GOD > Hurricane Harvey

Last week as I was doing my usual bi-weekly huge grocery haul, I first found out about a hurricane named Harvey coming to our area. I don't watch the news or much TV, and I hadn't heard anything on the radio about this potential hurricane. The next day I had to go buy water and found it to be quite a challenging task. Needless to say, I started to look up this potential hurricane, which was supposedly forecast to bring a lot of rain to our area. I was still a little unsure whether or not to believe the hype of the media. Friday morning I found myself going to the grocery store early in the morning to find some canned goods and lunch meats to help us survive a few days without electricity. Never did I imagine the devastation that I was about to experience alongside my wonderful family. 

When we first moved into our home in 2014 it was mandatory to purchase flood insurance for our home. Though we lived near a creek, our house was built on a higher foundation so flooding in our home is something that never concerned me. Within the past few years, we have seen a lot of rain and have had a lot of water in our backyard and in our driveway but never enough water to make me feel concerned about potential flooding in our home or in our neighborhood. Harvey proved me so wrong! 

On Friday morning I was out purchasing last-minute food items--a couple more cases of water, a bag of ice and some batteries...all just in case. Friday afternoon I was at my sister's house celebrating her 35th birthday! It was so much fun. We gathered, we talked, we played. By the time we left my sister's house, the rain started coming down hard. I remember thinking how lucky we were to have left her house just in time. We ended up watching movies and waiting for the storm to pass. Saturday morning I was thinking, "That was it? I was expecting a whole lot worse." We had a good day on Saturday. My sister even stopped by for a visit and we started watching movies again after she left. My honey was outside working on stuff. I cooked a pot roast for dinner. We finished watching a movie but I could not fall asleep. My honey went to sleep and the kids went to sleep but all I could hear was that the rain was not letting up. There was a whole lot of lightning and thunder. I was up all night just watching the water levels rise higher and higher, all around our house. I kept opening our front door and could not believe that the water level was so high and that the rain was still pouring down.

By 3:00 in the morning, Sunday morning, I was texting my brother and sister; calling my mom and my dad. I didn't know what to do. I knew that I had not planned for the worst possible case scenario because the worst possible case scenario that I imagined in my mind was that our yard and our driveway and the ditches would be filled with water. I imagined that we might be without electricity for a few days. So I bought food. I bought water. I bought batteries. I made sure to gather all flashlights and candles in a central location and I made sure to charge up all of our phones and portable chargers. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that we would end up with water inside our house. Right before 4:30 am water started coming into our home. Through the back door, back walls, in my closet, in our bedroom, in our bathroom, in the laundry room, in the kids' bedrooms. All I could think was to get the kids' birth certificates and shot records and put them in a Ziploc bag and to put them up high! I was just trying to move as many things as possible off the floors. My husband was awake by then, helping me remain calm while my mind was racing a million miles per second. We woke up the kids and started telling them to lift stuff off the floor. We were quickly moving from room to room, lifting whatever we could move higher and off the floor. 

Then water started coming up through the bathtubs. It was just a horrible mess. The laminate wood floors started buckling and eventually started coming undone. There was cold water everywhere. I didn't want to be there anymore. The rain was still coming down and showed no signs of letting up. At 7:30 am I text my brother to ask if he could come pick us up. No response. I later found out that my poor brother had fallen asleep after I had been texting him since about 2:40 am. My hubby called his brother and he didn't hesitate to come for us. I told the kids to pack some clothes so that we could leave.  Because our house sits higher off the ground, and it already had water coming inside, you can imagine how high the water was outside. Our cars were not drivable. So because my brother-in-law was not able to drive into our neighborhood, we had to walk a couple of blocks out of the neighborhood to meet him. The water was so high and we were unable to see the ground. We had to use the house, to know where to step down off of our porch. We used the cars to know where the driveway was. We used our mailbox to know how far to walk before turning right onto the street in order to avoid falling into the ditch. The water was cold, it was still raining and the current was strong, y'all. My poor honey was carrying our 7-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter, who were both in tears because they were scared about the whole situation. Everything happened so fast. It was so surreal. 

I feel so lucky to be alive. I feel so lucky to have family and friends who love us. I feel so blessed because I know that God's hedge of protection is around us.  I am so glad that we left when we did. I'm so glad we didn't wait any longer than we did. I'm so thankful to have shelter and that my family is all together and well. I'm blessed by all the prayers, the calls, the messages and texts that I have received from so many people. God is good! He is faithful. He knows what we need when we need it.  

I have been mostly strong throughout all of this ordeal. Mostly, because everything has happened so fast and I hadn't had time to fully process everything. When we left our house early on Sunday morning, we had about six inches of water inside our home.  We went later that same afternoon to go retrieve some more items, thinking we would be able to go back the following day. So my husband went by himself. Again, he was still unable to drive into our neighborhood so he had to once again walk through the water to get to our house.  He took some pictures and told me that the water level in our house had gotten higher by at least a few inches. This morning, after realizing that Harvey was not finished with Houston, we were desperate to go back to get a few more items that we really didn't want to lose. We also wanted to get some of the food from the fridge and pantry so that it wouldn't all completely go to waste. 

Today, my sister was able to find someone with a boat, who helped us get to our house so that I was able to go with my honey. My brother was there with us, too. As soon as I walked into the house the emotions hit me all at once. There was so much water in our home! I want to say there was over a foot of water in our house! I couldn't help but weep. I wept in a gut-wrenching sort of way as I tried to film what I was seeing. I couldn't believe how much water was inside our home. I was overwhelmed by it all. So I wept as I walked around gathering what I could. I stopped recording so that I could hurry up and grab our bibles, laptops and as much food as possible from the fridge. My hands were trembling and my heart was broken. All I could feel was a deep, deep sorrow.

It was one thing for me to see the high water on the outside, around our house, but it was completely different to see such high water inside our house. I wasn't weeping because we were losing possessions. I wasn't weeping because we were displaced. I wasn't even weeping because our vehicles were under water in our driveway. I can't fully explain where my emotions came from. All I know is that crying helped me to feel better. I felt better the more that I was able to release. I also know that I felt something so profound that was breaking my heart in such a big way. I do know that what I was feeling, God wanted me to feel for a reason. I know that had the waters not entered my home my focus would be on helping others. But I know that God is teaching me something through all of this.

I had a conversation with my sister after that experience. Our talk reminded me of something. I remember earlier this year God telling me that He was about to take me through something very painful. He told me that I was about to experience pain and suffering in a big way. He told me that it was going to be something so big that it wasn't going to affect only me. He told me that this painful experience was going to impact my entire family. But do you know what else He told me? He said:

"Trust me. I will be with you every step of the way."

Before today, I had been asking God why was this happening to me and my family. I've been wondering if perhaps I did something wrong. I asked God to reveal to me if I had failed to repent for something. I've been praying, reading Scripture. I'm just a thinker and I think things through quite a bit. Today God reassured me that He is in control. He reassured me that He feels the pain that I feel. He understands my loss and He comforted me in my pain today. God is teaching me that sometimes I don't have to have it all together. Sometimes it's ok to feel weak and helpless. Because as someone reminded me today, "He is made perfect in my weakness." God allowed me to feel this sorrow so that I can allow Him to be my joy! God allowed me to feel heartbroken so that I can allow Him to mend my broken heart. God will restore everything! He will make all things new! God will make beauty out of these ashes! Of all those things, I am certain! The above photo shows how high the water went up in about 24 hours. And it's still raining...

Today, I leave you with these words of hope and encouragement from 2 Corinthians, also shared by a friend of mine:

8We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.