Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever! How wonderful He is. He is faithful and His mercy and grace abound. He is relentless in His pursuit of us, never giving up on us or leaving us when we but just turn toward Him.
Thank You, God, for Your steadfastness and faithfulness. Thank You for your provision and promptings. Thank You for lessons – even the difficult ones. Thank You for times of difficulty and reminders of who we are in, with, and because of You!
Forgive us for our forgetfulness, shortsightedness, and indifference. Forgive us for the times we should be praising and thanking, but instead are mumbling and complaining. Forgive us when we fail to thank You for the obvious blessings with which we are showered. Forgive us when we place our lives out of the order in which You created them. Forgive us when we act as if we are god and You are not! How backwards we can become, and how quickly it can happen – Oh Lord, forgive us.
Hurricane season of 2024 began here with Beryl. We live in the south, so we are usually prepared. We know how to stock up on nonperishables, to have fuel on hand, and to try to purchase supplies well before any storm shows up on the radar. We are blessed to have a small generator that runs our freezer and fridge as well as a few fans. We usually have a plan for deciding when we stay and when we evacuate. There is so much to consider when planning; it can be overwhelming if we forget Who really has the plan.
We had discerned that evacuating for Beryl would not be necessary. We have a freezer of food to protect and an elderly large dog to consider. We had enough fuel to run our generator for a few days should the power go out, but mostly, we just did not have that “nudge” to leave that we have felt on many occasions in the past.
Monday morning was interesting. A few of us were awake when we thought we heard one or two tornadoes close by and when we lost power. For all that was going on outside, our most anxious children were sleeping and the air was not too hot and humid. We spent most of the day in our sunroom watching and listening to the weather and tracking the eye of the storm. From our view of the backyard, we knew we had several large branches that had fallen, but no large trees that we could see or hear had fallen.
Once the eye passed us, I just had to go outside! Nothing had hit the roof, and the branches we lost did not hit our vehicles. Our neighbor to the right of us had at least one tree downed, but it had not hit any structures that we could see. Then, we looked across the street! Oh my! Trees had fallen every which way. It did not take long for neighbors to check in on everyone. We quickly learned that three neighbors on our street had trees fall on their homes! No one was hurt. I could not help but praise and thank God for those miracles! The sizes of the trees and the extent of damages were massive, yet no one was hurt. It was so amazing to hear those neighbors thanking God for His protection!
After a hurricane is often the most stressful, especially if you are out of power. It is also the most grace filled. You get to visit with neighbors and work together to restore order in the neighborhood. We made a conscious effort to praise and thank God for what we did have. We had running water! We had a generator to cycle through and keep our food fresh. We had fans. We had seen neighbors protected from physical harm. We had cards and puzzles and games. We even had the internet when hubby plugged the router into the generator.
We spent the first few days cleaning up the yard and doing what we could around the house and on our street. When friends began getting their power back, I loaded up groceries and dirty laundry. I used friends’ stoves and ovens to cook, and their washers and dryers to do laundry. The girls came with me whenever there was AC to be enjoyed. Hubby had to be creative in obtaining fuel after our initial supply began to run low. We had only prepared for about four days or so without power.
As our friends and extended family had their electricity restored, the blessings just kept coming. We had a compadre drop off an extra generator, fuel, and a window unit at one point! The blessing that cannot be underestimated! We had been taking cold showers and baths to cool off and try to sleep. How God moves people to give what they have never ceases to amaze me! We spent so much of our time just in awe of God’s people and their offers to do laundry for us and lend us their stoves and ovens.
Our power was restored on day NINE. It is one novena I will never forget. I used it ALL as a prayer! I did not want the “suffering” of inconvenience and heat to be wasted! I desired God to use it ALL to save souls.
Have you had an unexpected novena or offering of suffering? Have you seen some of the many graces that emerge from times of “suffering”? Share your story!
Photo by Riccardo Gazzin on Unsplash
