Beauty From Ashes

Today we went to visit our friends whose house burned down last week. Actually she invited our entire group over to see it before it gets bulldozed. We were deeply touched and blessed by their positive attitude of praise and thankfulness. As we looked over the remains of their beautiful home and could smell the charred wood, we were reminded of the phrase "beauty from ashes". So when we got home I looked in the concordance for the verse and found it in Isaiah 61.

to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor ..., to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve...— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities...

They truly are a display of God's splendor!

Their biggest loss was the funds for their daughter's adoption from China that was to be paid two days after the fire. The money was in their home and was lost in the fire. While insurance will cover the rest of their losses, the cash cannot be recovered. Their daughter is in need of a routine eye surgery that if not done soon will result in the loss of her sight permanently. Please be praying for that darling baby waiting in China to come home.

Our church was so moved to do something to help our friends that they held a car wash fund raiser while we were away at camp with help from our support group. Working for 2 days, they managed to raise almost $1100! It is truly an answer to prayer!

Just looking at these pictures reminds us of what is truly important in life! Be sure to be thankful for all the blessings God has given us.

front of the house

the garage from the back yard

the house from the back yard

it is sort of surreal to look through the rubble and find items from their home (the large mangled piece of metal behind the toaster is their fridge)

the kids all played in the yard, it was good to hear their laughter