HOPE

I arrived at New Life Church in Conway this morning wearing my red Arkansas Dream Center tee shirt, ready to serve- after all the shirt says SERVE on the back in huge white writing, right?!  I was fully anticipating meeting broken people- people who were angry, hurt, & in desperate need. I was prepared to roll my sleeves up & get dirty. To serve. *Boy was I wrong!* - So I reported to some friendly faces in the foyer of the church and said "Put me to work! What can I do?" It was almost 10:30ish and they were getting ready to bring lunch to all the volunteers helping to clean up the tornado wrecked towns of Vilonia & Mayflower, AR. So I was quickly introduced to the lady in charge of getting the meals distributed to the proper areas. I then was paired with another woman, handed a sheet of paper with directions, my car was packed with sack lunches & water & we were off to save the World. Me and a woman I only met moments before.

As we drove up to Beryl Road in Vilonia my stomach dropped. As far as my eyes could see there was destruction. Houses that were nothing but splinters scattered along a flattened and tattered ground.

Electric company crews were everywhere. We drove past quite a few trucks that came from Brandon, MS. All working hard to gather up all the power lines that had fallen to the ground. I'm sure they were turned "off" but I have to say driving and walking over power lines made me a bit uneasy. There were police officers directing traffic & making sure we were with a legit organization. We drove up to the first road & were pleasantly surprised to see that a local bank & BBQ joint had teamed together to provide yummy BBQ for the area. So we went on to the next street to see if anyone needed food or water. 

Right as we entered the second street to the right we saw people gathered around a mess of wood and rubble, it was apparent they were standing near an area where a house once stood. We were told by police that this family needed help. No volunteers had come to their house yet & they only had the clothes on their backs. As we passed the officers and carefully made our way down the drive trying to avoid the debris of wood & cables & broken glass I was drawn to the woman who owned the former house. Wearing a flannel plaid button up, shorts, & rubber boots she reminded me of my Aunt Gwen. Beautiful, tall and strong. We got out of the car and offered food and water. Almost immediately, Kim, the owner walked up with her huge smile! Those rubber boots weren't the only things that felt familiar. Here in the midst of her tragedy, her devastation she met me with the most beautiful, genuine smile I've seen in a long time. We gave them lunches & water. * By the way, let me stop here & tell you a little about the lunches we were delivering. The children at Greenbrier, AR schools had drawn the most precious notes & pictures on the outside of the sack lunches- it was just so adorable! *

After we had given them enough food & water to last through the afternoon I turned to Kim and asked if there was anything else we could do for her. She looked down & said that she would maybe take some pants for herself and some t- shirts for her husband. I told her that I was with NLC & I'd love to get her whatever I could. I promised to bring her some clothes & our short meeting was over. As we said goodbye she gave me the sweetest, tightest, warmest, bestest hug ever. I left there and immediately called my husband & another man from our church who were already in route to the area & asked him to head to see Kim & her family to aid in the clean up of their home. And they came & worked their big man hands to the bone the rest of the day.

We left that home site and continued down the road. On that entire street there were no structures left standing that even resembled homes. Homes where children once played, where families gathered around the table or wives baked cookies. There was no sign of former life in these plots of land where homes once stood. Only uprooted trees and bits of insulation, small pieces of broken dishes and wires were all that were recognizable. No sign was left of their dream homes, their plans of pools or back yard BBQ's, hammocks or azalea bushes (hey, we like our azaleas here in the south).  The rest of everything was literally shredded, as if someone had torn paper into a billion tiny pieces. The one thing that I found time after time in my afternoon of meeting the people affected by these horrific storms was HOPE. These people, these Arkansans, they have hope. They see a future. For most of them they don't have a picture yet of what that future looks like, but they see it. I was so inspired, so moved by these Arkansans. I pray that in the face of every trial in my life I will never forget the Kims, that to me are the faces of these tornados. The ones who've been there, they've hit bottom, they've lost everything- STILL THEY RISE. They lift their heads as if in victory. It's the most powerful thing I've ever witnessed. 

I left the area today with a lighter heart, a bit of a pep in my step, because as I left Kim & her family with only small tokens of clothing & toiletries that won't last long materially, she left me with so much more. I gave her my name & number & pray that I hear from her in the future. Because today, Kim taught me a lesson. A lesson in perserverence, in the raw power of hope. Above all she taught me true joy. She exuded joy, standing amidst the ruins of her former life. Standing among the wreckage of what could've been a fatal blow to her joy, her hope, her fight. She stood tall, wearing rubber boots that had wore heavily on the skin of her shins, leaving their marks- never asking for more than pants to keep warm. She touched me, she SERVED me today. If you get a chance at any point in your life to reach out & help someone with even the smallest of need- I encourage you to do so- God will bless you with so much more than you can ever imagine. Kim may never remember my name or my face, but her smile - that smile- I will never forget. May God bless the towns all over this great country that were affected by this horrible display of nature. May they all rise this very moment, lift their heads and claim victory over it all. This is not the end my friends, it's the beginning to another chapter and I pray we all choose to title it HOPE. 

I did not take this last picture- but LOVE it!

Me and my littlest guy with a baby turtle that my hubby found among the debris today. May we present the newest member of the Allen family: Tonto The Survivor (named by my boys) - I guess we're pet people now - photo cred to A Lynn's View Photography

Not sure who took this photo but that's my hubs & more from our church praying with a homeowner. God is good.