Aftermath of Ike in Arkansas

My room with my bed pushed to the side.

What I discovered when I woke up.

I felt the dust and insulation from the ceiling and heard the crash before I knew what happened. It was a pretty scary night. It sounded like our house was being picked up and put back down like something out of the Wizard of Oz. My husband, the quick thinker, bolted up and said I think a tree hit our house. We darted out of bed and turned on the light to see a tree limb sticking right through the roof, nestled right above where I was sleeping. I never say, OMG, but that is exactly what I said. . .and I was really crying out to Him.The second of three trees that came down.

We gathered the kids in the living room and realized that the winds that were howling before we went to bed were really giving the trees a beating. Somewhere shortly after that, another tree came down on the top of the other one. It sends chills up my spine to see how close to death we came. We are so fortunate to have survived the aftermath that "Ike" sent in to Arkansas.

That is the corner where our bedroom is.

We are so grateful to our church family who came very quickly to our home to help us cut up all of the trees and get them off of our roof. We are so blessed by our God. A neighbor came over when we came out for the first time to see the damage and he remarked how he cannot understand how we were laughing and ok with all that had happened. It goes back to the sermon that Prince Charming had just preached the week before (which he is not allowed to preach again for a very long time). It comes from James 1: 2-4 (NIV)

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Some pics of our church family and kids who came to help.

We are forever grateful for the hand of God in our lives this weekend. I know that there are many more who will come back to their homes to just find rubble or water seeping through their most precious valuables and we are praying that God will touch you and give you His strength to persevere through this tragedy and possibly to consider it pure joy.