A Manitoba family's home was literally reduced to a pile of ash, but they say that God is moving in a big and powerful way despite the tragedy. 

On November 21 the Tkachyk's family home outside of Sundown, Manitoba, burned to the ground. The Office of the Fire Commissioner has since determined that it was caused by a charging laptop which overheated. 

Joyska Tkachyk says that they were at church in Steinbach that evening. When they came out of church around 8:30 p.m. they knew there was something was wrong because they saw four missed calls from her mother-in-law. Tkachyk's mother-in-law, Olga, broke the news to them.

"By the time we got into our yard, everything was gone," Tkachyk says. "It was down to the foundation."

The Lord gives, the Lord takes away

However, the Tkachyk family, from the very first moments of seeing the destruction, have chosen to place their faith in God.

"When we first saw it, it was, of course, a bit of a shock.

"But one of the things that has been true throughout my life - as soon as I saw it, outwardly and inwardly I said 'the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.'"

Tkachyk says that actually verbalizing that thought was an important step in beginning a difficult journey. It was an act of trust that God would care for them no matter what.

"Yes, we were devastated," she says. "But that was the first thing I said out loud when I saw that everything was gone. We knew that God would take care of us and we're just walking that out."

Beauty from ashes 

When the family returned to the site of their former home to show their two daughters, they made a discovery in the midst of destruction.

"As we were looking at the house," Tkachyk wrote in an online post, her husband, "Randy showed me this angel. It is the first thing (and likely only thing) that survived. It’s a symbol for us that God will bring beauty from the ashes. He already has."

Tkachyk says that friends, neighbours, and community organizations including their church, Southland Church, have mobilized to help them out. The church has been helping them get groceries and other essential items, and local business Heavenly Pines has also stepped up supplying them with items.

"We are just blown away. We've barely skipped a beat," she said pointing out that they didn't even miss their weekly family tradition of making pancakes together on Saturday mornings.

"Within 12 hours we had a fully furnished home provided for us," she says. Not only that, but the home is close to their farm, allowing them to check their cattle easily, as well as checking in on 90-year-old Olga.

And while it's a traumatic experience losing everything, especially for young daughters, there are some positives. 

"It's almost like Christmas every day," she says with a laugh. "Every day there's another box of stuff to go through."

Tkachyk says that overall the family is doing well, all things considered. And that, she says, can only be thanks to God. 

"Overall, so much of what we've been doing is just praising God. We are just so thankful for the over the top generosity without community. We keep talking how literally a week ago we were homeless, and now I'm sitting in my living room sorting through boxes and boxes of clothes." 

Listen to the full interview here: