Our interview this month is my friend Karen Finley. Karen and I met a couple years back at one of our Fun and Frolic weekends with my precious friend and mentor Ann Platz. Karen has a beautiful story. She grew up the child of an evangelist and school teacher. She had wonderful success in the corporate world, and spent the last seventeen years working in conflict resolution for Bell south. She also has spent the last thirty years as a member of Mt. Paran Church in Atlanta, where she works with the Women’s Mentoring Program.
Karen, last week you shared with us the story of your fire and that day. What did you do in the days to follow?
My neighbor Peggy moved me upstairs with her where I spent the first week with her and her kitties. The cats saved all three of our condos. That week I had to be up and down the stairs meeting with insurance companies. I found out that our condo insurance company had to build me back as I was before the fire. That was a huge favor of the Lord. I only had $20,000 of insurance for the structure and that was not even a start.
In that early season I could not sleep. I was so scared, shaking like a leaf and all I could ask was why? Why Lord? Why me? With this fire, I almost went back to that emotional place I was following my divorce. But I cried out to the Lord and said I would not repeat that again. I have had 20 years of Bible studies and scriptures and as God as my witness I will never do that again…Scarlett O’Hara.
And finally I heard Him say…”Why not you? You are not exempt, my dear. You are my child and I will take you through all the fires in your life.”
How did you see God love you in your details?
ServPro came the morning after the fire and took everything out of the condo but the fabric. I have never seen so many boxes. A huge moving van came and left that afternoon with furniture and items that were in the condo. As James was handling the ServPro project, ask if there was anything he could do. I looked at the picture of my father that was chard and burned and started crying. The one thing I wanted in the estate of my parents was the picture of my father and Fido. Daddy was 10 years old. The glass rim was so black and I turned it over and cardboard was on the picture. James took a solution and put it on a cloth and wiped off the glass and the picture was there. Another favor of God. Then I really started to cry.
“Lord you are restoring what I love and have even protected some of these things.” Individual pictures of me and my brother were hanging on the wall. James wiped those and they looked as good as new too. This was a huge start for God working all things together for my good.
People in the neighborhood started washing clothes for me. They took up a collection for me at Mt Paran. I am going to have a Mt Paran sofa in my solarium for people from church to sit on and see beauty coming form the ashes. Lots of people took me to lunch at the OK Café to get me through this trauma.