the Lord's hand

I debated back and forth about writing this post, but decided to share what happened to my family last week simply to give the Lord the glory!!! My mom and I took the girls to the beach for a few days while Jay stayed here to work. On Wednesday night a storm came through Raleigh and our house was struck by lightening. Jay was thankfully still awake watching the Yankees game and heard it hit. He knew right away that it hit our house because of how loud it was and he felt the house shake. He ran upstairs and saw a glow coming from Claire's room. Her nightlight that had a fabric shade on it was on fire! He pulled it out of the wall and put it out, but still called the Fire Dept. to make sure there was nothing else in the house smoldering. We had several things that were damaged, but the worst of it was in Claire's room. Her hardwood floors burned in a small area and the corner of her room was totally blown out...sheet rock and everything. When my mom woke me up at the beach the next morning when Jay called to tell me about the storm, I could not stop thinking about what would have happened if we had been home....if Claire had been in her room.....I have thought about so many times the past week I can not count them all, but now when I think about it I have a peace from the Lord, not fear. He knew this was going to happen and protected us by us not being there. It is also amazing that Jay was home and was not asleep himself. Our house could have burned down if he was with us at the beach. It is a reminder to me and hopefully to all of you that read this, that the Lord is always in control and He is going to protect us!!! We had to get a new AC unit and a new heating unit and just "moved" back home today. We have been with my parents for the past week and had the best time with them. It was a hard week filled with many emotions, but we got through it as a family and through our dependence on the Lord! Thank you to all of you that prayed for us this week....we felt your prayers! Also important to add, is that we have decided not to tell the girls. They are already so scared of storms, especially since a tornado when through Jay's parents yard in the spring, that we knew it would be better not to tell them. We have told them the truth all week....that our AC was broken in our home. If you see us around them please try not to talk about.....Thanks so much!!!