Watching and waiting...

I remember 7 years ago tonight.  I say in front of the TV watching and waiting and praying.  Praying that Hurricane Katrina would slow down, change course or just plain fizzle out.  Instead it hit the Gulf Coast with a fury and shortly after that the storm surge hit New Orleans and 80% of the city was flooded.  Rob was in Colorado hunting and I sat with the boys just staring at the pictures on TV.  The rescues, the water, the Super Dome and the Civic Center. I watched as the National Guard and Coast Guard rescued people in baskets from helicopters from their roofs.  I watched and I cried.

Hurricane Katrina, 2005

 Tonight I sit in front of the TV watching and waiting and praying.  But my prayer tonight is one more of praise to my Heavenly Father for the storm not going higher than a category 1.  Praise for an amazing team of TouchGlobal friends that are sheltering in place in New Orleans and the surrounding area so that they can be first responders to a wind blown and rain soaked city in a few days.  Praise that Our God heard our prayers and for the most part spared our friends in Haiti from this storm.  And praise that I know for sure that God can and will use every event for His glory,  even hurricanes and earthquakes.

Will I cry over the next few days as I watch the damage reports or possible hear about lost lives?  Absolutely!  But compassion and mercy are part of who God made me to be.  That's OK.  I look forward to the time when we are in the field and I can be a part of that first responder team going in to see if everyone is OK.  When I can go in and pray with someone and tell that about the life giving blood of Jesus Christ.  Our Lord and Savior can and will help us through any storm.

My friend and teammate Katie had this verse on her blog and I wanted to share it with you.

"Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done wonderful things,
things planned long ago.
2 You have made the city a heap of rubble,
the fortified town a ruin,
the foreigners' stronghold a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore strong peoples will honor you;
cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
4 You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat."
Isaiah 25:1-4 

This is a different storm than Katrina was 7 years ago.  That storm caught me at a time in my life where I was looking for a place to serve.  Looking for what I was going to do when I "grew up" so to speak.  Today I know what God has for me.  I have grown into a daughter of the King.  A daughter that just wants to love and serve her King and expand His Kingdom.  Hurricane Isaac has opened my eyes a little more to what God has in store for us.  And I have to tell you all....I am so joyful that He has chosen us for this work and so joyful that He is a shelter from the storm.

Jackie