My husband and I moved to Las Vegas over a year ago from Redding California. I joke a lot about California being a Texas girl but this past week was no laughing matter.
We love Redding and most importantly a whole lot of people that live there. Last week, a broken down car started a wildfire that has been devastating beyond measure. I anxiously paced through my house trying to access all types of online news sources to have a better understanding of what was going on in our former home. I spent many hours on the phone feverishly texting and calling people that are near and dear to my heart to make sure that they were not in harms way.
Thursday night was the worst. The fire was so close to my former hospital that I feared for all of those that I worked with for years and the patients. Neighborhoods were engulfed and people were fleeing for their lives when a fire tornado formed and plowed through the western and densely populated side of town. Rolling evacuations had people evacuating not once but sometimes up to three times. The stress was palpable even from 500 miles away.
Many peoples lives were changed forever.
Tragedy, despair, hopelessness, and helplessness were the themes of the days of that very long weekend. But resiliency prevails. Hope wins. Love conquers. Now I see the posts and the newscasts and more and more there are stories of hope, stories of kindness, stories of giving, and stories of love. It really makes you proud of the human race. And the fire rages on…but it is losing it’s power…and that’s because of the people and the love.
See they don’t call it a trial by fire for nothing. It’s a test in which each person and in this case the whole community is exposed to flames in order to assess their commitment, their courage, and their ability to perform under pressure. This community has passed the test that Mother Nature so rudely subjected them to. This community is rising from the ashes, bonding together in the most beautiful way. I’m so proud of this community and all of the people fighting for it.
Henry Ward Beecher once said, “We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.”
God Bless Redding.