The Message of Hope and Love

A short story on Rebecca's experiences with the Katrina Relief project:

The second house to me was an amazing story of how god can use his people. When we first got to the house we worked on there was a lot to be done. The damage from the hurricane was horrific. The doors had to be broken down just to get into the homes to remove all the damaged household items such as couches, chairs, refrigerators, and many other personal items. I was in Reed's group and the one thing the owner asked for us to find was a tin box which was found by Nick as Lauren and I searched the owners bedroom, we were thrilled to find the one and only thing she wanted. In the tin box was all of her insurance information on her home. I prayed real hard that God would help us find this item for my heart was truly broken for the owner at all she had lost. God is really good. One thing I noticed about the owner was how she had many pictures and photo albums of all her family members most of which were completely destroyed however two albums were not destroyed, and were saved for her. Just before we left for the day the owners son came by and talked to all of us what a privilege to meet him. When he told his story of how he escaped out of his home on the day of the hurricane I felt so overwhelmed with emotion tears filled my eyes. He was so thankful to us. He said on the day of the hurricane he was napping when the water started to cover his body he climbed out his window onto his neighbors roof. This seemed so terrifying to me, but I also felt so overjoyed that God would use our group in such an amazing way to touch the lives of this family. The owner told us how he has been personally affected by slavery, and how at times he has had so much anger in his heart, but how God has removed that anger and replaced it with love. He told us that he loves Gods people, and that we are Gods people. He then hugged each and every one of us. This is my story on my experience on how God used me, along with many others, to spread the message of hope and love to a hurting world.

Sincerely
Rebecca Smith