That We Might Have Hope

We lived in 890 square foot home when the boys were much younger. It had two bedrooms and 1 bathroom. We had put the boys in the master bedroom and took the smaller bedroom - that had a closet off of it that had our washer in dryer in it. We had electric heat but we also had a couple of gas stoves - Deer borne heaters I believe is what they are called. Here is basically what they looked like:

Well I had dropped off my oldest son at school - he only went half a day at that time. Well it was very cold when we got home so I started the gas heaters. It helped get the house warmer- faster and gas was cheaper than electricity at the time.

I would use a long match to start these heaters. My boys used to think it was fun to then blow out the match and then I would let them take the match to the toilet and dip it in, to cool it off and then put the match into the trash can.

So I started the fire and then let my youngest blow out the match and he went to dip it and throw it away - so I thought. Well I had went to the kitchen because I was trying to get something made. The next thing I know my son is coming to the kitchen to tell me something. I can tell it is important but my son was young and due to a sickness when he was a baby, had a bad speech impediment. He pointed towards the living room and I told him to show me what he was trying to tell me. We walk into the living room and there it was a fire on the middle cushion of the couch.

I ran to the bathroom and dumped the contents of the trash can onto the floor and turned on the bathtub and filled it up and went to put the fire out. But to my surprise instead of putting the fire out it swished the fire from the cushion, up the back of the couch and to the back of the couch. (Now I know if I had have just picked up the cushion and taken it outside would have prevented what happened next - but then again it could have caught me on fire and have been a worse outcome- I don't know) Anyway I told my son to go to the front yard and get the water hose - while I ran and got the cordless phone so I could call the fire dept. and my husband. While I am talking on the phone I am doing my best to use the water hose keep the fire from spreading to much more.

When the firemen got there one of them asked me where the keys to my car were and one climbed the fence and got my purse and he asked me to move the car - so I got my son in the car and pulled my car back into the driveway of the house across the street. By that time another fire truck came and ended up blocking my view. The last thing I heard before I moved the car was that they thought that the fire was in the attic and that it might be a loss. (Just writing this brings tears to my eyes)

My husband got there not too much later. And once he went and checked things out- he informed me that they had gotten the fire out. Praise the Lord! We did not have any insurance on the contents of the house and everything we had was in that house. What is so sad is that the nicest things we had were in that living room that burned. We had a new living room set that my in laws had bought for us - because our furniture was in such bad shape. It was a great set from Montgomery Wards. Even though they picked it out - we loved this set. We also had a great table that was given to us by my in laws - when they got a brand new set.

This is where the fire began - the firemen had carried it to the front yard. Oh and look - we had snow. This was a nice hideaway bed couch too.

These pictures probably do not even do the damage done justice, but it will give you an idea. We stayed with my in laws for a few days but figured out really quick that we did not want to stay there long term and that is what would have happened because it took quite a while to get the house fixed up again. So even though our living room was not livable- we moved back to our house and slowly started to do the clean up ourselves.

In the background of the photo above you can see the love seat - we were hoping to salvage it but the fabric has been melted and was not comfortable to sit on. We used it for a while though.


This photo above shows that we had to put blankets up to cover the holes in the ceiling - trying to keep the cold air out.

This photo below shows going into the kitchen. There was smoke damage all the way through the house.

This was a very difficult time for us. But in the end God worked it all out for us. By some new carpet in the living room and hallway, and the living room was totally re-sheet rocked. We had a lot of painting to do and we - my husband and his mother re-did the wall paper in the kitchen and in bathroom.

The reason I share this story is because I heard this Bible verse:

"For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, so that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Romans 15:4

~ in a sermon recently. And it really spoke to me. And then when I was going though a drawer yesterday - I came across these photos and it reminded me that when we are having difficult times,if we can think back to the times that God has worked things out in our past - then it helps give us hope for today and tomorrow. :o)