Everything was gone. The whole house had burned down. The only thing they had left was each other. Natalie sat in shock. She couldn’t believe what had just happened to her friend.
Devastated, her friend explained that she and her two boys had been gone, but her husband had been home working when he smelled smoke.
However, by the time he realized it, it was too late. The house was erupting in flames. He and the dog escaped, but everything else they owned was now ashes.
They would later find out that the reason was a malfunction in their HVAC system; one of the leading causes of house fires. While they were thankful everyone survived, it was devastating and something they wouldn't easily recover from.
So, in 2016 when Natalie bought her first house, she felt it imperative to pray protection over her home. As she stood outside praying with her parents, she saw something that made her take notice. “There was a rainbow over my house with a hand on it,” she says.
“I felt like God said, ‘My hand is over your house and My promises are over you.’“
Seven years later, she would know this to be true.
It was an unusually cold week in October; a high of 37 degrees. “It had been cold all week and I would normally turn my heat on, but for some reason I didn’t,” Natalie says.
Several months earlier she’d had a water leak coming through her ceiling. She called a friend for help. Luckily, he was able to fix it, but he mentioned to her that it would be a good idea to have a repairman come out and take a look at her HVAC unit, as it was coming from her air conditioner.
However, since it was no longer leaking, she put it off. But for some reason, that same week that the temperatures began to drop in October, her dad reminded her about the a/c unit and suggested to her that she needed to have someone come out and take a look at it.
So, finally, Natalie took her dad’s advice and had an HVAC repairman come out to take a look at her system. Upon arriving, Natalie instructed him that the unit was located upstairs, and left him alone to do his inspection while she finished what she was doing.
However, she was surprised when he hurried back downstairs so quickly after only being up in her attic for such a short time. “You need a new furnace!” he exclaimed.
“The flames that should be inside your furnace are outside your furnace, and it’s emitting carbon monoxide, which is deadly!”
He then took her upstairs to show her the charred beams in her attic. They had been getting charred from the flames. The repairman explained to her that if she turned on her furnace it was very likely those beams would ignite and catch her house on fire.
(Natalie Johnston)
Immediately, she thought about her friend’s house and the devastation that occurred from their faulty HVAC unit. This easily could have happened to her house.
“What made me not turn on my furnace in that cold weather? What made me call the service guy that week?” Natalie wondered. But then she was reminded of the day she stood outside praying over her house.
My hand is over your house and My promises are over you.
And then she knew why…God’s hand was protecting her home.
- Written by Julie Nicole; Dayton, OH
Comments