Well, we couldn't stay in Nashville when there were so many people hurting so we began the day by formulating a plan. Brad, Jill, Owen, and myself had no idea where we were going or what we would do but we packed the car with 20 cases of water and peanut butter crackers and headed out. God lead us to a little town in-between Ardmore, TN and Huntsville, AL called Harvest. As we drove around police blocked off streets of some of the most damaged areas. We stopped and asked him who needed supplies and he gave us a name of a street name that was hit hard.
This is what we saw when we pulled into the neighborhood....
One of the first families I met was Mrs. Liz and her cousin Mrs. Louis. Mrs Liz, her husband Mr. Haymon, and her grandson were in the below house when the tornado hit. Actually three tornados came through the area on Wednesday. She said Jesus touched her back and had her lay flat on the floor and that is the only reason she was not seriously injured when the chimney fell on her. As we sat in the living room of Mrs. Louis, we talked about Jesus and his greater plan for her life and how blessed she was even though everything she owned was gone. Her foot was in a boot because the chimney fell on her. She told me about what happened and how she thought she was going to drown because she was pinned to the floor when the rain and hail was coming in. Her husband was digging through the dark and the rubble to find her. I can hardly write about this because it brings such sweet tears to my eyes. I wish you could have been in the room to hear her talking with such joy in the midst of such sorrow. I asked if we could pray together and we prayed that God who is the ultimate healer would help her body heal. I'll tell you more of this story tomorrow but today I'll leave you with the below pictures so you can see for yourself what happened....
[A picture of the front of Mrs. Liz's house.]
[The back of Mrs. Liz's house.]
[Backyard at Mrs. Liz's house.]
[The house of Mrs. Liz's daughter from the road.]
[The close up photo of her daughter's house.]Here's the rest of the neighborhood where we handed out water and crackers. While we were here, we heard they just found two more people who had died on the street where we first stopped to talk to the police officer.
Things I learned today...
- Joy can be found in sorrow.
- I can love a stranger like my own family. So much so, I didn't want to leave them. I dreamed about them all night and couldn't wait to get back.
- God is at work even when we don't understand the plan.
- Our life is just a blip.
- All the stuff we accumulate ends up a heap of useless rubble. Let it go, it's not important.
- Love God. Love Others. It's the only thing that we can take with us in our hearts.
- "God is good." "All the time." "That's right."
- I love being called "Hun" by a woman I've just met.
- You can get a whole crew of older men to stop working just by saying "What can I carry?" They all stopped and just stared at me. So I said "Yeah....little girls can work hard and carry things too." Then one of the men replied, "Well, I wasn't goin' to say nothin'." (It still brings a smile to my face!)
- When your passing out bottled water and crackers, you're really passing out love.
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