Faith in Troubled Times

      As the days continue to pass and more times grows between now and the night the storm hit, I find myself pondering lessons I thought I had already learned, which now have a new and deeper meaning.
    There is a plaque in my sisters room that I got her for her birthday one year. On it is one definition of faith that I have grown to love.

Faith is seeing light with your heart when your eyes see only darkness.

       This has been a comfort to me in the past month of my life. With so much uncertainty looming around us. It's difficult sometimes to think this way. Instead we think How will this ever get done? or We will never have the money for that or What will we do now?
    I know that this has happened to my family many times before the storm and much more afterwards. We worry about paying some bill or having enough gas money to go where we need to go. And then, seemingly out of no where, someone comes and hands us just the amount of money we need or offers a bag of free clothes or a meal that was much needed. And then we say, "God provides."
    My prayer is that we will learn our lesson from these circumstances. And instead of saying, "What will we do now?" we say, "God will provide." With all the confidence as if He has already done it.
     Is this an easy thing to do? Not always. But when we learn to put our trust in God for our every need and understand that He really does control every little thing. Than we can rest easily and trust in the fact that we are well taken care of.
    But trusting God to provide our needs is one thing. What about trusting Him in every other area of our lives....
      The hardest part for me is when another storm decides to blow in. Like today. Watching the news and seeing the devastation just like what we went through, only now in so many more places. It makes me want to ask " God, just what are You doing here?"
   And when were sitting in the living room watching the weather channel or listening to the weather radio waiting to hear what will happen next, it's sometimes hard to trust God.
   Because what if it is His will for some of us to be taken home soon. We don't know.
   So when we say, God I trust You. What we should mean is, God I trust You to do whats best for me. Knowing that it doesn't mean bi-passing the heartache and suffering. But knowing that God will be with us through it all and still has our best interests at heart.
   This, I believe, is the ultimate form of faith. It's not easy. We want to believe that the things we have and the people we love belong to us. But the truth is that they are only loaned to us for a time, as companions or sole mates or children or parents. Many of us found that out when we lost our dear friend, Mr. Tom Lee.
  We have to trust that the God who has cared for us all our lives will take care of His children while their here on earth and after they have left us here.
 So that we may boldly say........

                               



        Here is more of the storm story.......



Link


     Storm Story ( Part 2 )



    There are a few things that I left out before that I''d like to mention. First of all when I said Mrs. Liveret I meant Mr.
c ;
Secondly there were a few things Arron told us when we were all upstairs talking, one was that at some point they were saying to put helmets on the children. The other thing was that he had heard a story of a woman somewhere near the Mississippi\Alabama state line who had laid herself over her two children ( a 4 year old and a 6year old if I remember correctly) just before a tornado hit there house and saved their lives while the house collapsed on top of them, she however lost her life.
    I also thought that it was important to note that, a few of the Lee girls ( that's the family with thirteen children) had been to the Crawford's that morning. They had brought Mrs. Crawford and her family a meal, the reason being Mrs. Crawford has a newborn who was just three weeks old at the time. Bria, who has been good friends with the Lee girls for a long time I believe told them that if their family would like to stay at their house during the storm they were perfectly welcome. ( By the way, these were the girls who would later be trapped under a piano in their collapsed house.) They politely declined for whatever reason, they probably didn't think it would be that bad and didn't want to bring 15 more people over for the Crawford's to have to entertain. ( Even though I'm sure the Crawford's wouldn't have minded at all.)
  Oh and in case you don't already know, Jesse is my older brother.


    Now back to the story....

 When I went downstairs the kids were watching the movie Tangled, which happens to be one of my favorites. And so I sat down next to the couch to enjoy it with them. Bria and my sister Gina ended up down there eventually as well. And for a while it was just us and the Crawford kids down in the basement. Steven ( my little brother ) was with Ashton in his room which was just behind the wall that the TV was up against. And ever so often they would come out of the rooms to quote the funny parts of the movie. And the little Crawford girls are so sweet, they would come and sit in our laps and watch the movie from there. ( I think they like company, just like my little sister c ; ) Eventually dinner was ready upstairs and we were supposed to all come up and get our food. So we did ( I only got a few slices of pizza) and then came back down, at this point I believe everyone was gathering in the basement because the storm was drawing closer. Momma and Mrs. Crawford sat at a little table where they set up the laptop to watch James Spann. Ashton suggested putting on another movie after Tangled was over, but Mrs. Crawford said not to. (Thank Goodness, I don't know if we all still would have left that room if we had been busy watching a movie.)
    After a few minutes of eating, another family showed up ( who are also good friends of ours and the Crawford's and had been invited to ride out the storm there as well) the Boyd's. I remember that they stood just at the bottom of the stairway since the room was now very full of people. (There are eleven Boyd's, eleven Crawford's, and seven of us.) Now that I think about it, I should have gotten up and let one of them sit down, but for some reason I wasn't thinking about that at the time.
   Mrs. Crawford moved to the stairs with her plate and sat down their to chat with the Boyd's. The men ( Arron, Jesse and  my dad) were all out on the porch watching the progress of the storm. Kevin ( one of the boys who lived with Mr. Liveret ) was also out there, he had a professional camera I think and was taking pictures. ( I haven't seen those pictures yet but I would like to.) 
   Shortly after the Boyd's arrived another family ( who had also been invited to ride out the storm) the Kings arrived. Now we had 37 people in this one house.
   Th next few things happened simultaneously. My mom who was still at the computer and  said she heard that the storm's path had gone through Birmingham, Trussville, Argo and Springville. The next stop, she said, was Ashville.
At the same time Mrs. Crawford started saying that we might need to take this more seriously. The men also started coming downstairs, ( I think my dad was the first one ). He said that it was looking really bad. When I asked him about it later he said that they saw, from the porch, a big, dark rotating cloud. Next came Arron, Jesse and Kevin. ( I forgot to mention that before the men had gone out to the porch, Arron had told us which rooms were the safest, just in case we wanted to go in there.) Now they were all saying, it's time to go into the rooms.
    Just before this I remember sitting on the couch and watching one of the Crawford girls (Alexa) call Ashton and Steven in from outside.They came and just after that it started hailing and the wind picked up. Alexa  had opened one of the french doors that was just beside the couch when she called the boys in, when one of the other Crawford girls Avilee, who was sitting next to me saw their dog Maya and asked if they should bring her in. She had been limping and Avi didn't think she would be able to get away from the storm. Some one told her that Maya would be fine, and then they proceeded to rush us all into the rooms.
     I stood back for a moment letting the little ones go first. When I did start to go into one of the rooms I remember Mr. Boyd ( who, with his family was gathering in the laundry room ) saying "Come on in here, there's plenty of room." I didn't know if he was talking to me, but a decided that I should probably go into the other room because there were so many little ones in there that they may need help with.
    So we separated into two groups, the Boyd's along with Ashton and Kevin ended up in the laundry room just below the stairs. My family along with the Kings ( who have four or five little ones.), the Crawford's, minus Ashton and Wesley ( another one of the boys who was living with Mr. Liveret) were all in a room just behind the staircase. It was a clothes closet and very large, inside the clothes closet there was another closet that was underneath the stair case. This is where Mrs. King and Mrs. Crawford put all the little ones. Between the Crawford children, the King children and my little sister Charlene there were at least fifteen kids in there. At first there was no one in there with them, so I went in and sat down. At that point no strong winds could be heard, we didn't realize how bad it was getting. At that point we were all thinking worst case scenario was a few trees would fall, possibly on the house, and maybe some damaging hail and straight line winds. Now I don't remember thinking these words in my mind and actually saying to myself "This won't be that bad." It was more like a feeling. But soon that feeling went from "This won't be that bad." to "Will we live through this?" And it didn't take long at all.
    I remember all of the children laughing and playing as they were put into the little closet with blankets on the floor. But very quickly the laughter turned into screaming and crying.  Mrs. King was at the doorway of the little closet holding one of her little ones and I was sitting right next to her on the right. As soon as it started we all knew it. At first it was just a few thuds we heard upstairs. I don't remember hearing a sound like a freight train like people always say, but the air around us changed. The pressure was heavier, people started saying that their ears were popping. Everything around us started getting violent. We heard bangs and crashes just above our heads on the stairway. I think we heard the wind but it's hard to say, I just remember there being an overall feeling of fear and alarm. When things started falling on the stairs above our heads, I looked over at the little ones next to me. Most of them had stood up and were trying to get out of the closet, but Mrs. King and I stopped them. Mally and Kyla Crawford were the ones closest to me. Mally is five and I believe Kyla is two or three. When I looked over I saw Kyla's little face filled with fear and needing comfort. So I motioned for her to come over to me, and she jumped in my lap. I held her tight, hoping the house wouldn't fall on our heads. Just after this is when it really got bad. I looked over and saw the door that lead out to the hallway, with Jesse pushing up against it as hard as he could, and slipping at that. And then it registered that the wind was trying to blow open the door and Jesse was the only thing keeping it from sucking us all out of that room.
   I heard Mrs. King all the while telling the children that it was all going to be okay, that we would be fine, and that they needed to just sit back down. I tried to do the same thing, but I think she was doing a much better job than me. I think I was more afraid than the children. I heard Kyla crying in my lap, and saw the others worried faces. I thought about the story of the mother who had laid herself over her children, and tried to think what I would do if this did cave in on our heads. There were simply too many of them in there, I couldn't protect them all. Thank God that He was there with us, He protected everyone. And even though we all tried, we couldn't keep it from collapsing. But He did.
   Someone told me that while all that was happening, the roof started shaking up and down like it was going to collapse. And Arron who along with his wife was huddled over Bria who was holding Jax in a corner of the bigger closet, said later that at one point he thought the roof was going to come down on us. I remember seeing leaves blow in under the door, and vaguely wondering how they got into the house.
    All of this happened within just thirty seconds maybe. And we hadn't been in those closets that long before it all started.
    When everything had settled down, some of the men went outside to see just how bad it was. Jesse, Arron and dad I think were the ones who went out. I don't remember how long I stayed in the closet, with the children. But I certainly wasn't going to leave them yet. While we were waiting for the men to come back in we just sat there, shocked and afraid. Avilee was very worried ( shes seven I think) she started saying that Maya was probably dead, the house was probably gone, where would they live, what would they eat. I tried to help reassure her that everything would be alright. I still had Kyla in my arms she hadn't moved much.
   I heard Arron come back in the closet, and say "The house is gone." His voice was trembling and full of unbelief. I couldn't understand, it all happened so fast, to hear that the house was gone just didn't register. It wasn't until I actually saw it that it began to slowly sink in.
  Mrs. Crawford came into the closet and sat down amidst the children. She took Kyla who was now wanting her mother. And sat down with as many as close to her as she could. Avy asked if the house was gone. And Brooks asked if there was going to be another storm. Mrs. Crawford looked like she was on the verge of breaking down, but at that point we all were. But she was strong, I remember admiring that about both her and Bria. She calmly said to the children " Yes the house is gone. But, it doesn't matter because all of our family is safe. "The children of course didn't see how it couldn't matter, and this made them all the more upset. Mrs. Crawford must have counted heads a hundred times, which I don't blame her one bit for. When she realized that Ashton wasn't in there, she began asking where he was. Someone went and got him from the other room and he came to stand at the door to the little closet. "Just be with me." She said to him. And so he stayed for a while.
   I don't remember at what point I got up to go out into the bigger closet, but I did. I wanted to see what was going on. I don't really remember what order things happened in either. But I do remember that I found out where everyone was and  at some point saw Johnny Lee come to the door of the closet. Someone said when he got to the Crawford's he called out to see if we were still in there. He was afraid that no one at the Crawford's had made it. But when he did come to the door, he told us that the little ones were okay, but some of the Lees were trapped and they needed help. He had run at least half a mile, maybe more. It wasn't dark at that time, but I believe he was barefooted and it wasn't just a straight line through the field that separated the Crawford's and the Lee's. I don't know what all he had to do but I know he had to  climb over debri and trees and who knows what else. I've not heard all the individual stories but I know that at this point Jesse had already left to go help somewhere. I think everyone else followed Johnny back over to his house or were already headed there. All the men anyway. I remember Bria wanting to go help because she heard the Lee's were trapped, but Mrs.Crawford wouldn't let her. So all the men went to help the Lee's, and the Boyd's, all accept the two oldest boys who had gone to help the Lee's as well, began to walk back to their house to see if it was still there. So now it was all the women and children of the Kings, Crawford's, us,along with Kevin and Wesley who would end up staying in that room for the next four hours.

 

In this video there is plenty of footage of the basement we stayed in. None of the actual room we stayed in, but the big room with the T.V. is where we were just before we went into separate rooms. The room at the bottom of the staircase is where the Boyd's and a few others went during the storm.