Keep The Faith
My last four blog posts were about my memories of Hurricane Katrina because it was the 20th Anniversary of her destruction of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This week’s post is about another memory of that time that is very relevant for my life today.
The lease for our apartment will expire soon and Royce is considering retirement. These two factors have us considering our next and hopefully final move. It’s time to find that “forever” home.
We are undecided where we should settled down, though. Getting older usually means moving close to family. That still leaves more than one area of the country where we would consider.
I have an account on a real estate site and get notifications of new listings daily from my saved searches. Matching up our criteria and price range to the available and new listings have so far produced a mountain of frustration. As time marches on towards the ending of our lease and possibly Royce’s employment, I find myself fighting off feelings of anxiety.
Looking through my notes from Katrina this past month I found a letter that I wrote to one of my sisters during that time. It’s a reminder to keep the faith instead of worrying. I’ll share that letter with you here.
Dear Roberta,
My response when people ask us what we need is that right now our needs are being taken care of but I anticipate that in the coming weeks we would need money. You see, God enabled our family, friends, neighbors and others to provide for each and every one of our daily needs plus more.
Because of high insurance premiums we were underinsured. And then the insurance companies tried to get out of paying the homeowners policies by saying all damage was caused by flood (which is a separate and often a lesser paying policy). So, my greatest concern is for our future financial situation. Especially since I am out of work for at least 60-90 days, maybe longer.
After going to Georgia to pick up a borrowed travel trailer to live in temporarily, we decided to go back to Ellisville, MS for a day to pick up our bass boat, shop vac, and chain saw. We had left those things at the Harrison’s – the family that we stayed with through the storm.
Princy fixed us a nice lunch and then said she had something that she thought might belong to me. After washing slimy marsh mud off a ceramic piece, she laid the piece up on the counter. It DID belong to me! She had found this item in the debris in the back yard of her family’s Bay St. Louis property next to ours.
Roberta, remember the ceramic Christmas village I had collected? Lots of village buildings and hundreds of accessories including 3 church buildings.
There in front of us on her kitchen counter was a shiny, undamaged yellow building with a green roof. I looked at my husband and said, “And look which building it is!”
Everyone who hears this story says, “The church!” Wouldn’t that have made a perfect story? God sent me a clear and important message – one I would recognize, understand and believe.
Which building in my Christmas village survived? The BANK! The Bank survived!
The tears in our eyes that afternoon was not a sign of grief over what we lost, but relief and joy that God cares, not only about our daily needs but that God also knows and cares about our financial and material desires and dreams.
As I sit at the table booth in our borrowed travel trailer – set up on a co-worker’s property – I can look UP across the living area to a small TV shelf. There sits the shiny undamaged Bank building. It is a constant reminder that God is very much alive, watching over us and working to restore our hopes and dreams.
I am praying that as you relate this story to your congregation as well as others that God’s powerful love will touch another child of God with renewed hope when it is needed the most.
Love, Kathy
Why am I worried now?
Why am I anxious now?
The bank survived and we were able to build the best home in the best location!
Do I really believe that God will abandon me this time? Don’t I know that he will direct my housing search when the time is right?
I must remember to keep the faith. God is good and forever faithful.
Comments
Kathy, many thanks for sharing your story, it’s hard to believe that it is twenty years since the terrible events around Katrina. You have survived and prospered, continue with your faith in God’s protection and strengthen family ties further.
Thanks John!
Thanks Abbie!
What a moving story, Kathy. It’s amazing how those small reminders from the past can bring perspective to what we’re facing today. I hope the search for your new home becomes less stressful and that you and Royce find the perfect place to settle when the time is right.