When Everything Goes Wrong

I was going through a divorce and had just moved with my daughters into an old but affordable home.

I prayed daily, wondering how I would manage alone. Then the furnace stopped running just as the temperature plummeted. It was unusually cold for Phoenix and the house was freezing.

I called the utility company and uncovered an unbelievable string of errors. First, I learned my account had never been closed because the gas bill had not been paid. But I had never gotten the statement because it had been sent to the wrong address. Then when the company tried calling me, my answering machine (which I didn't know was broken) didn't record the messages!

There was a strict policy that a canceled account would not be reinstated without first doing a check of the entire heating system. So, after all the upheaval and financial stress we had been through, I had to pack up my kids and go to a hotel for a couple of days until workmen inspected my furnace.

I fumed--until the day the workers came. "Lady," one of the workmen said after the inspection, "you and your family are lucky to be alive. We discovered a hole in the heat exchanger that would have leaked carbon monoxide directly into your home. Thank God your furnace didn't go on."