--There Are No Coincidences With Our Lord~~
--He is Always in Control. We must trust Him at all times. ~~
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----MYSTERIOUS WAYS~~

--THE CASSEROLE was in the oven. Our five young children were running around the kitchen. They had been cooped up in the house all day. All of us were tired and bored. My husband, Eric, knew I needed a break.

--"Mom called a little earlier and said her washing machine quit working," Eric said. His mother lived not very far from us. "I'm going to go over and take a look at it. The kids can come along with me. How long before dinner?"

-"Maybe an hour," I said.
Before he and the kids had their coats on, I was already upstairs, crawling into bed. I set the timer on and reached for a new book I'd bought. I'd been dying to read it for weeks. Now I would finally have time to myself while the casserole cooked.

Ten minutes later, I heard a familiar jingle coming from downstairs. 'Does it have to be now, Piper?' I thought, a little annoyed. We had trained our dog, a Pomeranian, to ring a bell by the front door whenever she needed to go outside. 'She probably just saw a squirrel', I decided. I ignored it. Then, a few minutes later, I heard the jingle again. "Okay, okay, Piper," I said. "I'm coming!"

'What's that smell?' I wondered as I made my way down the stairs. 'Is something burning?'

As I neared the bottom step, Piper was nowhere to be found. But I did hear a loud snapping sound. I ran into the kitchen. Sparks were flying inside the over. Smoke was seeping out around its door.

I turned off the oven and reached for the phone to call the fire department. Just then, Eric walked into the kitchen with the kids.

"It was a quick fix," Eric said, putting his keys on the counter. He looked puzzled. "What's with all the smoke in here?"

"Something's wrong with the oven," I said.
Grabbing a flashlight, Eric opened the oven door and discovered a piece of food had fallen onto the heating coil. It had cooked onto the coil and burned a hole through it.

"It's a good thing you turned the oven off when you did," Eric said. "This could have caused a fire."

"You can thank Piper," I replied. "I never would've come down here if she hadn't been ringing her bell."

"Honey," Eric said. "Piper was with us the whole time." --

--GUIDEPOSTS/DS ~~
-[The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them." -(PSALM 34:7)]