An Update...Prayer Request...And Photographs

Dear friends...

I had hoped to write an update a few days ago but alas!  Life has been absolutely exhausting these past two weeks that I have simply not had a chance to stop in for an update...

 

Thank you for your continued prayers and concern for our family...  We are so grateful for the love that is pouring in from all over the world and praise the Lord for brothers and sisters in the Lord who are rallying around our family through this very difficult time...

 

I have written a brief about below, but I would also like to show you some photographs of our house which burnt down on Wednesday the 7th of June...photographs make everything seem more real...  It is so very sad to see the destruction and I take no pleasure in sharing them...but I wanted to show you a glimpse of the home we loved so well! 

 

And now we trust the Lord to show us the next step in our journey and anticipate being able to share the many incredibly stories of the Lord's goodness and mercy!  What a wonderful King we serve... 

 

~

These were taken by my uncle last week.  I have not been back to the farm since that Wednesday morning we evacuated, as I think it would truly break my heart to see the ruin in person...  Sometime I hope to go back, but for the time being I am focusing on the present and surrendering every tear to the Lord who loves to comfort His children...

 

This is all that remains of our beautiful piano...this piano had such a special story...it belonged to a lady who came over to South Africa from England as a baby.  Her father whom she never met, died in the First World War and her mother, a concert pianist, decided to start a new life here.  The piano was a German make and over a 100 years old!  We were blessed to meet this dear lady a month or so before she passed away (also a concert pianist)...  Whenever Nancy played, we thought of the stories it could tell and the beauty that those keys created! 

My father reckons that the build up of heat in the house probably caused it to explode.  Thus, nothing much remains and one cannot even recognize anything!  The doorway on the left hand side was where our dining/living room was.

 

 This was the back of the house, looking out onto the fields.  I wrote ever so many blog posts from the window with the bush in front of it... 

 

 Part of the vegetable garden...this was where we grew our sweet potatoes...

Looking into what was once the school room.  I can't believe how unrecognizable everything is!

 

And now I have a very specific prayer request, dear friends...

We are urgently needing a new long-term rental home...one that is suitable for our large family and that accepts pets.  We need a decent sized garden as our little ones are used to living on a farm and having plenty of open space...  May I ask you to bring this request before the Father?  Houses to rent in this area are scarce, especially now when so many people misplaced by the fire are seeking new homes.

We are currently in a holiday home which belongs to a lady in our church.  She has graciously given it to us to use till the 10th of July...  After that, we are trusting the Lord for provision and learning to wait on Him even though it is quite frightening. 

 

It is so strange to think we have no home to go to and that we have to literally begin again...but the Lord is faithful, and He has moved on the hearts of many and we are being showered with the blessings of furniture...second-hand clothing...bedding, etc.  He is so good to us...

 

Can I also ask you to pray for my dear mother who is taking a lot of strain and is so very tired...

She also strained her neck and is having to see a physiotherapist and take time to rest which is not so easy at the moment...  

 

Thank you for your love and support, dear friends! 

I am overwhelmed by the many beautiful comments and emails I have received! 

You are all so dear to me...

 

I will stop in again soon...

 

With love in Christ!

Kelly-Anen

Another Update...With Joy in My Heart!

Hello dear friends...

I write to you today with joy in my heart.

The Lord allowed us to return to Sedgefield yesterday (Sunday) afternoon after spending the night at a friend's home in George. 

This lady was out of town and couldn't get home due to the fires, so she graciously offered up her home to our family for the night.

This was the most wonderful blessing for us... 

We could rest for a few hours in peace and those who needed to could do so...

How merciful the Lord was to us, I am so deeply grateful.

 

Some in our community thought us very extreme (and perhaps panicked) in leaving Sedgefield with all our belongings and animals early Saturday morning, but we have subsequently heard from many other knowledgeable people that in actual fact, the situation could have gone either way...

 

Praise be the Lord, Sedgefield was spared and operations to help those who are misplaced continue in full force!  There are thousands of people who are homeless right now, but the community have come together and indeed, the whole country, to house those in need and see to providing for their immediate needs. 

 

I am in awe at the kindness, generosity and concern of people and how they have come to the rescue of our hurting, needy area.

 

And we are safe, dear friends...

I cannot begin to thank you enough for your prayers.  I feel so terrible that I could not update you yesterday, but I could only get an internet connection this evening.  Mom and I are sitting at an internet café having a cup of coffee and feeling very humbled at the Lord's mercy and grace towards us.

 

As we receive new information each day, we are more humbled at how merciful the Lord was towards us in keeping us free from harm that Wednesday morning.  More and more we realise how incredibly fortunate we were to evacuate and that the fire did not flare up during the night whilst we were sleeping. 

So much could have happened, and yet, God in His mercy spared us and has truly opened the flood gates of Heaven and showered us with so many blessings. 

 

I greatly anticipate being able to share these precious stories of His grace and goodness with you in time.  What a wonderful Father we have...so rich in love towards His children!

 

Dear friends, we are so well provided for...  We have lacked nothing and gifts continue to flow in in abundance.  We are humbled.  So many are having to sleep in new places each night or being housed along with hundreds of other people in tents...  And yet we have a house and a bed for each member of our family.  This is such a blessing for our family with so many little ones...

 

The Lord has used many people...our church...our close friends...even those we have not spoken to in years to help our family!  How great is our God?

 

Thus, even in the midst of such tragedy, the Lord receives the glory.  Despite the horror of the past couple days, the Lord has given us joy and peace.  And He has given us prayer warriors...each of you are so very precious and I thank you for the way you come to our aid and pleaded with the Lord for mercy.

 

The fires are under control...sense is being made of the absolute mayhem of the past few days. 

But hearts are still hurting and to be honest, we have not even had a chance to deal with the grief of loss.  Our little ones do not know the terrible news that their little friend is now resting with the Father...  Would you pray the Lord would prepare their hearts and give my parents the right words to speak to them? 

 

I hope to stop in tomorrow to write a more detailed update, but for now I just want to say how amazed I am at the love that has come pouring in from this wonderful community of bloggers! 

I am anticipating the day I can write to each of you personally...it will be such a joy to do that! 

I know you have been so concerned...

 

To God be the glory forever and ever...  He is rich in mercy and His love never fails.  My heart is overflowing with thankfulness....  He is building a beautiful testimony through our family...and how many others will have a similar story to share of God's grace?  I pray many will come to know the love of our Father through our testimony! 

 

We are in our current house till July 10th.  After that, we have no idea what the Lord will do!  We are trusting Him to open a door for a house to lease in town.  Houses are more than scarce, so we are asking the Lord for a miracle!  He has provided thus far, so I know we can trust that He holds tomorrow and has our lives in the palm of His mighty hand!

 

With ever so much love and joy and gratitude,

Kelly-Anne

Update

Dearest friends...

Oh my...where do I begin...I am so overwhelmed by the kindness, love, prayers and concern our family have received during this tragic time in our lives.

 

I never thought I would be a part of such a horrific national disaster...

I am not sure if any of you have been able to follow the news reports, but our house was the one of the first to burn, along with hundreds and hundreds of others in the Eden district.

 

We lived on a farm about 11km outside Sedgefield and the fire started in the valley just beyond us, but within hours, it spread and consumed ever so many homes, travelling so far so fast.

 

And it did not stop there...early Wednesday morning (the same morning we evacuated our home), our neighbours and friends could not make it out of their farm in time and lost their lives.  Oh, how my heart is breaking, dear friends...  We babysat that little boy...knew him from the time he was two weeks old and he would have been three years old today.  The grief is too much to bear on our own...the Lord is our comfort.

 

It has been so horrendous I cannot begin to describe it...

There is heartbreak and loss everywhere...the seaside town of Knysna is a mess...other areas are disaster zones too.  And yet, the tiny town of Sedgefield has been spared...everyone is on standby. People in need are being assisted from Sedgefield (so many have come to the aid of fire victims, sending food parcels, clothing, blankets, etc.)  So far, it has not been touched but there are fires nearby.

 

But...the fires still burn and I ask you to pray for RAIN and for the terrible wind to die down.

We left our house of safety early this morning...after our last experience, we don't want to take any chances and would rather be overly cautious... 

 

We have had another exhausting day...we have not been able to sleep properly and we have had people in and out dropping supplies and clothing off since Wednesday afternoon.  People are so kind and generous.   Messages and phone calls have been coming in all the time and my mom has not been in a place to answer any of them so I have undertaken to keep family and friends updated...

 

We are not safe...not at this stage.  Although fires are under control, the wind prevents helicopters from water bombing the fires.  Firefighters from all over the country have come to fight...they are heroes.

 

I am completely overwhelmed by this tragedy...and absolutely exhausted.

We have been living out of our cars today and are now in the town of George so we can get further away from the fires and also connect to the internet to update others overseas.

 

We are packed into two cars...our dogs, guinea pigs, bird and cat as well as all the children.

We were packed and ready last night to cut down on stress...  The little ones have been tremendous, although little Caleb has been very difficult to manage due to the stress, change of scenery and people stopping by...

 

Please pray for our country and for the safety of the people...please pray that the Lord would send rain and calm the wind.  I am reminded of the storm that Jesus calmed in Matthew chapter 8. 

 

"Then he got up, gave an order to the wind and the sea, and the sea became very calm..."

 

We cling to Him and put our trust in Him.

He is our source of hope and comfort, our God in whom we trust.

 

Through it all, the Lord continues to provide for all our needs and fill us with His joy and strength. 

It has been incredible to see.  People who have come by have asked why we are still smiling and truly, all we can say is the Lord is good and faithful.  He protected us and made a way for us.  He has supplied our every need.  We are not going without, even though we are under such strain.

 

There is so much more I would like to write...but right now I can do no more.

I know you are all praying and truly, we can sense the hand of the Lord upon us.

He gives us just enough for each moment.

His grace is sufficient.

 

I hope to stop in again soon, dear friends...I know you have all been worried and concerned. 

 

Love and joy to you in the Lord!

Kelly-Anne



Grave News...

Dearest friends...

I have very gave news to share with you this morning...

I come to you asking for prayer for our family and for other families in our area...

This morning we evacuated our house and now are blessed to be sitting safely at a dear friend's house in town - our home burnt down a couple hours ago and we lost everything in the fire.

I woke up at 6am to the smell of smoke and a little sister crawling into bed with me as she was frightened by the terrible wind raging around our house.  You see, there was a storm last night...a terrible wind and a farm over the way caught alight.
 

Very soon, it was spreading from farm to farm, coming right our way.  At first we honestly didn't think we would actually have to leave...thus, we slowly gathered some of our most treasured possessions such as photographs and our computers and the sewing machines and put them into the car.  But literally 20 minutes later, we were frantically rushing about putting everything in the cars, loading everyone up and driving out.  The fire spread so rapidly, I cannot begin to actually describe how bizarre it was!  And the wind...it was horrendous and the smoke was so thick.

Our neighbour's driveway caught alight...and suddenly we knew had to get out and fast!  Praise the Lord, we could leave with our animals and a couple bags of items.  We did not think we would come back to no house.  We just assumed it would be there...  My dad dropped us off at our dear friend in town and went back home...but when he opened the door, a tremendous wave of heat hit him and he saw the inside of the house was black.

When he arrived here and told us the news...it was devastating.  Our home is gone.  Everything lost...everything.

Praise the Lord, our family is safe and our animals are with us.

In His graciousness, He moved on the heart of a kind lady at church who offered for us to stay in her holiday house for the time being free of charge.  We are blown away by her generosity...

Dear friends, this is a very painful time for our family...we are in absolute shock and disbelief, but there are many others suffering too...many other homes have been lost and the fire continues to spread.  And our country is in major drought...without water, fighting fire is virtually impossible!

Please, please pray for the Lord to send rain we so desperately need...to protect those fighting the fires...to provide for those without and to give us strength for what lies ahead.

I hope to give you an update soon, dear friends...  I am unable to write to each of you individually at this stage, but I hope to soon...  For now we can do nothing but cry unto the Lord and lean on Him. 

With love in Christ,

Kelly-Anne

"Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

~ Deuteronomy 31:6 

Keeping our...Eternal Perspectives

I will confess that many days I allow my emotions to dictate my attitude towards how I view life...

I don't always feel like smiling or seeing the bright side to a situation which is beyond my control, and many times I simply don't want to give a cheerful answer or sing praises to my Lord.

My struggle is against allowing allowing the roots of bitterness (Heb 12:15), anger, sorrow or disillusionment in my heart to well up and spill over, becoming manifested in my countenance and words.

In our lives, we need to realise that we will face challenges of many kinds (James 1:2-3)....  We are not promised a life of ease or comfort, but rather of trading our selfish motives and desires to physically pick up our cross and follow the Lord Jesus (Luke 9:23).

But in the midst of difficulty, pain or trial, we need to maintain an Eternal perspective and embrace what the Lord is teaching us and lean more on Him... Our fight is not against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12)...  And this is just our temporary home...

We need not go about our lives with an air of martyrdom either, but with a joyful, thankful spirit (1 Peter 1:8-9).  God loves a cheerful giver...

Perhaps like me you are more inclined to give in to self-pity and look for someone to commiserate with or pull down...  Misery loves company, as the saying goes.  The One we should turn to is ever near and gives the wisest counsel and strengthens our soul...

I am realising that in difficult times...lean times...times of sorrow and pain, there is nothing we can do but rely on the Lord for our strength and provision, both physically and spiritually.  

What else can we do but rest in the arms of our loving Saviour...? (Jer 6:16)

Too often I fight the wrong way...my heart rebels and I refuse to do my fighting in prayer...

I can wrestle and shed enough tears to fill an ocean, but this will not uplift nor move me to the final destination any faster...it will only discourage, demotivate and tire me out and not to mention, bring others around me down in the process.

I write to encourage you today, dear friend, as I write to encourage and challenge myself.
Go to Jesus and give all your troubles to the One who cares.  It is painful at first to hand over your concerns and worries, but once those tiresome burdens have left your shoulders, you will be light and free! (Mat 11:29-30)

I am learning...I am a work in progress and thankful that Jesus loves me even when I pull away from His loving embrace.

He sees the trouble in the deepest part of our hearts and longs to give us peace and hope (Jer 29:11).

We will still have to walk through whatever it is we are facing, but we won't have to walk alone.  

We can take His hand, let Him whisper words of truth and comfort to us...
May we be ever mindful that He is refining us like silver (Zec 13:9) and that His work in us has yet to be completed (Phil 1:6)...

Let us daily turn our eyes upon Jesus and take everything to the Lord in prayer...

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

~ 2 Timothy 4:7-8, KJV

~

  This post may be shared with...

~ The Art of Homemaking Mondays, Wise Woman Link-Up, Raising Homemakers Link-Up, and Modest Monday,