What You Don’t See in the News These Days

This is the kind of stuff we don’t see in the news these days. In a world focused on politics, sides, and drama, we’ve missed what really matters. We’ve missed the needy neighbor in front of our faces because our thoughts abide on whether our own Instagram posts have gotten enough likes, or how many angry DM’s we’ve received after sharing an opinion having to do with one side of a debate.

For two weeks my squad’s feet were planted in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Hurricane Delta and Laura recently destroyed this city, along with so many others, leaving communities with no place to go but their own moldy, unlivable houses.

It weighs on my heart to know that if I wasn’t on the World Race with an organization that is aware of the damage done by these hurricanes, I would have had absolutely no idea what was going on along the coast of my own country. And as our feeds are overloaded of opinions and angry people behind screens and edited pictures of pretty girls dressed up for a night out onto the town, we’re completely missing the suffering that might just be a few states away.

So now, as I’m back in Gainesville, Georgia, I want to give you a glimpse into the lives of some of the people the Lord allowed me to meet. People who so graciously let a team of mostly 18-year-old girls into their homes to help tear down their moldy walls and pull out nails.

    1. I have to start with Miss Penny! This sweet lady lived in the house at the end of a road in a small neighborhood right behind some train tracks. Miss penny is a woman who highlights the Lord in everything. As we pulled down her ceilings and ripped up her moldy carpet, she sometimes would sit down on her piano singing tunes of worship that I’ve never heard before, but were beyond joyful. She loved eating lunch with us and even brought us cookies and fresh fruit, showing a kind of hospitality I’ve only ever experienced in Lake Charles. She even came to church on Sunday with my squad and went out to eat lunch with some of my teammates. I still remember watching her wave and cry as we were pulling out of her driveway for the last time. We never were left guessing her appreciation or the amount of love she carried; in that way I want to be exactly like Miss Penny.

    2. Another house we go the opportunity to work on was owned by an older man named Lawrence and his wife (I wish I could remember her name!!!). This couple recently was walking through a few deaths in their families and Lawrence happened to break his ankle between both the hurricanes. Fortunately, it was mainly the backyard that needed all the work, but the job of using a chainsaw and carrying debris to a pile took way less hands then we had at the house. So a few of us, including myself, got to tidy up their porch and help Lawrence’s wife clean out her cluttered house a little bit. It was the little things, like throwing out food in the kitchen cabinet that was long expired, that we got to love them through. Being inside, we had lots of time to just listen and learn about the lives they both have lived. And at the end of our work, they both gave their lives to Christ! Their lives are now forever redirected because the Lord allowed a couple hurricanes to destroy their backyard. How crazy??

    3. The last story I am going to write about happened at one of the poorest neighborhoods and most damaged homes my team worked on during our time in Lake Charles. This lady had a tree land straight through her kitchen ceiling, leaving us the only option of tearing the entire roof off in that room, along with stripping several other bedrooms of the terrible mold that was growing. In a poor, minority neighborhood, it was tough carrying the knowledge that if we didn’t show up, this lady would be left with no other option but to continue living in her car until she could maybe afford repairs one day. And yet, I’ve never seen a homeowner so inclined to praise the Lord. Every time I saw her face, I would hear her proclaiming to God phrases like, “If I had 10,000 tongues I wouldn’t have enough thank you’s.” The Lord even gave me the chance to listen to some of her testimony, and she boldly told me about the two times she was healed of cancer. She proclaimed that because the Lord had so much grace and mercy on her life, her only purpose left was making His name known. She asked, “How could I not?” I was encouraged by that question more than she will ever know.

Now, I want to let you know that Lake Charles still needs help! There are over 1,000 work orders filed that still need filled and more coming in daily. Samaritan’s Purse is not projected to leave until after February because the organization is always committed to staying until every work order is satisfied. And let me tell you, the leadership down there BLEW US AWAY.

So if the Lord has nudged your heart in anyway after reading this blog, I encourage you to ask Him how He wants you to help! Look into Samaritans Purse and all they are doing in Louisiana and others states across the coast right now!

Because when our neighbor is in need, we cannot turn our backs like the rest of the world.