Markie: Matthew, our story doesn’t seem to fit any of the listed categories, but it needs to be told and it needs to be heard.
Eight months ago, my husband had vertigo for the first time ever. As I cared for him and helped him through the worst of it, my mom cared for our four beautiful babies. That night the thief set up the perfect storm.
I was not home (as I normally would’ve been) when a freak accident occurred. Somehow, a fire started outside of our fireplace. It started right around 11:00pm. Had I been home, I would’ve been in the room and able to put it out with the bucket of water kept in case there was ever an emergency.
The wood stove and chimney had just been serviced, and the stove had just been cleaned out. There are no adjectives, or a strong enough English word that could begin to describe our tragedy.
From what we were able to learn, it was only a matter of minutes before we lost everything. Our four kids were with Jesus before the fire department made it to our house. My mom, having come up from her basement bedroom, tried in vain to save them. She fought until the last second willingly putting in 110% and literally walking through fire in hopes of rescuing her grandbabies. She was the only one that there was reason to perform CPR on, and she was pronounced “victim” #5 at the scene. Only three months prior we lost my dad presumably to a covid-thrown clot, and a year before that we lost my mother in law to covid while she was in the hospital.
Here’s the beauty from ashes (and I don’t use any fire related word lightly): The church (meaning the body of Christ) rallied around us. Multiple families jumped on planes to come and support us. Food was brought, homes were offered, messages, and monetary support came from all across the country. Businesses provided services at no charge.
Job didn’t have friends like these in his life for sure! It happened on a Thursday night and on Sunday morning a snow storm prevented our regular worship service, and it was a glum day. The activity stopped and reality was seeping in (at least in part), but we fought back! We went on Facebook live to worship God that morning. That was the beginning of a platform of influence that I never wanted or expected and would give back in a heartbeat.
Every day since then, we’ve longed for our forever home when we will hear those precious voices again. Until we get there, nothing will stop us from winning souls. The devil messed with the wrong people and we will fight back in obedience no matter what it takes. We have made it our mission to share our story!
We started a podcast in September and I spoke at a women’s retreat just this past weekend. We have so many hard days, but we firmly believe no matter how awful it is, God will work it into His good plan. Joy and sadness exist simultaneously everyday.
Have you ever thought about writing a fight song anthem?
P.S. We used to sing “Walking Miracles” to our youngest son before bed every night!
