Flashback

It's been raining like the dickens here for a couple of days. Last night we sat on the sofa and heard a couple of rescue vehicles roar down the road and turn into what seemed like either our neighborhood or one very close by. We opened our front door to investigate and the smell of smoke filled the doorway from the outside air. It brought back so many memories since it smelled exactly like our house did after the fire three years ago. We sat back down and started chatting about it when I realized that JT was really struggling. Within minutes he was in tears and shaking on the sofa. He was so concerned about the fire that he asked his dad to go out and investigate but couldn't bring himself to go along. He was worried about the people in the fire, he was worried about the house, he was just one big ball of worry. I encouraged him to pray for the people who had been affected by it since he could understand all the emotions they might be feeling. He snuggled with me on the sofa until Tad returned with the report that the fire was across the main road from our development, looked like it had started in a garage and also looked like it had been reduced to smoldering fairly quickly.

I asked JT if knowing made him feel better and he said, "yeah". I asked if he'd been praying for them and he said "Yes." That was a touching moment. He's been struggling so much with his faith lately that to see him go to Jesus when he is feeling most vulnerable and frightened was very encouraging. It's also helpful that our new Orthodox faith provides us with such a simple way to cover all the bases when we just need to cry out to God in our own weakness and inadequacy - "Lord have mercy" speaks volumes to the soul.