I was talking to Rev Phil Willoughby after a service at Gracemor Christian Church (actually I think I was talking to someone else and he happened along, but I can’t recall wo the someone else is) and happened to note that, when I tell people about our fire, they usually say something about how tragic or disastrous it is/was, but whenever I tell about it, though it was a catastrophe, I cannot talk about it without talking about the blessings we saw through it.
Now, that doesn’t mean the fire was good. It wasn’t. Not all things are good. BUT all things CAN work together for good.
Would I willingly go through the fire to receive those blessings? I certainly wouldn’t choose the fire with the intent to get blessings. But whenever there is a fire, or a flood, God is always there with us through it, and turns its course, not to prevent, for He does not interfere in the free will of men, but to show the way to His perfect will.
He does this through blessings. Sometimes natural, sometimes with human agency, but always personally. We need to recognize His person when He does so.
That is why, through the sorrow and complaints of our loss, we can be cheerlful and hopeful as well.
At The Rainbow 