{"id":11744,"date":"2020-01-14T05:55:54","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T11:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=11744"},"modified":"2020-01-14T05:56:04","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T11:56:04","slug":"a-fire-a-journal-a-blessing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=11744","title":{"rendered":"A Fire. A Journal. A Blessing."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A few days ago, my daughter sent me this text message: \u201cDo you know when the fire in our home was?\u201d Of course, she could ask me that because she knows about my daily journal writing. It\u2019s a routine that I\u2019ve been quite consistent with for decades. I write about significant details of my day, notable happenings of my family and little nuggets from God in our time together during my devotions. Staci was asking that question because a couple who was at their church the next Sunday after the fire and heard their \u201cvictory\u201d testimony of God\u2019s amazing grace, asked for the date. It was a pivotal story for that couple. It touched their lives so much that they starting looking at life differently \u2013 with gratitude in the midst of chaos and disappointment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this day, when Staci asked about that specific horrific, yet victorious day, I was able to go right to my 2002 journal because I remembered it was when Payton was two years old and Alexia was 9 months old. We received the call that their garage and home in Prosper, TX were on fire. It was a 4-alarm fire caused by a squirrel eating through electrical wires and when they switched on their lights, it ignited the fire. Their home was unliveable because of so major damage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We lived in Tulsa and we headed right out to retrieve the little ones. My husband and I kept them for two months while the home was being restored. That, of itself, made many pages in my journal! Over and over I\u2019d comment how exhausted we were at the end of each day, but most precious to me were the words I wrote about how helpful Ron (Papa) was with the kiddos. It made me love him even more. One of these days \u2013 I\u2019ll just sit, reminisce and re-read all my entries \u2013 but there\u2019s no sitting for this gal right now. Too much to do and accomplish before \u201csitting days\u201d set in! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the blessings that came out of what could have been a tragic day of monumental proportions. No one suffered physical harm. They were able to retrieve important original music and speaking tracks from Staci\u2019s recordings, Larry\u2019s college rings, Staci\u2019s jewelry, her scrap books and treasured pictures. They ended up getting enough back from their insurance to do some major remodeling in the home that they had been wanting to do. Things that mattered were saved and other things were replaceable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But here is the ultimate, best news. People were watching them and how they handled a crisis. God gave Staci a song as she sat on the curb while watching her home burning. She experienced the peace of God that passed understanding. I called her and asked her to give me those words for this blog and she sang them to me. With holy chills, I share them with you of what peace looks like in the midst of a fire or any storm:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThanks for the joy that You\u2019ve given to me.
\nThanks for Your love — unconditionally.
\nOh, thanks for peace in the midst of the storms.
\nLord, I thank you. I thank you.
\nBecause, You\u2019ve been faithful, faithful to me.
\nLord, You\u2019re faithful. Your mercies I see.
\nAnd when I look back on my life,
\nThe message is clear, You\u2019ve been so faithful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are watching us every day. What do we look and act like in times of crisis? How do we live our faith out loud? How do we display our faith and character when we\u2019re pinned up against a wall? Who do we turn to in times of tribulation? I don\u2019t know about you \u2013 but I like to think that I go to the Rock of my salvation. When all the earth around me is sinking sand, on Christ the solid Rock I stand. When I need a shelter; when I need a friend \u2013 I go to the Rock! I just couldn\u2019t help myself. I broke into song when I was typing this! God is faithful and as we stay faith-FULL in the ups and downs of our lives \u2013 may we find the blessings in the midst of the fires, the storms, the winds and the waves — because — God is faithful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A few days ago, my daughter sent me this text message: \u201cDo you know when the fire in our home was?\u201d Of course, she could ask me that because she knows about my daily journal writing. It\u2019s a routine that I\u2019ve been quite consistent with for decades. I write about significant details of my day,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12937,16139,15576,16141,16140],"tags":[333,168,3652,641,4738,38,16143,1215,16145,1607,16144,16146,2155,773,8407,101],"class_list":["post-11744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blessing","category-fire","category-gratitude","category-home-fire","category-journal","tag-amazing-grace","tag-blessing","tag-chaos","tag-fire","tag-god-is-faithful","tag-gratitude","tag-home-fire","tag-journal","tag-recovered","tag-reminisce","tag-replaceable","tag-retrieved","tag-solid-rock","tag-song","tag-testimony","tag-victory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11744"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11749,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11744\/revisions\/11749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}