WOW… okay… when I wrote the first blog post for this November, I never in a million years would even fathom what would transpire just a few days later. NEVER, in a million years could I even imagine what would happen in a matter of hours on that Thursday. It shook me to my core.
I had a completely different blog written but changed my mind. Here are the words that I want to share.
He will make beauty out of the ashes. Let me start there.
It was a Thursday morning, and I had gotten a text from my mom that the hospital where they lived was evacuating because of an encroaching fire. She went on to say that she and dad were going to start packing up some things because the sky was getting darker and darker.
I was at work, but let me tell you, Thursday, November 8, 2018, not a lot of work got done by most of us that had family and friends in Paradise, California. There were tears, and disbelief as we were trying to find out as much information during the frenzy about those people that we knew lived in Paradise.
My co-workers were calling their family and friends to see if they were heading out of Paradise, and to safety. I keep looking at my phone to see texts of where my family was. Soon, my folks were heading out of their subdivision. I didn't realize that it was just the start of a scary ordeal.
We, in the office, were staring at our cell phones and computers to see what the news was or to hear news from our friends and family to confirm. I got to work at 8am, and at 10:30am, my mom called me on the phone. There was fire on both sides of the road where they were trying to get out.
There was a desperation that I had never heard from my mom. This terror in her voice through the tears hit me to the inner part of my heart. As her daughter, I wished I could have gotten in my car, and gone to get her as she tells of the harrowing drive down a road that was literally hell on earth.
All I could do was say a prayer that God would protect her. I keep saying that she was going to be alright. Yet, all I wanted to do was reach through the phone and be with her.
They made it down to safety, they were lucky. We then awaited word on my aunt and uncle who also live in Paradise. They were stuck in the upper part of Paradise. With the traffic at a standstill, they were told to abandon their cars, and hunker down on a concrete parking lot near a concrete building.
The cell towers were either burned or so many people were using them that they were jammed, and there was a short amount of time we had not heard from them. When we finally heard from them, they were safe. It took a while, but they finally were able to get down the hill.
On Friday, November 9, 2018, around 10:00pm, my folks received photo confirmation that a house that was their home for fourteen years was destroyed by the fire. It is completely gone. Furniture, pictures, dishes, heirlooms, and books, gone in a wind-whipped fire.
If I close my eyes, I see Christmas morning with us around the Christmas Tree in the living room with all the windows or Thanksgiving dinner around a dining table that was my grandmother's or a cool evening out on the deck watching the sunset. We would take family pictures in the woods behind the house.
We would sit in the family room on winter days with the fireplace going and watching a movie, or a ball game. It was a home. My folks had made it a home for all of us. The location was at the end of the street. The quiet place that was my refuge from the crazy world.
The place is gone, but my family is still here. Those memories will always be with us, and the great this is, we get the opportunity to make new memories. There will be laughter, tears, and prayers. There will be joy and fun along with more heartaches. It is life.
It is because of the people in our lives that we have those moments. The memories are not because of a piece of furniture or an article of clothing. The memories are the people that were present during those special moments. We will make plenty more of those.
I hope that each of you takes an extra moment and be thankful for the people in your life. As you go through one day, and then a next day, I hope that you realize how extremely lucky you are to have people in your life that love you, and that you love. Family can be those people that you are blood-related to, but it can also be the people that you bring into your life.
It isn't about the buildings, and the things, it is about the people in our lives. Love each other. Realize that, on this earth, we have one life. It is the people in our lives that make us better. Live your life and Love.
I am not talking about just the romantic love, I am talking about loving your family, and friends, and your neighbor. This love that casts out all fear. Love can rebuild.
On this planet, I only have one life, and I don't want to spend another moment worrying about the things I don't have or complaining about what someone did or said. I want to spend my life, here on earth getting every moment out of it.
Dear Jesus,
You loved us so much that you gave us family and bring people into our lives. I pray that we are always thankful for the people in our lives. I pray that we are Thankful for your amazing love that taught us how to love.
In Jesus Name Amen
Written by Laura Maxson
