims adjuster will be the greatest needs. We had a wonderful experience with our insurance company when we flooded and pray for a similar or better experience with the fire of 2010.
We love you and thank you for all you have done and will do for us!
Love,
Katy and Paul
January 5th
Dear Friends,
First off, I want to say thank you again for your kind emails, phone calls, and acts of kindness over the past week! Paul and I have really felt an outpouring of love and prayer as we are adjusting to our situation and making decisions towards the clean up of our house. Aparently there is more to fire restoration and clean up than I ever cared to learn about and more than I could ever possibly learn! To give you a glimpse into our week, we have spoken with 4 different adjusters, 1 contractor, 1 manager and 1 owner of a cleaning company, 2 managers of a clothing cleaning company, 2 fire investigators and there are more I am sure I am forgetting. The Lord has orchestrated it all so perfectly and our final two adjusters (contents and structural) seem very agreeable to work with and our cleanup/restoration teams have all said that we have come out with two great adjusters. What an answer to prayer!
As we stand at this point, all of our clothes have been taken to be cleaned, our house is packed up and all of our contents are ready to be moved out on Friday to go to a warehouse to be cleaned. Our basement will have to be gutted and everything upstairs cleaned, sealed and repainted. It will definitely be a process and we will probably be out of our house 2 - 3 months. We continue to covet your prayers and will certainly ask for help when needed.
"And this is the confidence we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." 1 John 5:14-15
Please continue to pray for the negotiation and details of clean up and restoration as well as wisdom, peace and patience as we wait to move back home. Thank you!
Love,
Katy and Paul
Hey Katy,
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard yet about the fire. I am so glad that all of you are safe, but also sorry that you are having to walk through all of this. I am sure that it has already been a headache (to say the least), and it sounds like it will continue to be an interruption in your lives for a couple of months to come. It sounds like you guys have great friends and family around you already, but do please let me know if there is anything that I can do to help!
I also wanted to say Thanks for this post. Thanks for sharing your heart and encouragement. You are a testimony to the Lord in your faithfulness to Him and ability to trust in His Goodness through this "storm". I pray that He would continue to speak into you guys through this - that He would speak messages of Truth that you may not have been able to hear with different circumstances. I pray, too, that He would speak hope and encouragement when the process seems too much and you just want your own space again!
I will say that the past year has been difficult for me, and whether I would like to admit it or not, one that has challenged my ability to trust and hope in the Lord. Thanks for encouraging me to "bless the Lord in all times."
Blessings,
Amy