Pour It On
When the enemy shall
come in like a flood,
the Spirit of the Lord
shall lift up a standard against him.
— Isaiah 59:19b
They came back from vacation to find
30,000 gallons of water flooding their Arizona house because of a burst pipe. The
carpet was floating. The kitchen ceiling had fallen in. The walls were soaked. A
box with a lamb cake mold had floated out of a kitchen cupboard all the way
into the garage.
An adult daughter had found the
mess, assembled a demolition team, and started the cleanup process. A grandson
got the furniture up on blocks. Salvageable stuff was hauled away. Asbestos in
old floor tiles and popcorn ceilings was floating around; they'd have to call
in a Haz-Mat team.
Where was the family silver?
Grandma's needlepointed footstool? Her asthma medicine? His tax records?
Lesser mortals would have collapsed
in despair. But not them. They just asked everybody to pray.
They're Christians. They're Easter
people. They take what life gives them, and they pray their way through.
Even over the next few weeks, when:
n
The
husband wound up in the Emergency Room because of a blocked-up digestive system
caused by all the stress, and the bill was over $5,000.
n
He
discovered a lump that turned out to be breast cancer.
n
Their
daughter faced surgery for a mass in her abdomen.
n
Someone
in the insurance loop erroneously accessed their bank account and stripped them
of $500.
n
The
rental house they finally were offered had black mold in the fridge, a filthy
oven, and junk in the closets and drawers.
n
They
couldn't get the furnace to work and the wife wound up in the Emergency Room
with a bad case of the shakes.
n
The
temporary sofa that had been sent to them arrived soaking wet because of a leak
in the roof of the truck. . . .
When life floods you - when stress
upon stress is poured on - that's when the Lord Jesus Christ shines the
brightest.
Just as they knew they would, the
blessings began to flow:
n
Friends
and family rallied to provide constant help and encouragement.
n
The
husband's breast cancer was caught so early, he has a 90% chance of recovery
with treatment.
n
He
turned 65 that month so Medicare covered the huge ER bill.
n
The
daughter's abdominal mass was benign and vaporized by laser.
n
The
contractor, architect and private insurance adjuster are all Godly men, so the
cleanup and restoration process is going well.
n
Not a
single incident of trespassing or theft occurred.
n
The
husband's computer happened to have been away for repair.
n
They
had taken their favorite clothes and shoes on vacation.
n
The
wife got new asthma medication without mishap.
n
They own many valuable paintings, but they were all in a storage
unit because the house was to be painted.
n
The
rental agent for their temporary quarters left a goodie basket that included
the wife's favorite flower, daffodils.
n
All
the food in the freezer remained rock hard, including a 29-pound turkey.
And then there's Uno, the sweetest blessing of all:
During the cleanup, they found a
litter of five abandoned kittens in their yard. Umbilical cords were still
attached, eyes firmly closed. Four died; they buried them tenderly beside a stone
angel. Their daughter pulled out all the stops to save the biggest one, Uno. He
is now their adored pet, a living reminder that good comes out of bad.
Always.
Always!
Remember the Cross? That's what it
means.
Recently, the wife had a birthday,
and she smuggled Uno to the restaurant, warm and dry in a diaper bag. They gave
her roses. Everyone said it was the best food ever. They laughed, they talked,
they marveled at how they really hadn't lost a thing. Instead, they gained.
And they got flooded once again - with
joy that, through it all, He was there, loving them, caring for them, blessing
them.
They're Easter people.
They've got a Savior.
When life pours it on, even to flood levels, you look up . .
. you believe . . . and you stay high and dry. †
