Beauty shines through Pain

The fire. It started on Saturday and quickly consumed thousands of acres. It quickly consumed my heart. I can hardly eat, breathe, or sleep without the thought of it looming over my head. Food doesn't settle. The air is tainted with smoke. My dreams are filled with flames. I haven't accomplished anything in the last few days. I feel like a deer in headlights; too transfixed by the danger coming my way to move.

Yesterday afternoon I stood looking out a window watching the flames slowly consume Queen's Canyon. What started as a single flame at the top of the ridge consumed the entire hillside within 10 minutes. Later my dad called and said that the flames had jumped across the scar, further down the mountain.

Yesterday evening came the news that for the first since Saturday, houses had been ignited. I sat and watched the footage of houses turned bonfires and felt my heart sink.

Yesterday night about 30 of us went up to the top of a hill to watch the fire. In the dark the flames seem a great deal scarier. I stood there feeling helpless, desperate, and fearful.

 However, despite all the pain, there is beautiful joy and peace. We stood there at the top of the hill, looking over the fire and prayed. Prayed for rain. For a miracle. For the firefighters and their families. For the evacuees. For the leaders of our city. Most of all, we prayed that God would make beautiful things out of this pain and that He would receive all the glory

As I stood and watched the flames consume my city, my pain was eased by the knowledge that I serve a good God. A great God. A big God. A HUGE God. An all powerful God. An indescribable God. A God with a plan. A God that could put this fire out in an instant. A God who can do so much more than I could ever ask or imagine. I am thankful that this trial had not made me doubt or question my great God, but instead had provided me with an opportunity to trust in His great power.

This last picture shows the sun shining through the smoke that consumed our city yesterday. I love the symbolism of this image. It represents the fact that there are good things in the midst of the bad. It proves that beauty shines through the pain.