God gives and takes away-my heart will choose to say-Lord blessed be Your name!

I sit and try to think of words to describe this past week in Mississippi. What comes to mind is -GOD IS GOOD-ALL THE TIME. The F-3 tornado that hit 1 month ago, was 1 1/2 miles wide, and 127 miles long. We had a safe drive out on Sunday morning, all 5 vehicles in a convoy. All 17 of us stayed in a 6 bedroom, 3 bathroom house. All 3 couples got a room, and the rest shared 3 rooms! Let's just say we all got to know eachother real well this week! Some slept on beds, some on the floor, couch, and mattresses on the floor. There was one window unit, at the far end of the house from our bedroom, and most of the others. You could say it was toasty. Our drive to where we ate in the MDS dining trailer, and our worksites was about a 15 min drive one way. MDS had also pulled in a kitchen trailer, which was almost unbearable for the cooks to withstand the heat! There was our group, and 7 Ameri Corps there volunteering, and then a few people organizing everything. The National guard had lent some tents to set up on the Church grounds where the base was. The Church on the lot was gone, due to the F-3 tornado, and their 4 year old hall/gym was 1/2 way destroyed also. Seeing the steel beams wrapped up like a ball of twist ties, was quite the site. About 1 minute away was where the 5 people lost their lives....all from the same extended family. One couple was visiting for a birthday party.....they tried to quickly get in their vehicle, which was then picked up and thrown through the house trailer. The man was thrown into the creek, where his family dragged him to the road, but already was gone. In another home, a lady was holding her couple of month old baby, when the roof was torn off, and her baby was sucked out from her arms and thrown far away on the ground. Two girls (btwn 14-16 yrs-sisters) were holding hands and running outside to their grandparents house, when they were picked up and dropped further away, holding hands when they landed. All of them lost their lives. We met a man, lost his whole home, who came to eat with us daily in the dining trailer. His story was INCREDIBLE. Him and his 2 children survived, when their whole house was pushed into the bush. He is praising God!!! How wonderful! There were so many homes lost, and so many damaged. Wes and I worked together the whole week. We re-shingled one house, and tore down the rest of a porch, and started to build a roof over the trailer and new porch. We had such a wonderful week, as did everyone else. We are sooo thankful for the opportunity that God gave us to go to MS and help the victims there. It was hard to leave. I learned a lot this week, and was again shown, while God gives and God takes away, my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be Your name! This week, God helped me to completely let go of our house that we sold, and reaffirmed how we are not to strive for earthly possessions, as they can all be ripped right out of your hands. To not become attatched to earthly things. Cling to what is the most important thing in life. God. He can never, be taken away, from a hurricane, tornado, flood, earthquake, there is nothing on earth that can EVER take our Lord from us. Sometimes God uses things like a tornado to take it all away....to see what we're left with. To realize what really matters. Wes and I have been learning this, this past year, but God gave us a close up in real life. This has become so clear to us this week. If a tornado was to come tomorrow, and wiped EVERYTHING you have away--family, friends, your house, alllll your personal posessions...your vehicle, clothes, all your favorite things-- what would you be left with? When God is all you have, you have all you need. Whatever storm you are going through in this life, Praise Him in the storm.