Fifteen years ago today, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, impacting the lives of millions there, next door in New Orleans and the surrounding areas.
Today I honor that event as I have learned to honor life altering storms I have survived. Celebrate is usually attached to anniversaries but not this one. Maybe there are parts of it I have learned to celebrate but many of those have taken fifteen years to reveal themselves.
They were the hard lessons. The ones where I am learning to look at people and believe they are just doing the best they are capable of as they are walking through their storms. Hurricane Katrina happens to be one that we walked through together.
When you meet someone who lived here then, there is an instant connection and most of the time you find yourself sharing stories of survival.
It never fails.
Until you meet one who won’t speak their story and you know it’s forever buried.
Two of my close friends described our experience as having “ruined them”. Yes. It ruined me too. Katrina took away any naive notion that I was invincible in my little world. I learned every part of me was vulnerable. My heart broke in ways I didn’t know it could break.
The part of me I celebrate today is the part that learned these lessons. For every part of me I lost, God replaced and refilled me with lessons He wanted me to learn.
Walking through storms are our greatest learning opportunities.
But are we listening?
We can be like the people who share their stories, marveling at how incredible they are and almost without exception God is part of their story. Or. We can be like the people who lock the experience deep in the darkest vault inside them, carrying it around in the dark.
Likely, you didn’t live in Katrina land, but my guess is you have or are experiencing your own storms.
There are storms with many names – divorce, drugs, mental health challenges, anger, fear and hopelessness.
Hopelessness can be our worst storm we face. It’s at the bottom of the pit of despair.
But my gratitude for Hurricane Katrina and the storms that have followed is finding God in the midst of it. He taught me to live with hope. The eternal hope we can only experience in His hands. This is why I write.
Today, I celebrate the one year anniversary of the release of my first book. “Between the Valley and the Mountaintop: Glimpses of God in the Middle Places” shares the storms of my life and where God appears in every single one of them.
Surviving those storms have taught me to stay prepared for the next one. As long as there is breathe in this body, there will be another storm on the horizon. Make no mistake.
Staying prepared is the key.
God is the door.
He opens life to us and a relationship that is unshakeable.
God turns that hopelessness into hopeful(l)ness. Full of His Hope and Light.
Believe.
Seek Him.
All are welcome in His kingdom.
Below are the links to blogs I published in 2015 on the tenth anniversary of Katrina.
Typically, I add a lot of pictures to my posts.
An odd thing though. During the year and a half of directing two disaster relief organizations, operating in the ninth ward and St. Bernard parish, I never took one picture. Not one.
My “eye” closed.
The day I took a picture of a four leaf clover I found growing in debris, was the day I knew God was telling me it was ok for me to walk away, leaving the organization in amazing and capable hands.
It was time for me to go.
There were incredible personal storms way out on the horizon and some of those stories can be found in my book.
Enter 2020. Quarantine. Social distancing. Mandated mask wearing. Covid 19.
It’s been a year so far. Four months of 2020 remain. There are more storms on the horizon. How are we prepared to face them? What have the storms of your past taught you? Are we ready to be the warriors God has been preparing us to be? Can we be His Light in this struggling world? Are you focused on His presence around you or in the world around you?
Today, we pray for the survivors of Hurricane Laura that devastated the western part of our state. My heart is not able to go. I know that. I weep when I see a picture but I can not engage physically.
God has taught me that this is not a weakness, but another work in me He has been preparing me for. I pray. There is such power in prayer. I pray for the survivors and what they face. I pray for the responders and what they face. I pray for the linemen and for the wildlife agents, the cajun navy and everyone who will be there in the years to come.
May they realize God is there for them just as He has been here for every storm for each of us.
To God be the GLORY forever and ever.
Janet
There were incredible personal storms way out on the horizon. Some of those stories can be found in my book.
You can buy it here.
Purchase Between the Valley and the Mountaintop on Amazon here.
I also blogged about some of my experiences in this series:
Katrina: I’m No Exception – Part 1