Even This Will Glorify The Lord
Lessons my teen is learning in the wake of Hurricane Helene
If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
—Job 12:15
The Lord has a purpose, even for this.
This is the truth I found myself sharing with my 16 year-old son, Jem, the morning after he and his father delivered donated pillows and sheets and diapers deep into the ravaged hollers of Appalachia. Jem is a typical 16 year-old boy. He has a bit of a swagger, a subtle cockiness he has to work hard to keep under wraps. He can handle a knife, a gun, an axe, any power tool needed to get a job done. He has butchered animals for our table, he has played caretaker to his aging grandparents. He understands hard, he grasps the circle of life and death.
In May, Jemmy and his dad traveled from our home in the foothills up into the mountains proper to bring home three sheep. It was a good day for driving, and the Appalachians showed off, letting them enjoy winding roads and tall trees and the glory that is early summer there. Then in July, we spent a few days on the North Carolina side of the Appalachians with my husband’s side of the family. We drove a length of the Blue Ridge Parkway, stopping so the kids could get stamps for their National Parks Passports. We enjoyed the views, hiked to see waterfalls, talked about the unique history of this specific part of the mountain range my heart calls home.
But what he saw in the mountains when he and his dad drove up Monday rattled him. Landscapes changed, sculpted anew by raging waters. Homes ripped from their foundations— some missing entirely, others merely deposited a hundred yards away, damaged but intact. Mounds of trees, still clinging to their roots, stacked in a jumble near bridges, on river bends, against brick walls that were only weeks ago thriving businesses. Cars stranded, mud nearly to their roofs. It was a wasteland, and he wasn’t ready for it.
Jem learned two things that long day he spent navigating a trip that would have taken only 3 hours total in the days before Helene:
Running water has more raw power than you can possibly imagine.
Life changes in the blink of an eye.
And yes, the Lord is sovereign over all. The weather— like everything else— belongs to Him. This devastation? This crushing blow to the land, the people? His hand allowed it.
I sit here this morning just days from my 50th birthday. I have the confidence and maturity of faith at this point to say, “This is His will, and He has a purpose for it.” I grieve the loss, I mourn it… but I rejoice in knowing that He will be glorified through this.
Jemmy doesn’t know this yet. But he’s learning. He’s seeing the Lord in action, and he is seeing God’s people respond. He himself is part of the work being done, and I trust that the One who began a good work in him will bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6)— the completion that will see my son standing before Jesus and being called a good and faithful servant.
“Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose.”
—Isaiah 46:8-10
In Christ,
Heather