Tomorrow is May 10th- one year since the tornado struck our community and our home. Ironic that there is the possibility of severe weather again tomorrow. Ever since that storm whirled its way into our lives last year, nothing has been the same. It was as if an unknown storm had been brewing outside our peripheral until suddenly…destruction.
Looking back is way easier than actually living through this past year has been- for many reasons. One thing that is undeniable is that Susan never did well after that tornado. She never liked change, in fact she had spent her entire adult life taking precautions and being safe. But you can’t lock out a twister- it just spins on in...reeking havoc and messing up our not so neat little lives.
At first, after hunkering down in the bathroom while the storm ripped and sucked all around us, Susan seemed bewildered and confused.
She did realize we had been hit, but wandered around with that familiar look that you see on everyone’s face just minutes after any kind of unexpected disaster strikes. That blank look that says,"What just happened and how did I get here?" We all had that look; but after a while, your mind catches up with the event as everything begins to sink in. I remember jerking awake in the middle of the first few nights and sitting straight up in bed as my sleepy mind remembered that we had been hit by a tornado. For days, even my eyes were in disbelief of what they saw. As our brains and bodies switched to recover mode- we made calls, picked up debris, trimmed fallen trees and began the repairs…. Susan did not. She went on and tried to re-gather herself, but in retrospect I see that she never really could put her remaining puzzle pieces back together again. She still ate well, laughed often, enjoyed things, went places and danced with the rest of us silly people, but now she was frailer and more delicate, it seemed.
I am aware that emotional stress is hard on our physical bodies and I wonder how I might have better protected Susan from it. I don’t think that I could have really; I couldn’t even protect myself. Life happens and there is much we cannot control. But who is to say that in many ways this year has not really been one of mercy to us all? In fact, I believe it has! For that, I thank God.
I want to end with a story that leads to a scripture. My children and I were working with the American Red Cross after the May 3, 1999, tornado in Oklahoma. A woman and her family came to us for shelter and food. She was still wearing the same house clothes that she had put on to relax after work two days earlier. She sat in her comfy clothes as she told us how her and her adult children had hunkered down in a small closet underneath the stairs of her house. With big eyes, she relayed how they had listened to the forces of nature sucking, shaking and ripping at their house and lives. Huddled there, she began to pray out loud, “Lord, you said that you would go with us in the midst of the storm! Now Lord, we are in the midst of the storm and we ask that you would be with us here!” He did for them and He did for us! No matter how hard this past year has been for us, I have clearly felt His amazing grace abounding through it all!
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
-Isaiah 41:10(NIV)
