It was 3:30 in the morning, when I received the call that changed everything in my life. “Jennifer, you need to get out of the house. Your neighborhood is flooding,” my friend sobbed hysterically. Unsure if I was dreaming, I stumbled from my bed, down my hallway, and out my front door. I could not believe what I was seeing. I discovered hundreds of neighbors standing in their driveways and lawns, staring with the same awe that I was. Water was pouring into my neighborhood at alarmingly rapid rates of speed. We didn’t live near a body of water. We weren’t supposed to be affected by flood waters. Our area had not flooded in over 1,000 years.
Yet, flood waters were pouring in, quickly threatening to take my home. As if we lived in a bathtub and the faucet had just been turned on full-strength, we stood briefly stunned, as we watched the waters rise. I ran inside quickly, awakened my family, and grabbed a suitcase with as many essentials as I could find. Within 20 minutes, we were loaded in the car and fleeing the catastrophic scene. It took only a matter of hours for the Great Louisiana Flood of 2016 to overtake my home and wash away virtually everything I owned – baby pictures, wedding albums, my children’s first letters, furniture, clothes, everything.
“This isn’t supposed to happen. I’ve been faithful, God. I’ve dedicated my life to your service. And….I’ve been homeless before. I don’t need a reminder about how hard that is! How can we go on? How can we rebuild?” I thought.
The days following left me disoriented, confused, speechless, sleepless, and exhausted, as I scrambled to make sense of the horror that was now my reality. I coped. I’d love to tell you I did more. I’d love to tell you I thrived and had some supernatural God experience in those days, but I merely survived. I muddled through. We worked 18-hour days ripping sheetrock from the walls of my water-stained and mud-soaked home. We dragged every wet, soggy, and soiled piece of furniture from our home. And I cried, a lot. I worked myself to exhaustion, fell to the floor and cried, then worked myself to exhaustion some more. It was hard, very hard.
The end of that story is that six months later, we moved into our refurbished home, managing to restock the shelves of food and clothes, ultimately establishing normalcy. The road was hard, but there were many lessons learned. And as moms sit and read the words of this story today, there are many of you who have lost everything. You’ve lost your home or marriage, your job or financial stability, or some other meaningful part of your life.
So what do we do when we lose everything comfortable in our lives? What do we do when a fire takes our earthly possessions? What do we do when we lose a loved one? What do we do when we lose our marriage? Our job? Our financial security? Our health? The relationship with the one we thought we’d marry?
I’m not a stranger to losing everything. My parents, grandparents, and most of my extended family were dead by the time I was 21 years old. I’ve been a homeless single mom with no money, no friends, and no hope. I’ve been beaten and abused more times than I can count. I’ve had no food and eaten Ramen noodles 5 times a week, just to feed my kids. I’ve chased a relationship that I never should’ve been in, just hoping someone would want me. I’ve huddled on the bathroom floor, certain no one saw me, and no one cared, contemplating suicide.
There is someone there, right now. There is someone reading this that has lost everything, who feels she can’t go on, and who is certain that no one sees you. I’m writing this for you, today.
You haven’t lost everything. It may seem like it, today. It may feel like it. It may seem like the dark cloud has followed you way too long. Maybe you’ve lost a great deal in a short period of time. Maybe you’ve lost your job and your health is failing, and your mom just died. I don’t know what your loss looks like today, and I wouldn’t dare minimize it. Take your time to grieve the loss. Take your time to heal the wounds of the loss. But be reminded that you haven’t lost everything. God is with you. As a born-again child of the King, your salvation isn’t lost. Your future beyond this earth is secure. You haven’t lost the peace that is available to you. You know the very creator of peace. You know the hope-giver – the restorer – the physician who heals all wounds.
It doesn’t matter how you feel today. It doesn’t matter if you can’t feel God’s presence. Feelings are temporal and fleeting. What is true is that He is with you. Satan would like nothing more than to convince you otherwise. He wants to convince you that it’s all over. You’ll never recover. You can’t make it past this. No one cares. They are better off without you. They’ll never forget how you’ve messed up. There are thousands of lies that Satan will whisper in your ear. But that’s just it. They are lies - lies from the pit of Hell, designed strategically to hold you down, destroy you, steal you your hope, and kill the joy of your future. Do not stand for it.
Stand firm against the attacks of the enemy, even when it’s hard. You have been given the authority to stand firm against the lies of the enemy. You have the authority to cast down his plans of attack against you. Know that you are God’s beloved. He sees you. He loves you. You are not alone. Every knee bows to the name of Jesus. Every knee of depression, anxiety, fear, confusion, or even loss must bow to Jesus’ name. While the enemy will attempt to uproot your faith during times of hardship or loss, do not allow him to infiltrate your thought life. Command him to flee and stand firm in your faith. Know that the end of the story is not now. You are simply in a developing, testing season. When I lost all that I had in early possessions in the flood of 2016, I couldn’t see that that season would be over and there would be complete restoration. It felt too big, too hard. But now, years removed, I see God’s handiwork, even in that loss.
A testimony is developing. Many times in my life, through homelessness, pain, abuse, rejection, and more, the Lord has rescued me from the deepest, darkest valley. I thought surely that thing would take me out, steal my joy, and suffocate me. But God has, time and again, rescued me. He will do the same for you. Go through this trying time and process, but know that Revelation 12:11 is on the way!
I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, 'You are my servant.' For I have chosen you and will not throw you away.
Isaiah 41:9
