Last weekend I was at a Newfrontiers USA conference called, “Mobilise” and it was amazing. There are so many reasons why this weekend was great... Not only did I get to see friends from all over the country but I also got to worship and seek God with them. There is one thing that someone prayed at Mobilise that I've been mulling over all week, “God’s hand is on you and if He took His hand off of you for even a minute, you’d cease to exist.” Talk about a reality check! This sentence affected me greatly and brought to mind two experiences from my past year...
May, 22nd, 2011: At the time, I was still living in NH but visiting Joplin for a friend’s wedding. That morning I went to church and was reunited with many of my best friends. It was a happy day, indeed! During worship at church, I felt clearly that God wanted to tell the church that He is good through all circumstances and we can trust Him no matter what we’re going through. At this point in the day, I was thinking, “Yeah, that's great God... I’m so happy right now and I'm feeling totally blessed.” Little did I know...
Fast forward 6 hours later... I was driving back to where I was staying with a friend and the weather was starting to look so eerie and calm. The sky looked like I’d never seen it look before and suddenly, all the radio stations had weather alerts playing. I’d heard tornado alerts before but like a lot of people living in the Midwest, I’d never taken their warnings too seriously. As we neared our destination, the radio announcers got increasingly serious and before I knew it; they started talking about how the tornado had hit the ground. At this point, I was still relatively calm and continued driving towards our destination. The radio stations announced that signs of the tornado would be rain and hail. Sure enough, it started to rain and hail began to shower from the sky just as the tornado sirens started blaring. I began to freak out and for a lack of a better term I “Put the pedal to the metal!” Thankfully, we reached the house and ran down to the basement. We sat down there with our friends and some neighbors and laughed, trying to pass the time...we were completely oblivious to whatever was happening outside until we turned on the radio and heard a man describe the incredible devastation.
Later on, I learned that it was a F-5 tornado and over 100 people had died. Here I was taking my vacation time for the year and out of nowhere a tornado destroys one of my most beloved towns. It was one of the most life-changing days I've ever experienced and left me totally speechless.
So, here I leave you with my first story...
Stay tuned for Part II and III...
Going green,
Abby
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