Survived face and body burns, melting skin.

We had very little food in the cupboard, just enough for breakfast and things to keep our family going. But financially we had just came to a, at our end. I owned a mortgage company. I went from making almost six figures a year to making four thousand dollars a year. My wife had gotten a call from one of our friends that just decided to invite us over. She said; “We just need to go over and put everything behind us for the day and not really think of much.” We had put some gasoline on the fire because it was just not lighting. So my friend said; “I’m going to go get a drink, you get it started.” So, this brush, I lit it on fire and as soon as I lit it, it exploded and the flames just went in my face, it totally engulfed my body. It was just extreme pain instantly. I remember just screaming the loudest scream I have ever screamed in my life. I ran into their pool area. They had a salt water pool. When I went under the water and I came up my wife said it looked like my skin was just melting off my face. That’s when the pain really started setting in. It was excruciating. I said; “Call 911.” I remember them telling my wife that; “He’s got second and third degree burns.” They said; “We’re going to have to get him transferred to a burn unit where they are more prepared to take care of it.” At that point, I remember my wife being there and a friend with her. Our pastor had come and I asked them at that point to pray for me. Back when I was four years old, blood blisters all over my body. One hundred percent of my body was covered in blisters. I don’t remember much of that time in the hospital because I was at such a young age. At that age, growing up, my parents had always told me anybody that would come to visit me, I would always ask them to pray for me. That would be the very first thing that I would ask every single person that came into the room, was to pray for me. In result, when I got burned in this accident, that was the story that I had always remembered being told, was how I asked for prayer. Immediately my pastor came and my wife was there and some friends were around me, and I started to ask them to pray for me. From the transfer from this hospital to the burn unit in Orlando, when the doctors had looked at me, they said; “These are no longer second and third degree burns. These are first and second degree burns.” I know right instantly I know that when people started praying for me, God began the healing process at that point. Collagen would form on my arms and my legs. They would have to come in with a tongue depressor every single day and scrape those open wounds. So they gave me morphine and different medications during those dressing changes. They gave me another medication that allowed me to get through the dressing changes but not remember the pain associated with it. I’m very thankful. There was a particular day that the nurse looked at me and she said’ “If you want to get to go home, you’re going to have to be able to get through these dressing changes without pain medication.” That was horrifying to me. My wife and her Mother, my Mother-in-law was there and they laid hands on my feet and they said; “Father in the name of Jesus I just pray that you would let Matt know that you are here with him. I felt three taps right here on this shoulder. I promise you if you had been there, you would have seen an indent on my shirt. It was so realistic it was a physical touch. It wasn’t anything on the inside. It was so realistic that I opened my eyes and I began to cry because He showed up. He showed up for me. He was listening to my wife and He was listening to her Mom pray. The God of creation showed up in that room to touch me. Our finances, our situation with me being in the hospital, God was there and He was just letting me know; “I’m in control. I’ve got this.” People began to anonymously send checks to us from all over the United States that was able to carry us. To be able to dig us out of that hole that we were in and carry us for enough time until I was able to get back to work and start bringing home an income again.