God's Hand Through the Storm

"Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  Isaiah 41:10

This board was made up of praises from our Classical Conversations communities who met for a time of prayer and praise.  I am so grateful to be surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.

Scripture and prayer were the keystones of the week.  Without either, we would have been lost.  God's word is how He speaks to us, and prayer is how we cry out to Him.  We know He heard us.  We know He had a plan and a purpose.  Therefore, even when times were hard, scary, or just plain frustrating, we knew we could trust Him.

What has been amazing to me as I have been looking back, not just on the week of the storm, but on the weeks leading up to it and seeing how He was preparing us for the work He had prepared for us.

Day 3- this is what I wrote in my quiet time...
3 days since the hurricane- and I am starting to feel desperate.  .Desperate for relief.  It is so hot.  Sleeping in a pool of your sweat is miserable.  It just is.  I am tired- beyond tired- I am exhausted.  I begin to panic when I think about another night without air conditioning.

Others feel desperate too- right?  This is when chaos and panic begin to rule....

It is hard to help people without the right tools.  What were we thinking?  We need a chainsaw.  We don't have one, and now we have nothing to do!  Lord- what do we do today?"

Psalm 13: "How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?...but I have trusted in your lovingkindness; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountiful with me."

Just a few hours later, a couple of cars pulls up, one pulling a trailer.  Our Pastor had sent them to our house. They were four men who wanted to come and help people in Naples.  We didn't know anything about them.  But, here they were.  They asked Jeremy to show them around the town so they could assess the need and see where they could be most helpful.  About an hour after they left, Jeremy called me and told me they were from a mission group and that they needed a place to stay.  Could they stay with us?  I laughed and said, "As long as they know that we don't have power and it is miserable to sleep at night...sure!".

When they came back to our house, they opened the doors to the trailor and the angels started singing.  Oh wait...that was me :)  They had a generator!  We had no idea they had one with them.  By faith, we agreed the let them stay, and gave what limited resources we had.  And their unknown gift to us what a bit of power to run our fridge, shed some light on the evening.  and even power up a portable AC unit.

Guess what else they had!  Chainsaws!  Yard equipment.  Rakes, shovels, etc.  They had the TOOLS!  We had a home to provide them to stay in, and food already pre-cooked and ready to share.  God answered the prayer I cried out just hours earlier by orchestrating this meeting that we weren't even expecting.

This was so exciting!  We stayed because we wanted to be available to help, especially in the first week.  We didn't have the tools, but God had that sorted already.  This team had tools, but no where to stay (they were prepared the stay in their car and eat canned food if needed), but God provided shelter, and a good dinner each night.  It was one of those moments where you just can't deny His providence.

So, we worked.

 We worked as a family.

The kids sweated.

We all got cuts and bruises, and scrapes....but we served together.

It was such a wonderful time of growth within our family.

The crew was from the EFCA- Evangelical Free Church of America.  They are an amazing group of men who come to disaster areas simply to serve.

Playing ball in the backyard, after they helped clean it up.

 A second group has since come, and they are just as fun and encouraging as the first group.  Truly, a blessing.

The kids and I also got to go out to Immokalee for a day with some friends.  We served home made spaghetti, salad, fruit, and water to the residents.  This was really high on the list of ways to serve that the kids had, so they were happy to participate in something like this.

Once Jeremy went to work, there were fewer opportunities for us to participate in manual labor, so we looked for other ways to serve people.  Nicole was passionate about making sure all of the electrical men were taken care of, and knew that we were appreciative of their hard work.  We delivered Gatorade, waters, and snacks to a crew from Ohio who was working on our power lines, as well as a man running a sanitation truck.  He was keeping raw sewage from backing up inside our homes...so we were quite thankful for him!

We enjoyed spending times with friends and helping them with their little ones as well.  

We are so thankful that we were given the opportunity to serve in so many ways.  May He be glorified in this story and the provisions that were made.