Serving Georgia

When we first heard about Pembroke, Georgia being hit by a tornado it really sounded like there would not be enough damage to form a trip. I know that sounds kind of weird for some of you, and we get it. Typically when we deploy, we need to have enough damage to keep volunteers busy for the length of our stay so not to discourage them and to ensure we are being productive for the community plus good stewards for our ministry.

After a few days and a few phone calls, we felt the Lord’s hand leading us to respond the week before Easter. It was evident once we got there that we were needed and that God had lined up some special families to meet while there. It definitely was not a waste of time or resources to respond, and we are so glad that we did.

The first house we responded to was a Godsend. Their roof was completely torn off by the storm, and they didn’t know it until they stepped out of their larger storm shelter that they had built. Now, we are gonna tell you, this is not typical for a Georgian home, as you may have guessed. But the husband/dad was from Oklahoma, and he wanted to make sure his family always had a shelter, especially when he was away on business. As we began to demo their house, it was evident they were believers because they had scripture verses written on every header and many 2x4 studs throughout the house. The amount of tree damage on their property took us over 3 days to clear, which is a monumental task.

As with many homeowners, you can sense the devastation, the burden, the overwhelming concern of how they will ever start over because there is so much damage many people do not even know where to start. At first, the homeowners were very frustrated, angry, and sad by seeing many of their belongings lost, tangled in trees and thrown about their yard. I would expect that I would feel the same in their shoes. By the end of our time, we could visibly see a difference in their hope to start over, the concern of clearing all the damage, and their thankfulness for all the time and energy our volunteers poured into their family to make a difference. It was a blessing to lift this burden from them because it would have taken months for this family to clear their damaged home and trees.

This is just one story and we hope to share one more soon when we are able to release all the details. God is good, y’all!