hey friends! for those of you who don’t know i have been in louisiana this past week serving with samaritans purse helping with disaster relief from hurricane laura. on thursday we had to pack up and leave louisiana because of another hurricane coming. my squad and i are currently in keller, texas staying with coaches from aim (adventures in missions) until the hurricane passes. we are planning to leave to go back to louisiana tomorrow morning. 

400 + people needed help from the storm. my team and i went to 6 houses in 3 days and cleared out trees, tore down decks, cleaned out a shed etc. we also got the chance to talk to each of the homeowners. we talked to this couple and our chaplains introduced the husband to the steps of peace booklet which goes through each step to accepting Christ. the husband said he had just lost his job and he felt like he had no purpose. later on we heard he had accepted Christ into his heart. his face lit up with the biggest smile. the holy spirit filled him with overflowing joy. 

we welcomed another person into his kingdom! that may not seem like a lot but when you tell people about jesus it travels. sometimes i wish i could do more , help all 400. but it’s not our job to help 400 people. if just one person comes to know christ each day for a year that would be 365 people apart of his kingdom! we can’t change the hearts of others only God can. we are called to go and make disciples of all nations (matthew 28:19-20) and the holy spirit does the rest. 

my heart breaks for the people in louisiana who have had so much taken away from them from these storms. trees fallen into houses, signs knocked down, tree limbs everywhere, buildings destroyed. they are literally in a storm and we go through storms all the time in our everyday life. the lyrics “i’ll praise you in this storm and i will lift my hands that you are who you are no matter where i am and every tear i’ve cried you hold in your hand you never left my side and though my heart is torn i will praise you in this storm” come to my mind because although we face many storms he is with us through it all. we can praise him in every storm because he is still good. he is who he is no matter where we are.

you are deeply loved & he is with you through every single storm of life. thank you for supporting me and following along on my journey!  :) 

lots of love,

lydia