Indescribable

   Well, I finally have a chance to update my poor blog!  Things have been a little crazy around here lately.  Okay, well, maybe a LOT crazy!  In all the things we've been through in the last week, only one word comes to mind when I try to describe what's been going on.  And, ironically enough, that word is "indescribable."  


   The physical reality of going through a very large tornado is indescribable.  The knowledge of the sheer power of this force, and that you are helpless in the face of this power is the one of the main things that stays with me after the fact.  The only thing that can be done is praying.  And there's no formulated prayer, either, not in the moment.  It's simply crying out to God just as if you were a small child frightened by something and calling for your parent.  Which, I guess we are!  So thankful for my "Abba, Father."


   The relief that everyone you love is still alive and relatively unharmed is indescribable.  My entire family immediate family, save a few, was in the room with me when the storm hit.  God gave us all protection and kept us all from harm.  My husband had gotten home from work only moments before we headed down to the den.  There were no lives lost on my parent's street, where nearly every house was leveled.  My dad, my husband, and my brothers went from house to house digging people out from under rubble.  The only injuries were minor, cuts, bruises, a couple of head bumps.  But no one died on the street.  This alone is a miracle. 


   The resiliency of my boys has been amazing to me! They are six, four, and two, and have been through something that most people don't go through in a lifetime.  God has guarded their minds and hearts through this event.  So far, we have suffered no nightmares, "clingy-ness", or any other signs of trauma.  They were so brave that day, as we packed them in a wagon and pulled them through a field to safety.  I tried my best to keep them from seeing the injured people being pulled out ahead of us.  We had the blessing of being able to go straight to a somewhat familiar environment, my aunt & uncle's house.  My cousins immediately took the boys to their toyroom and played with them for the next three days!  I think this was so helpful for the boys to have a sense of normalcy about everything.  Especially since we had to keep leaving them there to go back to the site for salvage efforts.  We were also able to recover two of their three night-time stuffed animals that they have all had since they were babies.  This was especially important for the First-Born, since he was definitely the most attached to his.  We have promised the Middle Biscuit, whose bear we didn't recover, that we are going to take him for a special treat to Build-A-Bear to make a new stuffed animal for him.  He is very excited about this, and keeps asking when we're going to go! 


   This leads me right into the next indescribable thing that has come from all this.  I am unable to describe all the kindnesses that have been shown to us from family and strangers alike.  Starting with the people that gave us a ride to safety that night, to churches that have given gifts and supplies, to all the help that has been offered by everyone, the response has been overwhelming.  People have prepared meals, opened their homes, and given of their time to help us and the other people affected by the storms.  When I try to sit and think of all that has been done, I am just unable to take it all in.  God has been proved faithful through all the blessings He has sent our way.  


  Now I am at the most indescribable thing of all.  Our Heavenly Father.  It is beyond my ability to describe how He has shown Himself strong and faithful through all of these events!  His mercies are new every morning.  This phrase has become so real to me in the past week.  Every day is a new opportunity to see His hand of guidance and protection in our lives.  He is there for us.  The power in this simple thought is something that I have been thinking about a lot lately.  The Person in control of the whole universe, and everything in it, (including tornados!) is the One we can count on for all our needs!  His mercies are new every morning.  


Indescribable.  :)