Thank you!
My wife and I recently bought a home in the Paradise, CA area as a part of our retirement plans. We had not moved in yet and are praising God for all he has done for us. In the process of making our plans and purchase we prayed daily for months and each step was confirmed in a multitude of ways that only God could bring to pass. But a fire storm in Paradise, beginning the very morning we began to pack our first box, with plans to go there for the weekend? That was quite unsettling!
Later that morning a neighbor, a Christian we happen to meet the very day we got the keys - God is so great! Get this. That first day of getting the keys finished at sundown after a series of little God-moments of confirmation, as that neighbor and his wife walked by. We were in the front yard as it was getting dark and they stopped to ask us if we were the new neighbors. In minutes we new they were Christians and had a great welcome and wonderful conversation - their names? Amen and Amanda...or, as the perfect finish to our day with God - Amen and Amen - duh!
Anyway, the neighbor called the morning of the fire and apologized, saying he tried to save our home but had to run for his life, and he was sure he was unsuccessful, as he was driven off by a gust of heat, smoke, and flames heading directly toward the propane tank. He and his neighbor were at their own homes watering things down and packing some things after sending their wives and children on ahead to evacuate when another neighbor came frantically yelling to go now, that the fire was at the other end of the street at our place. They decided to see if they could lend a hand and perhaps preemptively keep the fire from coming as far as their own homes. They tried but then had to flea.
For two days, according to their experience and description, we thought the whole neighborhood went up in flames. Then Cal Fire put out a Structure Status map online...and lo and behold - ours did not burn! But get this:
My wife's women's group had been studying Nehemiah about rebuilding the Temple, and had been praying for our house. My wife shared the news that our home was okay, and one of the gal's eyes lit up, and said, "I had a vision of us gals standing around your house and praying over it, and the houses on both sides burned but not yours. I shared it with my elderly mother, but not with you all, because then I heard that it had burned. I was confused and felt bad that I had shared it with my mom. But this is great - my vision was not wrong!" And there is more... The map shows that just as she described, all the houses on either side of ours burned. But not only was ours not destroyed, but in the shadow of that rush of wind and our house, that our neighbor thought was sure destruction - seven more homes were saved...and down at the end of the street - the two neighbors houses that came to help...they were spared too!
True story.
We don't know what the future holds for us, but we are praising God - prayer works!
Please continue to pray.