It's Been One Year!

It's has been exactly one year since the fire, it was Sunday December 8th. It has been a long and tough year, but more than that it has been a growing and faith building year. We have seen God give us...Beauty for Ashes, Strength for Fear, Gladness for Mourning, and Peace for Despair. 

We sifted through the ashes that were here after the fire, then cleared those ashes out and now see a beautiful home. Then as we realized there was only ashes left I saw more clearly the beauty of my husband and my children.

For nights we struggled to sleep, the events of that night would replay in our heads and fear was very present but we found our strength in God and HIs word. We are much stronger now than we were a year ago...stronger relationally and spiritually.

Every time we would reacall another item we had lost it was like being kicked in the stomach, we were mourning our loss of the material things in our life. As a family we also mourned the loss of our cat of 8 years that we lost due to the fire. God has brought gladness to our family as He has used others to give us clothes, toys, books, games, pictures, etc. He has also given us gladness through a new kitten (will post about that soon). 

The dictionary defines despair as the complete loss or absence of hope. I will not lie there were times that I felt an absense of hope, despair. God was always faithful to remind me that He was my hope. I am very thankful for the peace of God that He has given me and I can say it is the "peace that surpasses all understanding, (that) will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7.

I want to say Thank You to all those who have prayed for us and ministered to us. God has used you in our lives as a source of blessing to our family in our time of need.