We had such a wonderful miracle of answered prayer the other day that I just had to share it this Memorial Box Monday. I love these God-sized stories of His complete faithfulness – and how He surprises us with very, very, good things – when we least expect it!!

If you are new to A Place Called Simplicity and have never heard of a Memorial Box, it is explained here.

Also, some time ago I thought it would be fun to have a Memorial Box giveaway so someone out there in bloggy land could start their own Memorial Box. The hunt has been much harder than I would have guessed, so I suppose that just means that it will be that much more special when I happen upon it!! Join the giveaway by just leaving a comment mentioning that you would like to be included.

Back to this fun surprise from the Lord….Since the fire we have slowly parted with most of everything we owned because it was either charred or so smoke damaged it was unable to be kept. It is a painful process. It is one thing to give away or sell most of your things (since this is your choice) but it is something entirely different to not have a choice in the matter and have it taken away……downright gut-wretching and not-so-fun.

Anyway, about 10 days ago we went to our little log home to watch it be demolished. As I walked around inside the house having one last look, I prayed, “Lord, please help us to find anything that is important to us that we would want, that we just haven’t been able to find yet.”
When I was praying that, unbeknownst to me, the Lord had two sweet surprises in store for us that day….how fun is that?

Shortly after the fire a friend had (with the permission of the Electrical company) hooked up a temporary box to supply some electricity to us. We had a couple of lights that we would move about to help us see in the dark, smoked and soot ruined rooms. But this morning the lights were all gone. I walked carefully through the house. I kept praying as I walked. “Lord, please help me to find anything important if we are forgetting it or haven’t seen it.”

We had been in the house so much it was hard to imagine that in the now empty log home there was anything overlooked, but I was kind of troubled at the thought that maybe we would be leaving something behind. I also tried hard to remember, “Had I hidden anything in the house?”

While I’m telling this story I also wonder: Are we the only ones who check a hotel room several times before finally walking away?

Eventually it was time to head outside for the last time. It was very emotional. Then we moved with friends to the side of the house to watch. Very slowly Martin began his work. He had told us he would start at the right side taking the section that was the kitchen/great room first. As he worked his way across the house destroying the bedooms and bathrooms, he eventually reached the garage.

I was taking picture upon picture, snapping away. All of a sudden as the wall and roof of the garage came down I spotted on the wall the “Pepsi” sign. Dw is a Pepsi guy and this was a sign I had given him many years ago as a Father’s Day present. Now, it’s not that that sign was the end all of our existance, but it was something that we had missed, something I had given him, something he had had for many years and something that could still hang in the next garage reminding him of previous times. It wouldn’t matter if it was smoke damaged, we could keep it!!

I yelled to no one in particular, “Hey! Stop! We want that sign! It’s Whitey’s…..” Dw, who was on the other side of the yard saw it at the same moment. There was a friend of Martin’s standing with Dw, and Dw said, “Hey, STOP! We want that!” The man standing next to Dw whistled the loudest whistle that could be easily heard over top of the dozer. Martin turned instantly and shut it off. It all happened in a matter of just a few seconds. Dw pointed to the sign and ran with the man toward the pile of rubble. Martin had not seen the sign from his dozer.

Carefully and slowly Dw and the man climbed over top of the pile that was once our log home. It took them a bit, but before long they reached it. Just as Dw went to reach for the Pepsi sign his arm bumped something below it. If you carefully look in the picture above you will see a piece of wood, colored differently from the log wall. That is what fell. As it fell I screamed!

Oh my gracious! It was the “straight edge” Dw’s dad, Vernon, had made many, many years before. Dw’s dad was a carpenter in his spare time while not teaching high school math and built many things (including a cottage) over the years. Dw had been the youngest son, and was his dad’s number one help. Some of his favoritest memories from his growing up years were the hours and hours and hours he spent building things alongside his precious dad. The straight edge had been used to build all the time. Dw’s dad would say, “Son, run and grab the straight edge..”

It was a miracle! The garage had been so dark (with no lights), except for the hole the firefighters had cut through the door on the day of the fire we had never, ever seen the straight edge or that Pepsi sign.

We rejoiced that our Miracle-working, Mountain-moving, Awe-inspiring, Gasp-giving God had allowed such a bright colored sign to hang over top of the treasured straight edge that his dad had made, thus making it easy to spot in the demolition……and on the back of the straight edge his dad had written many years ago: “V.L. Saunders & Sons”….such a treasured gift from his now deceased daddy! Such a miracle and such an answer to my prayer earlier that day!! Yippee Jesus!! PS I kind of think that that straight edge will hang in our next family room one day, as it won’t fit in the Memorial Box! =)

Next week Part 2