Christian family shows remarkable faith while standing on ashes of home destroyed in wildfire: 'We choose to trust'

What could compel a family to respond with joy in the midst of unspeakable destruction, like losing the family home to a destructive wildfire?

Only God and their Christian faith.

'You're standing on the ashes of your childhood, really of your life.'

That's exactly what the Halpin family did last Thursday when they returned to the site of their family home — now destroyed by one of the wildfires that ravaged southern California — in Altadena.

The fire destroyed nearly everything the family owned, the National Catholic Register reported, leaving only the home's "foundation, debris, and singed concrete statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Joseph." The family had lived there since 1988.

But the sadness of the moment did not stop the Halpin family from praising God.

Instead of mourning what once was, the family stood on the ashes of their lost home and prayed. Then they broke out into beautiful harmony and sang the 12th-century Christian hymn "Regina Caeli."

An English translation of the hymn, originally written in Latin, goes like this:

Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
The Son you merited to bear, alleluia,
Has risen as he said, alleluia.
Pray to God for us, alleluia.

Jacqueline Halpin, the family matriarch, said the reaction to praise God in the midst of destruction was natural because, for her family, faith "always has been everything."

"It was just, 'Let's just get up and pray and thank God for the wonderful memories that we'd had there,'" she told the Daily Signal.

"I just wanted to pray and thank God for our safety and ask him for protection," Jacqueline explained. "And then the song just kind of came about."

Son Andrew Halpin, meanwhile, explained that choosing joy is about trusting God.

"We have to give everything to God. And if that means our home at this time, we choose to trust that we’re in the palm of his hand," he told the NCR. "You're standing on the ashes of your childhood, really of your life. ... But you're alive."

Despite the loss of the Halpin family home, all members of the family are safe. They managed to escape before the fire struck their neighborhood. Jacqueline was even able to save family albums and other important documents before leaving.

A GoFundMe set up to help the family rebuild has already raised more than $125,000.

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