Thursday night I awoke around 1:30 a.m. I couldn't go back to sleep. I began to pray because usually when I can't sleep, it's because God wants me to pray. I started to pray, but just couldn't go back to sleep. I tossed and turned. Afraid that I would awaken my husband, I finally got up and moved to the den at the other end of the house.
I curled up on the sofa, wrapped up with a blanket, said a few prayers and eventually fell sound asleep. Sometime around 3:30 a.m., I was startled awake by a very loud pop. It sounded like a car had hit something outside. I started to get up and investigate, but just didn't want to get up from my cozy nest. As I settled back to return to my slumber, I heard two more loud pops.
Now I was wide awake. I ventured into the kitchen and headed to the laundryroom where I thought the sound had come from. I thought that maybe the cat had gotten caught behind one of the appliances in the laundryroom and was kicking up a fuss. However, as I entered the laundryroom, I heard some smaller pops and sizzles.
I yelled for my husband that we had a fire. By now there was electrical smoke pouring out of the back of the chest-style freezer. Vic quickly started unplugging everything in the laundryroom and finally the sizzling and popping stopped.
He went back to bed and I stayed up with the fans all blowing with the front and back doors wide open. There was no going back to sleep for me. We, fortunately, had been saved from certain disaster.
I've been giving thanks to God the last two days. People may argue with me, but I feel certain God was watching over us. I very seldom sleep on the sofa. If I hadn't moved to the den, I feel certain that I would not have heard the pop. The smoke alarms did not go off. I don't know if they would have eventually sounded, but it wouldn't have been time to unplug anything. Our lungs were filled with the toxic fumes in just a few minutes. There's no telling how much toxic smoke would have filled the house until a fire actually broke out.
Today, I bought new smoke detectors for our house and both of our children's homes. I also purchased carbon monoxide detectors. I thank God that we were spared. Let this be a reminder to check or replace your smoke detectors. And, do it TODAY!
The Praying Girl
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