Last week, we endured the wrath of Hurricane Irma. By the time she arrived in our area her wind speeds had lighten some, I believe our maximum wind gusts were around 80 MPH.
The Lord had given me peace that all would be alright. I believe, He also guided me to start bagging ice and to even board up our windows. Something we hadn't ever done before. In fact, all of our neighbors were boarding their windows as well, a rarity in our neighborhood.
Something I didn't do was constantly watch the weather updates, sometimes this can cause undo worry. I did track the storm when the updates from the Hurricane center came in, I figured those were pretty accurate updates. At one point the day before the storm arrived the eye was to go right over our home, then it was over where our church is, and then over into the next town. When I heard this I did have a little bit of worry, mainly because of tornadoes that pop up unexpectedly. Still though I trusted God would see me and my family through.
We tried to stay busy, we worked on a puzzle and played lots of games. We finally even decided to sit down and watch a movie. We didn't even get ten minutes into the movie when we lost power. Somehow I knew we probably would.
I thought we would tell stories, like around a campfire. Unfortunately, no one was feeling creative. So I took my handy dandy flashlight and pulled out trivia games. So by lantern light we played "Twenty Questions", it was fun and kept our mind off of the storm.
I managed to fall asleep, in my dark room to the sound of pouring rain and wind gusts. Our children decided that they would try to stay awake for when the eye went near to us, they were thinking it would be like welcoming in the New Year. I did wake up a few times, nothing had changed with the wind and rain so I'd fall back asleep. Until I woke up and it was really quiet, could it be the eye or was the storm over? I tried to fall back asleep, but without power I had not idea what time it was. Besides there was a glow of a Bible verse on a shirt I had made, "Whether I turn to the right or the left, your ear will hear a voice behind you saying "This is the way walk in it.' " Isaiah 30: 21. Finally, I got up and it was 5:30 (I thought was 6:30, guess I need to go back to learning how to tell time on an analog clock).
I quickly got a shower (I do mean quick with just enough hot water). I woke husband, and we waited for daylight to see if we received any damage. Our sons were soon up (our daughter slept in) and as soon as they could they went outside. Lots of branches down, fence panels, but our four trees still stood and no damage. Praise God!
That day passed pretty quickly with branch clean up and wasn't to hot because Irma left us some wind gusts and clouds to keep the temperature down. Our in-laws had power so we were able to use their generator which was very welcoming, so I didn't have to lose our food in the fridges. We managed to cook on a camp stove and our grill. It was like camping.
The second day though brought back the heat, luckily we were able to plug in a fan into the generator and we managed to make it through. I figured I could endure, after all people in other countries do. Cold showers were better than no showers and we ate. I did begin to grow a little frustrated when my water wouldn't boil so I could cook rice. An hour later, the rice finally got done. Still I could endure.
"Hallelujah!" I yelled when I heard the beep telling me we had power. I was so excited! Only 45 hours, not to bad. I knew electric crews were working around the clock. It was short lived though, it flickered on and off a few times. Once I believed it was on for good, even settled down for "Wheel of Fortune" sure enough it went off again. This time it didn't come right back on. Another game night by lantern light.
This time when we went to bed though, it was a lot hotter. It was hard to fall asleep. "Lord, I don't want to be ungrateful or discouraged, but I was really hoping that was our power being restored. After all, the other people around us have it. My parent's home had their lights restored. But still I will be patient."
I managed to fall asleep, but was soon awoken by our children returning home from work. I believe I was sweating in places I never sweat before. It was hard to fall back to sleep. When our sons abandoned ship, they were sleeping at my parents house since my one son is house sitting for them I felt even more discouraged. "It's too hot here," our oldest said.
I went back to God, " God, I will endure this. I will stay strong, but if there is anyway you could restore our power. I mean I can't even work without it." I tossed and turned some more, then I heard the beep again. Really, our power restored again! I waited because I wasn't sure if it would stay. Finally, after 20 minutes I thought this time might be it, so I turned our A/C back on. Just the ceiling fans on made a difference in the heat, but it was so nice to feel cool air again.
Fifty hours we were without power. Some didn't lose it and others are still waiting for it to be restored. Some are dealing with flooding, something that we didn't have too. We persevered and I tried to remain faithful to God. I hope I produced more endurance to help me through any other trials that come my way, and can help people see God is faithful we just need to trust and endure.
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