Updates

Two weeks ago I shared a piece of my heart through this blog. Last Tuesday my family and I came home. Since we arrived home it seems we've been on the go 24/7.
My family is blessed, however. Our house is undamaged. We had a tree go down into our neighbors' yard, inches away from their house, and portions of our fence fell down, but compared to what others have been through our damage was minimum. We were blessed.
Others haven't been so fortunate though. Many in my city - and in my own neighborhood - have had their houses flooded, or trees go into their houses.

In my city trees have fallen, debris is pretty much everywhere, fences down, tornadoes have been through in some places, and etc.. But despite what has happened it’s evident that God has been at work. Hurricane Florence changed to a Cat. 1 before hitting land and considering the damage it cause from that, thankfully it didn’t stay a Cat. 4. There have been many instances where the damage could have been worse, praise God that He has intervened many times. My heart aches for those who have had loved ones die or those who have had their houses destroyed or badly damaged, but I know that God can use this for good.

I've already seen God move in many ways, and I've seen people come together through this. This past Saturday our church had a church work day (we sent out teams to different houses to help) and more than fifty people showed up. While I'm not going to share everything that God has been doing recently in my city I will say that He's been moving.

However, times of discouragement do arise. We get worn out and tired, the road ahead seems long. But God can give us strength and He can encourage our hearts.

These verses from Isaiah 61 have been encouraging to me...

(verse 1) "The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners;"

(verse 2) "...to comfort those who mourn..."

(verse 4) "They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the former devastations; they will renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations."

(verse 10) "I greatly rejoice in the Lord, I exult in my God..."


I’m looking forward to see how we continue come together in these circumstances and how God will continue to work. These situations aren’t ideal, but life rarely is and I’m sure God has a reason for what has happened.
That said, I'm going to take a blogging break... at least for now. Knowing me, it could just be a week or two, however it could be longer. I'm not sure yet.


A video my church shared - showing damage from the hurricane and people helping - had the song Beautiful Things by Gungor playing. It's a lovely song talking about how God can make beautiful
things from anything. You can click on the video below to listen to it or click here.

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What about you? What's been going in your life? Were you effected by Hurricane Florence? What's something that God has done in your life recently? What's a Bible verse that has encouraged you lately?

Psalm 9:10, “Those who know Your Name trust in You because You have not not abandoned those who seek You, Yahweh.”