It was 1989 and I had recently gone through a divorce. I was renting a trailer in a small trailer park just outside of town. My oldest son, was five at the time and I was self-employed with a bookkeeping business at home. It was Saturday and I had spent the day cleaning. I needed to take the trash to the dumpster and go to the store, but I kept putting it off because I was crocheting a vest that I was anxious to finish. Three times, I felt something telling me to go and each time, I ignored it and kept working. After the third time, I felt a strong compulsion to put down my project and go. My son and I got into the car and drove to the dumpster. As I got out to put the trash bags in, I noticed the sky darkening and thought that it might rain. I left and drove the few miles to the nearest store. I was gone maybe 20 minutes and started back. As I drove closer to home, I remember saying to my son, "it looks like we may have gotten some bad weather while we were gone." When I drove down into the park, my heart sank. I saw uprooted trees, debris and what was once the trailer we had called our home. There were men walking among the rubble with live utility wires popping nearby searching for our bodies, not realizing that we had left. Weeks later I wrote this poem,
" The Wind Began to Blow"
I felt the calm before the storm as clouds became dark and low,
the air was dry and still and the wind began to blow.
The trees went down as it came through making a path straight for my door,
it took only a few minutes and I didn't have a home anymore.
The destruction it left behind tore at my heart and made me cry...
Why me Lord? What did I do? The words echoed back, you didn't die!
With the strength of the angels above and the help of ones I did and didn't know, I picked up what was left and went on from where the wind began to blow.
It's been 22 years, but sometimes it still feels like yesterday. When a tornado or hurricane leaves wreckage and devastion behind it also brings change. Unavoidable change to a person's life. For me, the change was positive and it brought me to the realization that Jesus is always with me. His promise is that He will never leave or forsake me. I lost my home and my source of income within just minutes, but I have received so much more over the years.
Whether it's a tornado, a hurricane, an economic downturn, or the loss of a loved one, whatever your situation may be ... one day at time, one step at a time, we all must go on, from where the wind began to blow.
May God Bless you, and keep you and His favor always be with you! Seek and you shall find!
