Dorie was in the horse breeding business and thankfully was at a horse show in Atlanta when the call came. A drunk driver had plowed into her house, setting it a blaze.
It's amazing how God prepares you for things. This friend had been praying with Dorie for 2 years about whether or not she should move. Dorie couldn't bring herself leave the place she and her then, new husband had moved into 20 years ago. Six years into their marriage he had left, leaving her the house and the all bills to pay.
She had stayed in the house 14 more years, not wanting the boat to sink. They stayed in touch after the divorce, but she knew he had gone down a path she didn't want to follow.
Yet she still didn't want to leave.
The house was almost paid for. She had new fencing around her 10 acres and a 15 stall barn customized for her stallion and breeding horses. She felt like she could finally breathe again.
But Dorie took it as what God wanted her to do and she decided it was time to go.
Immediately after the fire, Dorie's family had helped cleaned up the property until she arrived there and hired someone to excavate it.
One afternoon, Dorie was sitting in her trailer looking over the site where her house used to sit. A song by Phillips Craig and Dean played in the background – I want to feel your arms around me in the middle of the storm so I can see the blessing in the thorn. It registered somewhere deep inside Dorie and she closed her eyes in response, Yes, I need that God.
The next day Dorie went outside to her garden area (which wasn't affected by the fire), to meet a friend who had come to take her to lunch. All of a sudden she saw some paper blowing in the dirt pile. Wondering what it could be, she inched closer. Picking up the pages that were wet and matted down from being tucked in the dirt pile, she discovered they were New Testament pages from her Bible!
All she could think was how is this here? After the fire it had rained for 2 weeks, then the excavation, everything had been hauled off, yet here lay her Bible. On the top page was underlined John 16:33 – I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.
When did I underline that? she thought.
She flipped to the next page and found John 14:27 starred – Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Dorie felt God right there, with His arms around her, just as the song had said. She felt like Abraham when God told him to leave his people and travel to a place he didn't know. She too didn't know where to go or what to do, but she knew she could trust God to show her.
You can read even more of Dorie's story HERE.