Beyond The Ceiling

From time to time I like to invite guest writers to tell their stories of how they have found God to be good and completely trustworthy in their lives. He courses through our lives in ways we would never think possible, always pointing us upward as we learn to trust Him in the trials and circumstances of our lives. I invite you to read Faith's story of how she experienced the goodness and FAITH-fulness of God in a most unusual circumstance.

Meet My Friend Faith:

It all began as a relaxing evening. My husband, Greg, and I were returning home from taking our daughter’s car to be repaired. Laughing and exchanging funny stories together, we pulled in the driveway. When we walked into our house we noticed some fuzzy material in the hallway. I followed the trail down the hall, all the while muttering, “What did that cat do now?!?!” “This isn’t the cat,” my husband’s shaky voice replied. We stared in disbelief. What had been a cozy, freshly painted and newly carpeted family room 30 minutes before was now a war zone buried in drywall and insulation. The ceiling to our family room had collapsed, leaving in its wake a restoration invoice of thousands of dollars….not covered by insurance. 

I would love to say I immediately turned to the Lord in thankfulness, but those biblical thoughts were not yet coursing through my conscious. In that moment, I could not let go of the ruin caused by cascading mountains of fiberglass that ravaged the sacred place where our family and friends had played games, watched movies and ate Chinese food on Friday nights.  Then, the horror sunk in of “what could have been.” Had we been home and not taken our daughter’s car to be repaired, one or both of us would have been buried in the rubble that was once our soft and cushy couch.

There are no coincidences in God’s timing. His loving hand of mercy and protection was as evident as the gaping hole in our ceiling. Through the blur of tears I gazed over the grey and dusty piles at the framed Bible verse, which has hung above our fireplace for many years. It had survived this travesty - totally untouched and still in its place, as unwavering as its biblical reminder. Jeremiah 29:11, the virtual anchor we chose together for our wedding verse. “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord…plans to give you a future and a hope.”  

In the following days as we faced clean up and plans of restoration, I was constantly reminded that all that was lost were just things.  They were either replaceable or not even necessary.  Above all, God taught me that there is no ceiling…no limit…no end to His mercy and protection.