A Time To Build Up

The last of August, a year ago, there was a wildfire.  One among many across Texas that devoured trees, brush and homes last summer. That August 31 we were in the neurologist’s office where my Beloved Husband was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis.  Our friend Cece was watching her homes burn.  Both of them.

The trailer they were living in and the new home they were building were in direct line. She smelled smoke, then walked to the door to find her husband yelling to get out, there wasn’t time to do anything else.

No time to fill the car with photographs, heirlooms, memorabilia. Nothing but their dogs, their car, the clothes they had on and their lives were saved.  I wrote about it the next day. Today I write about more.

Prayers were given in thanks that they were not injured and prayers for God’s help in returning their lives to a sense of normalcy. Oh, let me tell you how well God answered those prayers!!!

Thursday night, just over nine months later, friends and family gathered at their new home to see those prayers fulfilled in so many ways.  First and foremost is a lovely home, completed by a contractor who volunteered much of his time using many funds donated through love. A ten-foot porch all around the house held friends, family, food and fellowship as we celebrated their joy.

So many of the gifts reflected faith – a cross here, a scripture there, so many of them! A poem written and read that brought tears to our eyes, and a scripture that ran through my mind:

… a time to build up; (Ecclesiastes 3:3b KJV)

Truly,

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: (Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV)

Last August and the first few days in September, it was:

A time to weep … (Ecclesiastes 3:4a)

But tonight it was:

… a time to laugh  (Ecclesiastes 3:4b KJV)

While this is true:

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 KJV)

Lifted here for your consideration is the congregation of a church, much more than two. When one falls on difficult times, they are not alone. There are many in their family within Christ to help them up.  Tonight was a celebration of just such a time, and it was wonderful to see God’s spirit at work in his people.

May you never need such support, but I pray that you find such a congregation, filled with the Holy Spirit that reminds us consistently of the love that begins with God. I pray that you are in that congregation now, experiencing God’s love and support.