Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, friend. Welcome to Perspectives into Practice, a place where life's stories meet practical wisdom. Together, we'll explore how faith filled perspectives can transform the way we live, love, and grow.
So grab a seat, settle in, and join us on this journey to turn inspiration into action.
Let's dive in.
Hey friend. Welcome back to Perspectives into Practice. I am so glad that you're here today. This episode is one that hits close to the heart and it reminds us just how present God is, even in the most unexpected, painful moments. Today I'm sitting down with my friend Tiffany. She has walked through something that none of us ever imagined. A house fire that destroyed her brand new home. But what's beautiful about Tiffany is that how she found grace in the middle of that devastation. Her story is raw, it is powerful, it is full of faith. And I know that it is going to encourage you today. Hi, Tiffany. Welcome.
[00:01:10] Speaker B: Hey.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: Hey.
Yeah, so before we dive in, I love to do a fun fact. And our fun fact about Tiffany is that she loves to sing. So of course I have to ask, do you have like a favorite song or genre that you sing or is it just. Just everything?
[00:01:27] Speaker B: No, I just love to sing. Yeah.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: Yeah, that sounds, sounds like people.
[00:01:32] Speaker B: Not, not solo. So don't, don't, don't get gutsy and ask me to sing right now because that's not gonna happen.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: I would never.
I can't remember. I thought were we ever inquired together at.
At New Vision. I can't remember if we were or if we were just in small groups. It's been so long ago.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Did, did New Vision have a consistent choir or was it just special events choir? I don't think I ever did.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: Consistently inconsistent.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: I need to bring that back. I miss choir and I grew up at a church that had choir and I loved it. I wish we could go back to those days.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: I know. It was so, so much fun and I love being part of just all of the voices and you know, music can such a comfort and a joy when we need it. And that's the best thing about worship is that you know it is everything you need when you have nothing else. And it's just so good.
So speaking of powerful emotions, I know that your journey through fire is one that is filled with deep challenges and I would love to talk about that. So can you take us back to that day of the fire? Like what happened and how did you first respond?
[00:02:56] Speaker B: So the Monday after Thanksgiving and this was back in 2015, we were getting the boys ready for school and just kind of a normal Monday back. Back to it after Thanksgiving weekend.
And about.
I think I'd been upstairs and was helping the boys kind of get, you know, their clothes on for school. And I heard a really loud noise, and I didn't recognize what it was. And so I ran downstairs and I saw my husband in the living room. And I said, are you okay?
And, you know, he said, am I okay? And I'm like, yeah, you're okay. I'm just, you know, look at him. Like, what. What just happened?
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: And right after he said that, a huge flame went up behind him, and he felt it. He didn't see it. And he just said, get the kids out of the house. And so I yelled, out of the house.
And they ran down the front stairs, out the front door like it was a drill.
Like, we had practiced it a hundred times and had never practiced it, something like that before, obviously. And I had my robe on. I had my phone in my pocket, thank God. And I called 911 right away.
I think I ran and got the fire extinguisher for my husband and gave that to him. And, you know, I was out. Out on the front, I guess, on the front sidewalk with the boys. And, you know, I was on 911 and. And they said, is everyone out of the house? And said, no, my husband's still in the house. And they said, get him out. So I. I ran in and said, you got to get out of the house.
And within about 10 minutes, there was smoke just pouring out of the gutters at the top of the house. And I knew then I was like, we're going to lose the house. I didn't even understand what happened or what caused it. It was just, I think, you know, I just had the realization, wow, our house is going to burn down.
So our neighbors. I ran over to her, and my. My husband said, you know, take the kids over to the neighbors. And, you know, at that point, it just kind of became a waiting game. Waiting for, you know, the police showed up pretty fast, and they got our cars out of the garage, and they kind of helped us get some really important things out of the house real, you know, quickly.
And.
Yeah, took the. The boys to our neighbor's house, and they kind of distracted them and played with them, and.
But for the next three or four hours, we just watched our house burn down.
The, you know, the firefighters, because we're out in the county, took them a little bit while longer to get there because, you know, they're leaving their jobs and they're going to the fire Station and then coming in, but multiple counties kind of came out to help. And, you know, knowing now what happened was there was a gas leak, and so there was an explosion that happened. And when I think.
Trying to think was that. Oh, yeah, that first sound when I heard that, I didn't realize. So an explosion had gone off in my husband's face, and I didn't. I didn't see it, but it had gone up in his face, and I had singed his. His hair and his eyebrows, and there would. So propane is what we have, and it settles on the floor. And so he had gone to. He had a lighter in his hand, was gonna light a candle, and it was just kind of down on the floor. And so when he lit it, you know, down by his side, he just kind of clicked it. He wasn't lighting a candle on the floor, but he. You know how you get a light and you just kind of get. He clicked it. And so it.
Because of that, there was an explosion. And so knowing what we know now, there.
The odorant in our, you know, gas tank was less than half of what it should have been. And there. So we. We had smelled some things over the weekend, but didn't really.
We investigated it. We looked around the house. We're like. Kind of smells, like funky, but it kind of went in waves. And we're like, maybe, you know, it's that time of the year, too, where you're kind of turning on the heat and.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Kind of back and forth between heat and heat and your air and so kind of funky smell and kind of looked under the house into some things, but it kind of came and went. And so that was the scary part is it didn't cross our minds that it was gas.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: Because it wasn't very strong.
And so.
And also didn't really smell like what we thought it would smell. I honestly thought it smelled like, you know, our cat had brought in a mouse or something. You know, I grew up with cats, and it just kind of smells a little funky. Just didn't smell like what I thought it would smell like.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:51] Speaker B: So.
But, yeah, I mean, that day was very traumatic.
I.
You know, that day also was really crazy for our family because my brother and his wife had their baby that morning. And so my parents are at the hospital with my brother and his wife. And, you know, I call. I didn't even know they were having the baby that day, but I call my dad and, you know, I just told him we're all okay, but our house is on fire. And we're gonna lose the house. And so, you know, it was a joyful day and a devastating day at the same time for our family. And so I think at one point when the boys came back outside and saw what was going on, Brandon, my husband, he just kind of circled us up and he just said, you know, we are okay. God protected us. All of the. These things, all that. That house is all replaceable.
It's gonna be okay. Like, God's gonna take care of us. And, you know, we're gonna. We're gonna rebuild a house probably. And he just. He really kind of rallied our family and put into perspective, hey, we're okay. My God protected us. So.
[00:09:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
And hadn't you just like it? That was a new build, like, on this gorgeous new property. I mean, I remember the pictures and the, like, the. The story to get to that and like a house on a hill. Like, it's just. It had. It was soon after that wasn't.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: Was. It was about five months after we had moved in, we built the house.
Took us about a year to build it. The year before, we had just worked on the plans, so it was, you know, a long time coming on. Yeah, working on it. Before we moved to Murfreesboro, we found this lot, and initially we were going to buy a house, but we found this lot, and so we decided, let's just, you know, rent somewhere for a year or two, rent a house or something, and then we'll. We'll start working on plans and start building. And so, yeah, it was. We were just getting all settled in and had hosted, you know, family, and so it was very, very surprising.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: Yeah, because then you had to start over, man.
So what. What did it feel like to see your new home just suddenly gone? Like, what were those feelings as you stood back and just watched something you couldn't control?
[00:10:22] Speaker B: My husband, and he would say that he felt really helpless because there's nothing you can do to take back what happened and nothing to do to stop it. And so for him, who, you know, type A, you're used to being, you know, in control of your outcomes and what you do and what you work for. Very different being in that scenario where you're like, wow, I'm really not in control of my life. And so that was very eye opening. You know, your. Your life can change in a split second.
And for me, honestly, that day, just because we didn't understand what had happened, I think I was just more in shock. I was just, wow. What just happened? I, you know, also just Very confused. Um, but still. Still felt very loved and taken care of of our friends and our. Our neighbors and our family. They very quickly started taking care of all of our needs. And so my feelings quickly turned to being overwhelmed. And not in a bad way, but overwhelmed in a good way. Very humbled by how much love people were just pouring on us and taking care of us. And it was very.
I cried.
I cried the first two weeks after it happened, just on and off and not really because I was sad because of what we lost. It was. I was so moved by everyone just outpouring their love and just taking care of us. It was really a beautiful thing. It was very sweet.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: Was there any, like, specific moment that stands out during that time?
[00:12:01] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. People. I mean, they took care of our meal calendar for weeks.
They helped us move into the rental house. We ended up having a getaway for our anniversary because this was decim in December. So we had. Our friends just said, y' all just go. Y' all need time away. And, um, just helped move us in that weekend. I mean, there was rental furniture. They packed our pantry. There were people replacing our kids, Bibles, bringing over toys, set up three Christmas trees in our house. So when we came back to the rental, all that was done. I mean, when I. When I say I was overwhelmed, we were blown away by what. What people did for us. I mean, there was. I had friends the day of, like, going to get contacts for me, going to get clothes. Like, I mean, we had. I think, yeah, this is on a Monday. I had a friend who got at the school that we go to. Our boys wear uniforms. They had uniforms already for him that night for the next day so that they could just go to school and, like, not a big deal.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: Semblance of normalcy in the chaos that was your life at that point. Oh, my goodness.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: How long did it take? Oh, sorry. Go ahead.
[00:13:20] Speaker B: I was just gonna say there were a lot of moments that I look back and just, you know, very, very sweet, very kind moments. That was very moving for. To us.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, my goodness. How long did it take for you to get back to.
Okay? We're like, the disaster is over. The chaos is, like, calming down and then to, like, move into, okay, now what do we do next? What did that look like?
[00:13:49] Speaker B: So, you know, each one of the boys handled it a little bit differently. Our middle son, he was.
He had issues more than the other ones are. So at the time, I think our oldest was seven. And then we had four and two. And so two year Old. They just didn't understand why we weren't going back home. Like, they didn't, you know. Okay. And so after we ended up taking them back to the house and walking through it in the, the portions that were safe and just kind of show them, well, this is why we're not coming back home, buddy. Like, this is what this looks like. And kind of showed them their room and you know, it's all ash. And we're like, yeah, this is, you know. And I do remember with Brooks, our 2 year old, you know, we kind of snuck up there. We really shouldn't have been up there, but kind of just peeked into his room and. And he goes, oh, my daddy gonna fix this.
Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna fix this. We're gonna rebuild the house and it's gonna be okay. So our middle child, he. He was scared. He. At night sometimes he would be like, see something flashing or think it was a smoke alarm and be like, I think I hear the, you know, the fire alarm or something. And so he was just a little bit more nervous. Our oldest, you know, I don't know, he internalized.
I. I don't know, he handled it. It seemed like he handled it like a champ. I really don't. I don't know. He's our more introverted one and you know, maybe he'll be in counseling one day. I don't know.
[00:15:14] Speaker A: He'll talk about it later, we'll talk about it later.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: But he probably remembers the most. But I do feel like for. Well, for. For Brandon and I, the, the first couple nights, I don't think we slept, but really I think it was adrenaline. I think I remember thinking, if I don't feel safe in my own home, where am I safe?
It was a very confusing feeling. And even meet at my parents house. I remember thinking my parents have gas firepl.
I just. It kind of shook the foundation under us a little bit of like, huh. I don't know that I feel safe anymore. I don't really know what happened, but I just. It was, it was a. Interesting time. I do think that us not sleeping at the beginning was probably just still adrenaline.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: And just you're. You're reliving what happened in your mind over and over again and how it all went down. And so it was just a.
After. After a few months they ended up demolishing the house. And then they had to come in and take it all away. And so then that, that part was interesting too. It was, it was like, well, this has to happen. And, you know, this death has to happen in order for new life to come, for us to rebuild again. But it was still a weird. A weird day.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, that's just so surreal. But I can hear so many aspects of where God's grace was just so abundant in your lives in that moment. I mean, the fact that, you know, in the very beginning, this explosion happened and Brannon was unscathed except his eyebrows and bangs, that all of you were able to get out safely, that, you know, the. The firefighters were able to get so much of your, you know, special things in your cars and those things out. And then, of course, the community, the. The grace of the community that just surrounded you and gave you everything that you needed. And I'm sure, like. I'm sure you didn't. As you watched that fire, you weren't thinking, oh, no, I don't have contacts, but friends were like, hey, she's got to be able to see, like, things that you don't even realize that you need in those moments. And, like, an anniversary. Like, I'm. I know that you weren't thinking, oh, we're gonna miss our anniversary, you know, but you're. You're. God gave you those.
Those friends and. And family to be able to do that. And I just. I love.
I love that I remember. I mean, I remember so much of this back. What was. You said 2015.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: We've known each other for a long time.
A long time.
So were there any moments that surprised you? Like, were there any, like, quiet nudges from Holy Spirit that got you through this time?
[00:18:14] Speaker B: I don't. I don't know that I. I wouldn't say I really struggled personally after that.
I just. I remember thinking, okay, I don't have that house anymore, and I'm still okay. I'm still fine. I mean, like, my. My happiness doesn't come from that house or my possessions.
I remember thinking, would I feel the same way if I had lost, you know, a family member? You know, obviously would have. It would have been a totally different experience.
I will say something that I definitely learned from this experience was up until this point in my life, I hadn't really thought about suffering or what kind of suffering we would go through.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:05] Speaker B: And I've learned to expect it, and I don't. And I. I tell people, like, you should expect. I mean, the. The scripture says to expect it. I mean, you will have troubles in the. In this world, but.
And I don't say, you know, if you have anxiety. I'm not Saying, hey, dwell on all the things that could go wrong.
Message, that's not the message at all. But also, hey, like, you know, it's going to happen at some point and you don't really get to choose what the Lord brings your way. And just to, to be okay with it, just to be ready for it and, and know that if you have built the proper foundation of, you know, knowing the Lord and being in his Word, and then it's okay. Like the Lord is going to walk through you. Walk through it with you.
[00:19:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:54] Speaker B: And I. The two stories in scripture that I always bring back our story to is Job, and the other one is Joseph. But Job says, shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil in all this? Job did not sin with his lips and he didn't charge God with wrong. And I, you know, if, if you know the story of Job, I'm assuming you do, and your listeners have, have read it, but basically there's this whole conversation that goes down beforehand about what God allows Satan to do to Job and to take from him. And Job is never privy to that conversation.
[00:20:38] Speaker A: No.
[00:20:39] Speaker B: And you know, like, I, I love that this is in the Bible that we know, hey, Satan has to go get permission to bring, you know, this trial. And you know, he just trying to test Job and go, the only reason Job loves you is because you've given him all this wealth and all this, you know, abundance and you've blessed him. And that's really the only reason that he, you know, praises your name and, and, and is faithful to you and shows that obviously that wasn't the only reason because he says, the Lord gave and the Lord is taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. So Job shows, you know, Satan that, well, that wasn't it. But. And then the other story in the Bible, I, my favorite stories is with Joseph and when his brothers, you know, sell him into slavery and he goes to Egypt and the suffering that he experiences because of that and ends up, you know, rising to power and because of this famine and he has, you know, the king, Pharaoh has all, you know, these dreams and he interprets them and ends up, you know, saving that nation and the multiple nations around them. And yeah, in the end, Joseph very clearly knows when his brothers are apologizing to him, him that he says, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. And to me, the two differences in those stories are God made it clear to Joseph Why he went through that suffering. I'm sure, you know, through the years when he was in prison, you know, he. He didn't realize that, obviously. But then when he came to power, like, saw all that, God made it clear to him why all that happened to him.
But with Job, Job never joke. He doesn't get to see behind the scenes. God never reveals it to him. And even when Job kind of asks these questions of God, he's just like, hey, where were you when I made the foundations of the world? I mean, you're not privy to know why these things are happening to you. So those two examples say a lot about suffering and how, you know, we may not know on this. This side of heaven, why. Why we had to suffer, go through certain things. And that's okay.
Just something you trust the Lord in. So those are. Those are the two stories that I really relate to in our story.
[00:23:00] Speaker A: Yeah. And I mean, it's so important to see that not only in our own lives, but in the stories from the Bible and to see that, you know, this whole podcast is about different perspectives and to see that the perspective and asking the Lord.
Hopefully we're getting better at asking in the midst of it. I know it's been a decade that I've been working on making sure to ask the Lord in the midst of the pain, in the midst of the suffering, in the midst of the trials, lord, what am I supposed to learn from this? What are you trying to teach me? What can I take away from this to use for your glory?
You know, that's. That's so important to take that moment to ask that. And when we look back at the stories in the Bible, we get to see that we aren't alone in our suffering. We weren't the first ones that came through this. And while your story might not look like my story, I'm sure that there are so many similarities in that. And to take those, you know, take those with us to use to the next one, and that's. It's. I love those two. Those are great. Job and Joseph. I'm gonna make sure to put those in the podcast notes so that they can go back and just in case they don't know about either one of those stories, because they are very powerful, important stories in the Bible to know about and to see that, you know, issues arise, fires come, trials happen, and we don't always know why. I mean, there was no it doesn't it in Job. His friends are like, oh, this is happening to you because you sin.
God didn't burn your house, like the house didn't burn down because you sinned. Like, that's not what that is. But through that.
Here's a question is, what did you learn from that time that you can apply to other things or for, you know, other people?
[00:25:05] Speaker B: So I, I've often said to people too, I wouldn't trade that situation, I would not trade that suffering because through that I shared in sufferings, the sufferings of Jesus. And our verse that we, we have on our wall, we have a door in the middle of our house. And it. We wanted to tell the story in a certain way without just putting a picture of our house on fire, you know, a testimony to what Philippians 38 says. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for his sake. I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith that I may know him and in the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. But the, the two things that I really resonate with that is that I've counted everything. Loss I've suffered the loss of all things that I may gain Christ and, and that I may share in his sufferings.
I gained a closeness to Christ that I never would have if I hadn't experienced that suffering. And so it's a.
Like a beautiful thing to look back on, even though it was painful to go, huh. Jesus left all of the, you know, the pleasures and the, the joy of heaven and humbled Himself and He left his home. And so I shared in that. Like I've. I've left my home and I, you know, the loss of all the things.
And so I, I think about that and sharing in. In Christ's sufferings and, and that I gained a closeness to Christ that I never would have in sufferings and, and you become more like him through those trials and tribulations, if you, you know, cling to him.
[00:27:12] Speaker A: Absolutely.
Absolutely. So on, on this side of, of the fire you have rebuilt. Yes.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: And is it the same. Did you do the same house?
[00:27:28] Speaker B: Everybody asked that. That is so funny. Yes, it is the exact same house. There's like a few small details that we changed, you know, when it. We. We had just built the house so we. Right that much. But wait, we still like what we did. And so we did the exact same thing and changed like a few minor things in the house that we had to. But yeah, it's the same thing.
[00:27:51] Speaker A: What. So I, I mean, I have to ask, what, what did you change from having the house for five months from what you thought would be the perfect house to. You know what, actually, let's change these things.
[00:28:03] Speaker B: Well, surprisingly, there were some things that had already gone out of. What is it, out of stock or whatever. We had to pick different tiles for laundry rooms and bathrooms and things like that.
And then our cabinets, we chose a different cabinet company because we, we thought we might change that up and do floor to ceiling cabinets. And then our. We have a big picture window in our living room and it was off center a little bit centered.
They had centered it in their room before they put in built ins. And so that was little things that bothered us that nobody would know that we changed. So.
[00:28:40] Speaker A: But the Lord gave you a re. A redo on that. You know what? He cares about the little things. And while it. Sometimes it, I mean, this is, you know, a huge, huge grandiose thing. But, but if you think of it, you know, he really does care about those small things and sometimes he does has to test us through fire to get to the chance that we get to redo it. And he makes everything perfect through him. And I just, I love that for you that you got to. To update the things even though you're like, you know what? Yep, I could live with this. And Lord's like, you know what, this is gonna suck, but I got you.
I got you.
Oh.
So, Tiffany, this has been so amazing. I'm so thankful that you have shared so beautifully and so vulnerably with us.
Your story is a testament to God's faithfulness. But as we wrap up, I always ask this last question is what is one perspective that you would encourage listeners to apply to today?
[00:29:45] Speaker B: I would say what I said earlier to expect suffering, but trust the Lord for when that time comes.
[00:29:53] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. It's so important to prepare. And I feel like, you know, going back to job is he might not have known why or, you know, what, why it was happening, but he expected it because he trusted in the Lord and he knew that God had the best for him. Even in the suck.
Even in the suck. We know that God has got our back and that he is always for us.
And if we just continue to trust him, like you said, that's.
That's it. That is the best thing that we could do.
Oh, man. Friends, if this conversation has blessed you, would you consider sharing it with a friend? Maybe someone who's in the middle of a rebuilding season? Someone that's gone through a loss, whether through a fire or a relationship or whatever it is. Share this with them. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an episode. And remember, even small shifts in perspective lead to big changes. Now go put those perspectives into practice. Talk to you next time.
