Victoria fires ...

Dear Heavenly Father,
My heart is heavy as I read the stories coming from the fires down in Victoria, Australia. I cannot imagine the lost or the horrific moments when the fire was chasing them down. There are many 'Jobs' down there and I wonder how one can go on when a spouse or children are taken and the little space you called home is gone. Cars crashing into each other because they could not see in front of them. Fears of people stuck inside... They are having a hard time identifying the bodies because the heat was 1200*c. If the person was out in the open there would be charred remains but stuck inside a car, there would be nothing but ash. Ash is ash.

There are happy surprises like people running to the dams or coolers that came out unharmed. Then the animals like the koala wanting water to cool down or to drink. There is Old Man Roo who was a kangaroo would was a friendly sort that the land owner thought would have perished but when she came back she was surprised to see him there.

I pray that these 'Jobs' will follow the Job of old. May they not curse You. May they find comfort in You alone. I pray for showers of blessing to fall. I pray for the believers there that they will not let the horror engulf their minds but they will renew their minds.. Ps 143:5-6 ''I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your Works; I muse on the Works of Your Hands. I spread out my hands to You; my soul longs for You like a thirsty land.'' You alone can hold our anxieties. You alone know how precious our tears are for You have weighed them and have written them down in Your tear book. You do not waste our sorrow nor our pain.

I often wonder if I have what it takes and when these harrowing times press in, all I can do is go to the Word. I want that crown of Joy and I think to get that crown it must start here on earth. Can I find Joy like in Isaiah 35? ''The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus , it will burst into bloom...''

I lift up Australia and like in the movie Australia, you cannot possess land nor people, all you have is your story. May their story have You in it because without You, they truly have nothing. May they store up treasure in Heaven where no fire can get to... That is a great hope to have your young believe in the One True God. Because when they are taken, they are treasure stored up in Heaven. The lineage or legacy that you leave behind you here on earth isn't going to matter when earth passes away....

Thank You for holding us close when we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of death... You put a tear in our eye to put a rainbow in our heart...
always your child