As most of you well know, today is April 27th, the one year anniversary of the day our state and many others in the south were ravaged by very strong, dangerous tornadoes. To be honest, I'm not sure how to collect my thoughts on this subject. After the storm the months dragged on until we got into September and finally life started assuming some kind of normalcy. But things have still changed.
I find myself not wanting to think about it. Not because it was too difficult to deal with or to tough to think about now. But because I've put it behind me, I've closed that chapter so to speak. And reopening it would mean going through ( or at least remembering ) all the emotions and memories and lessons we've learned from it.
None of us expected it to happen, none of us saw if coming, ( figuratively speaking c ; ) none of us knew how long it would take to recover from an incident like this. But the more I think about it the more I realize that God did.
He knew it was coming, He knew where we would all be when it started, He knew whos lives would be taken, He knew how it would affect each of us individually, He knew how He was going to use it to teach each of us, He knew that we would develop lifelong friendships as we walked through this together. He knew that it was going to be hard, and He knew that He would never leave us. He knew that at some point we would all stop, drop our heads and ask Him "Why?"
But He let it happen anyway, because He loves us enough to put us through hardships and trials. He loves us enough to use these things to teach us how to be more like Him. I believe that is why the storm(s) happened.
So today, as we gather together and remember everything we went through one year ago, we should be greatful. Because this small trial that we've just so recently come out of, is another reminder of just how great God's love is for us.
Here are a few of the pictures that were taken last year after the storm :
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The Isbells |
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This was the house across the street. |
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The trucks that came to pick up debri. |
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Where a house used to be.. |
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Visit with the Lee's |
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Clean up! |
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Notice all the smiles c ; |
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R.I.P. Shadow |
