You never know what a day may bring forth. But one thing you can always count on, is the goodness and faithfulness of our Lord! It is because of His mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not; they are new every morning. Great is God’s faithfulness! (Lamentations 3:22-23)
We found this to be particularly true just a few weeks ago. It is a very long story, so we won’t bore you with all the details.
Mom and Dad were on their way out of town for a few days, and we were all enjoying a quiet afternoon studying for the Bible Bee. It started storming, with fierce thunder and lightning, then hail. Obviously, there was nothing we could do about it, so we continued studying. But one precaution we did think of was to have everyone put rubber shoes on. (This we do during lightning storms in case of electrical shock – it was recommended by a friend who was actually struck by lightning several years ago.)
Victoria went to the garage and noticed a funny smell, but didn’t think much about it. But as she turned to come back in, the kitchen was full of smoke. About this time someone yelled, “FIRE!!” and people came from all parts of the house and gathered on the front porch. It was still storming ferociously, although thankfully the hail had stopped for a while. Amanda called Dad and Mom, who were an hour away, then dialed 9-1-1. She finally got to tell them where we live, despite the brief power outage in the middle of the call.
Soon our driveway was full of emergency vehicles and neighbors who came to check on us. We are very thankful for one neighbor in particular, who allowed us, soaking wet though we were, to sit in his leather interior Jeep during it all.
The firemen searched all over, looking for flames, but couldn’t find anything but smoke – fresh smoke. Attic, bonus room, garage, air handlers, oven… no signs of fire… just lots of smoke. It was probably fifteen minutes before the dryer was checked, and sure enough, that’s where it was.
Dad and Mom got home after everyone had left, and we all jumped into the cleanup process. Everything had to be wiped down. But through it all God’s hand of protection and sovereignty was evident!! “Small” things, like delaying Mom and Dad’s trip so that they were an hour closer to home, and “big” things, such as protecting all of us… we truly serve an all-powerful, merciful, and loving God! May He be glorified!
(And in case you are wondering, both the washer and dryer still work perfectly well and are back in full service.)
Wow! God IS good! We can’t imagine the Neelys without the Neelys’ house, so we’re blessed to know that God protected y’all, AND your home. Just whip out a bunch of those delicious smelling candles, Jessi, and the house will be back to its inviting aromas in no time!
Praise the Lord! That could have been quite a disaster. Thank the Lord for safety.
(Looks like Titus is really getting tall there!)
Wow! I hadn’t heard this story yet. Your fire in the dryer looks exactly like the fire that happened recently in our freezer. Sure does make you thankful that it wasn’t worse, doesn’t it? Glad you all are safe.
We had a dryer fire once too, so we know how frightening that can be – especially during a storm. Praise the Lord that everyone was safe and no loss incurred.
Victoria
Amber was telling me about this exciting event! 🙂 Glad you’re all safe and the machines still work well. 🙂