She Lost Everything Then Found Faith
Joanna grew up in the church. At 11 years old, she placed her faith in Jesus Christ, became active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and built her life on a spiritual foundation that felt unshakeable. Then life happened — and she spent the better part of two decades walking away from all of it.
A single mother of two, she had rebuilt her life through sheer determination. But that foundation had quietly crumbled after the loss that shattered her at 15: her mother's death.
"It's like I turned into a heathen," she said, looking back. "You go through these emotions — blaming God for what's happened, blaming God for your trouble."
Then came New Year's Eve, 2025. And everything changed.
Two Explosions
Joanna was watching football when she heard them — two loud blasts directly above her. Certain it was fireworks, she split up with Brett: one out the front, one to check the back.
Within seconds, she heard it. Smoke. Or fire. She wasn't sure which word Brett yelled — but she didn't need to be.
"At that moment, I realized there was smoke everywhere," she said. "I told him, 'Get out. Just get out and call 911.'"
She ran back inside to grab her phone and found Ila, their dog, still on the couch. She pushed her out the door, got on the line with 911, and made it to the front yard where neighbors had already gathered with blankets.
Sitting in the grass, dog beside her, the adrenaline still surging, Joanna turned to Brett.
"Layla, pray with me."
"And that's when I just dumped all the adrenaline and cried."
What the Fire Left Behind
The fire started in the attic above the garage and burned across the full length of the house. What the flames didn't take, the smoke, soot, heat, and water from firefighting efforts did. Firefighters had punched through walls in multiple locations to check for hot spots. Walking through the damage in the days after, the total scope of the loss was undeniable.
"Pretty much everything in here is destroyed," Joanna said quietly.
One of the most lasting effects was sensory. The smell of a fire-damaged home doesn't leave easily. It sticks in your nose and clings to everything around you. Weeks later, sitting in a church pew on Sunday mornings, Joanna could still smell it on her Bible.
The Pull Back to Church
In the aftermath of the fire, something shifted. The noise of ordinary life had been stripped away, and in its place came a clarity Joanna hadn't felt in years.
"Something was just telling me — we need to be in church. We need to be a part of a church family and have that support around us."
Joanna and Brett visited Second Baptist Church. The connection was immediate.
"We literally could have joined that first morning," she said. "That's how it was. It was just meant to be."
They followed advice Joanna had always heard but never acted on — attend Sunday school, because it makes a large congregation feel smaller. It turned out to be true. A community formed around them quickly, warm and ready.
"If we wanted to ask for help, there'd be 50 people at our house tomorrow. There really is a sense of community."
They didn't just receive that community — they stepped into it, with both Joanna and Brett volunteering as Sunday morning greeters, welcoming strangers at the door the same way they had once been welcomed.
Faith That Holds in the Fire
Surviving the fire clarified something Joanna had struggled to name for years. None of her experience, none of her hard work, none of her self-sufficiency had prepared her for a moment like that night.
"It's not any experience I had. It's not my work that's prepared me for this," she said. "It's your foundation and your belief in Jesus Christ. Worldly things just don't matter."
Her favorite scripture is Joshua 1:9 — "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." That verse, long a childhood memory, had become a lived promise. She knew it now as a fact, not just a feeling.
"I know that now for a fact. God will always be with me, no matter what."
Baptism
Joanna and Brett decided not to return to faith quietly. They wanted to do it publicly, as a family, with full understanding of what it meant.
"I thought, let's do it as a family. Let's reaffirm our faith and let's do it publicly."
As an adult, Joanna understood the significance of baptism differently than she could have as a child. The experience was one of overwhelming joy.
"Now, as an adult, I understand the significance of baptism. Overwhelming joy to be made new."
She paused, and said simply: "I see now. You came and changed everything."
A house fire took nearly everything Brett and Joanna owned. But in the wreckage, they found something they hadn't had in decades — a community, a church, and a faith that had waited patiently for them to come home.