I remember a friend of mine back in high school that sang that song God will make this trial a blessing. I never truly understood it,but looking back now I have had two of the hardest things in my life happen to me (4yrs ago loosing my job I loved and last April loosing my home). God made them a blessing.
To make a few long stories short 4 yrs ago I worked at a job that I truly enjoyed but apparently it didn't go both sides. I made every effort to make the job work but in the end it didn't. So I managed to go back to my previous job and got a part-time job that was my blessing. I worked full time and prayed for years to go part-time to be home with my son Nate but never found it possible to do so since I carried the insurance. At the time of my job loss situation my husband Robbie put in for another job but didn't hear back from them. Six months later Robbie got laid off from his job, we were at lost of what we were gonna do but we TRUSTED GOD. A week after he got laided off he got a call from the same place he applied for 6 months earlier, and they asked him if he was still interested in a job, PRAISE GOD. He got the job with insurance, and when I went back from my maternity leave with our second child I worked only 3days a week. I get the best of both worlds, work and being a stay at home mom a few days a week.
Last year was the HARDEST YEAR OF OUR LIVES. I thought the previous was hard but when April 27,2011 happened it was the night that forever changed our lives. The day that I will never forget and it still hurts to think about. The weather was so eerie all day. As soon as I got to work that morning and they called a code gray meaning severe weather. A tornado came thru within miles of the hospital, the weather men were calling for more that day. By lunch time our supervisor came thru and said they are shutting down the OR and we need to all go home soon.. Out of all the years I've worked there that has never happened. Riding home it was beautiful out side sun shining and not a cloud in the sky, by the time I got home schools were getting let out early. Another round of storms/tornado came thru Chattanooga and North Bradley County. I remember lying in the sofa thinking nothing like that ever happens here. I made supper and went about the evening as normal. Until 8pm the power went out and it started to hail, we put our shoes on and went down stairs just like we usually do with a severe weather treat. Hung out in the basement till it passed then went upstairs and hang out on the front porch. I got a call from my mom that my sisters house had a large tree fall on it, Robbie and I talked about going by to see it, but I told him we'll go tomorrow I don't want to be in the way. So hanging around the house, it started to get darker inside, I lite candles and tried to find a better radio, all we were using was a shower radio, none of my other radios had working batteries.
Paul Barys on the weather said there is a storm hitting Ringold,Ga and going to go to South East Bradley County in 15-20min seek shelter immediately, I told the boys get your shoes on and get down stairs, we blew out the candles and got the boys a snack and headed down stairs. Sitting in the floor my sister sends me a text to get down stairs now, and I put my phone down. Robbie came over and sit by me, the boys in front of us, then I hear the radio saying this tornado is going to South East Bradley County seek shelter NOW. I looked to the door and it was a sheet of gray from the hard rain and thought OH CRAP THAT'S US, OH CRAP THAT'S US. I then heard a whistling sound of the rain coming down, I then moved over beside my boys and laid on top of them, Robbie then on top of us with a tarp covering us and I began YELLING as loud as possible JESUS, JESUS, JESUS, JESUS. A ripping sound came down & the temperature changed to a cold feeling, a pound sounded in our far back corner, then water began to pour in the floor. WE'VE BEEN HIT. At that point I start to say Thank you God for nothing touching us, Thank you God for protecting us. I didn't know what was happening over our heads but I knew who did and would protect us. Once it passed Robbie said "Tammy it's over we've been hit", I said "I'm calling 911" he said "wait let me go up stairs and see what happened", he opened the basement door and said "Tammy we got no roof" at that point I pressed send on 911 and was calm and told the operator we've been hit by the tornado and we are safe but don't know about our neighborhood. We put the boys in there car seats in the car that was parked in the basement with us turned on a DVD for them, then we tried to call our neighbors and family. Our neighbor Casey came yelling around the corner carrying a pink pig flash light and we were yelling back he and Amber were okay and he said "Man you got no roof", at that point alot was a blurr, Robbie ran out to try to get the water main turned off and discovered our neighbor's home across the street, 3/4 of his home was destroyed. Our blessed neighbor on the other side of us Jackie came over and said "Tammy are you okay" I said "yes", she said "come on get the boys come to our house", she was like and angel in a storm of kayos, we got over to their home and waited for another storm storm to pass, in their one level home bath tub praying. Once the craziness of the storms passed we went out side to access the damage and was afraid to go in the house. So for the next 7hrs I rested for maybe 2hrs most of the time thinking about what happened, it was torture not knowing what we were gonna do, I just wanted to go home. When it was day light we finally went inside our ravaged, the first things we grabbed were pictures and wedding rings. Most of the day was a blurr, my sister and brother in law were the first to get into us, my bestie brought me some much needed comfort and our families came to help recover what we could. God used our family and friends to show us so much love. For a very long time I just wanted to go home and crawl in my bed, but I didn't have a home anymore, I felt lost. We lived with my mom of 9 long days, we finally moved in to a townhouse and tried to start recovering our mental and family life status.
We managed to rebuild our home and are still recovering from the mental pain probley more me than the rest. So now we have a beautiful home and space for our Ethiopian Princess, she has a beautiful yellow room waiting on her to fill. We have been blessed with most of the much needed finance to bring her home as well. I am truly thankful now one year and one month later of this trial. It has been a year I don't want to ever have to go thru again, but I learned not to focus on tangible things but focus on what God has done He kept my family and helped to grow our family.
God has made this trial a blessing. I know that when God allows things in our lives to happen he has the 360 degree panoramic camera and knows exactly what is gonna come about in the next steps of our lives. HE KNOWS IT HURTS! He hurts with us, but our heavenly Father knows what is best for us. So when things come our way and it's not in our plans, look toward God he has it in his plans, and he wants what is best for us.
"For I know the thoughts I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you and expected end" Jeremiah 29:11 and if you see the NLT translation it says "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."
Thank you JESUS!
