A Very Present Help

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Ps. 46:1).

I’d like to start out by thanking so many of you for your prayers and kind words of comfort during this past week as we dealt with the blow of Gustav. After going through all the challenges of Katrina only 3 years ago, I must say I had many concerns as I watched this storm approaching.

Now I can report that I’m so blessed to say that God was faithful to show Himself mighty in the midst of the storm! We were surrounded by His divine protection as the winds blew, and He sent the right people at the perfect time to help us out when we needed them.

We are especially grateful for our neighbor, Gerald, (who just happens to be a builder) that lives in our subdivision. He came over in the middle of the storm with a roll of plastic sheeting and helped Rick get up a temporary patch in our attic to cover the hole where the tree fell through the roof.


Oh, how beautiful is the body of Christ!

The next day one of my youngest son’s friends who was staying with us during the storm called his dad (who just happened to be a roofer) came over and put up some blue tarps over the roof that made the damage water-tight.

God’s hands were upholding us each day, and now looking back, my heart is so grateful for the many wonderful provisions He made for us during this storm.

After three long hot and humid days without power, my brother-in-law made the 2 hour drive from his house to bless us with food, ice, two generators, and a small A/C window unit. Wow, I thought I was in heaven, literally! Once again all we could do was to gave thanks.

So, what lessons did I learn from Gustav?

♥ I’d say first and foremost, our God is FAITHFUL. What the enemy tries to use to bring us down, God turns around to show Himself mighty on our behalf.

♥ I got to meet many of our neighbors, as we all went into survival mode and spent time outside of our electricity-free houses.

♥ I improved my cell phone text messaging abilities. ( yes, I’m slowly learning)

♥ I got to spend lots of precious time with my daughter-in-law and my two beautiful grand-daughters who stayed with us during the storm. They kept us entertained with their silly antics and child-like faith.

♥ I had lots of time to read the word, and completed my first week of homework for Breaking Free! Now, if you’ve ever done a Beth Moore study, you know that is a MAJOR to-do!

♥ Well, the list could go on and on, because in all hardships and times of testing there are always abundant blessings if you look for them.

Yesterday, as I pulled up for church, I noticed the doors all opened around the building. I was greeted with a warm smile and an ice-cold bottle of water. It was only then that I realized our church still did not have electricity. It didn’t matter; it was still a full house! Half of the people attending still had no power, but were eager to gather together to worship and bless our God.

In closing, I would ask that you would pray with us that this new guy in Caribbean named IKE, will dissipate over Cuba, or just be blown far off to the west where no one will be in his path! It would be very difficult for our state to take another hit this soon after Gustav. I already do not like watching the weather report these days!!

Again, thanks so much for your prayers and thoughts!


Here are some pictures of our house hours before the storm and how it quickly digressed!

Make a Smilebox photobook