I am a Hurricane Harvey Survivor
by Njide
In the last week alone, I cannot recall the number of people who were aware of my holiday plans that came up to ask ‘how are you’.
My office had asked me if I would like the company counsellor. Hmmm.. I wonder why.
There are certain events in life we pray never to encounter; hurricanes have to be one of them!
I was already in Texas when the warnings for Hurricane Harvey was announced. I wasn’t phased by the category 4 status after all our accommodation was situated in a ‘non flood zone’.
You see, storms are yearly occurrence in Texas. So home buyers will usually pay a flood zone insurance depending where your intending home is situated. Why anyone will buy a house in a flood zone baffles me…but I digress.
Well, Hurricane Harvey came and went on its way. The day we heard it had landed, over an hour drive away, we breathed a sigh of relief, said a prayer for the residents in the area and continued our lives.
We kept a half eye on the news really mainly to commiserate with the people who had lost loved ones, properties and so much more.
It rained over a 3 day period and the children were getting itchy. We are on holiday and staying indoors days on end was not on our holiday itinerary!
What happened within a 24 hour period still feels like a movie scene…
We insisted on attending church and partaking in the communion the Sunday before we left Richmond, Texas.
A segment of the service included clips from the devastation that was Hurricane Harvey. Only then did it begin to actually sink in.
Pictures of people being rescued from flooding homes via boat in the pouring rain with nothing else but the clothes on their backs (which were soiled and soaking wet) …Pictures of families who didn’t make it. I looked around my family of 11..all looking well..all alive and well.
The emotions were all over the place. ..I shed tears of gratitude as it truly dawned on me what an incredible testimony this is.
Certain life events define you and force you to revaluate what life is all about; what is important in this life. You suddenly realise how fragile and fleeting life can be.
As a practising Christian, it suddenly became apparent that the tough times will come, but only tough people will last the course.
I realised that in a crisis moment, you can only fight with what has already been deposited on the inside of you.
A soldier does not wait until battle to check for bullets and if he is appropriately dressed for war. Oh no, it is the daily small steps, the consistent deposits on the inside that will determine if one fights or falls.
We had prayed fervently, we had declared God’s word that the flood will not in come into the house. We shared communion. Yet we joined the line of mandatory evacuees.
Did we feel God has let us down ? Not for a second!
Sometimes God ALLOWS an event, not to destroy you but to toughen us up and prepare us for the next phase of life as He draws us closer to Himself. ..in that process when our faith is tried, we can CHOOSE.. Do I give up?.. Wallow in self pity?..STAND and remember who God is and what His promises are?
There is a verse of scripture that makes mention of a ‘SACRIFICE’ of praise. Now I appreciate the true meaning of that verse!
Pain and tragedy does not recognise colour, tribe or creed. That is a lesson I learnt during this experience and more so as I remember the emergency shelters that became home to human beings and beloved animals.
In a bid to wade off the cold, I would look around me, spotting a designer item here and there, it occurred to me that we have all unknowingly formed a bond. The ‘you are a stranger to me’ look was overtaken by the innate human instinct to nurture.
Every human being is wired to love, to care. Where did people learn to hate?
I developed a bond..at least for the little time with some incredible human beings as we shared basic requirements for human survival that was made available.
Hurricane Harvey taught me that in the final analysis that the material things don’t really matter.
What matters most is the deposits you have made in your soul and how that can be called upon at anytime for your survival or that of another human being.
Have you been in a Hurricane or other ‘natural’ or other disaster? What was your experience? How did you cope? Please share
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