Three Little Words, One Big Blessing

It Never Fails. I’m always receiving a blessing when I’m the one “doing the blessing”. Of course we all know that it is God that does the blessing when faithful Christians seek His blessing, whether clergy or non-clergy, but this evening I can honestly say I was the one blessed and inspired by someone’s deep faith. I was invited to bless the home of someone this evening that had just moved into their new home. Their home is new because their old home was destroyed in a fire in 2009. While getting to know the couple the wife shared with me the terror and anxiety of the night the fire took place. What inspired me this evening was the faith the wife had in Christ in the midst of such tragedy. As she shared with me, she was on the front lawn watching her home burn to the ground and began to panic about lost pictures and valuables. Realizing that such panic would only make things worse, she told herself, “Its only stuff.” With these three words, she was comforted that God would take care of her family and that “stuff” can always be replaced. Inspiring enough? NO! She then informed me that all the things she had begun to panic about losing were some of the few and only things salvaged in the fire. Many of the things that were saved were in the attic, which was nearly destroyed, in a plastic bin. Days later when she was allowed back into the home to assess the reality of the disaster, the bin was found in the attic charred but intact; her family photos and other precious memories were saved.


I firmly believe that God was present with this family in their tragedy, as He is with everyone during hard and good times, but His gift to this woman was to protect her “stuff” just as she was willing to not be bound to it and allow Him the help her. Maybe it was His way of saying, “Ok, now that you have given your heart to Me, I want to let you know you’re not alone.”

We can all be inspired by stories such as this and I pray that my sharing it here this evening will bring joy and peace to someone who is reading this but not quite sure that God is near to help. He is. He’s just waiting for you to let Him take over.

Glory to God for all things!