Good Morning Gorgeous,

It’s a new day! A fresh new start!

I started Day 4 talking to one of my best friends who is one of the people who leads our 911 dispatch. She was leaving work for the first time since the day BEFORE the hurricane. She spent Tuesday to Sunday at the police station sleeping in her office for only an hour or two each day during the first couple days after.

She experienced the hurricane in a whole different way than most.

She heard the desperate 911 calls. People pleading for help. But you can’t send emergency help in 150 mph winds. Vehicles can’t drive, its impossible. The dispatch center took every call during the storm, and then fire and rescue and police were dispatched as soon as the storm ended. The storm lasted over 10 hours. It was an entire day of hurricane force winds.

She got first hand information being right in the police station, yet other information like the pictures of the city that we were all seeing hit our newsfeed, she didn’t see. She wasn’t able to pause to read news or updates.

She heard of the destruction, but being in a communications center for 6 days, she didn’t see it.

I talked to her on her drive home as she saw our city for the first time. Sight paired with the last 6 days of sound met and you can imagine the feelings. She heard everything, but to see is different.

Sight and sound completed the picture.

She was heading home to hug her family, sleep, and then head back to work. She will be packing a bag and staying at work 2 nights and home one night. This will be her new schedule for a while.

As she hung up, we prayed together. I prayed that as she laid down to rest, God would supernaturally stop every sound that she had endured over the last several days and that she would enter true God given rest.

The next thing we did on day 4 was begin yard clean up. Our home did not have any major hurricane damage. It is a miracle. But we had alot of outside damage to our fence, trees, and trampoline. This is so so minor. We feel like we witnessed a miracle.

Pancakes on the grill for breakfast. Still no power. But we added chocolate chips and blueberries.

Our whole family got involved in yard cleanup!

The kids made an Avocado stand to give away over 100 avocados from our tree..

Sadly, the tree didn’t survive the storm. We had to chainsaw it into pieces to remove it. Here is what a hurricane does to trees. It just pulls them right out of the ground.

After house and yard clean up, we headed out for daily supplies and we got ice at the very FIRST place we stopped!! Metro Ice in Fort Myers. They were actually closed, but the man closing up stayed and sold ice to the last few cars that pulled in! We got 6 bags and felt like we had hit the jackpot!

Next, a grocery trip! We found all the frozen foods and refrigerator items gone because the store didn’t have power.

This is one grocery store. There are others that do have refrigerated items. Publix has been able to supply most of our grocery items. But to see this store wiped out like this was a overwhelming.

We finished the day with dinner on the grill. Christy had stopped at Publix earlier in the day and brought over chicken. We have been eating a hot meal every evening surrounded by family and friends, and that alone is a miracle too. Everyone has to leave before it gets dark though because of the road conditions. With no power, there’s no traffic lights. A few have been restored now, but most are out. Even major, major intersections have no traffic lights. Some intersections they are laying on the side of the road. Some, they are hanging in odd directions. Police are there to man some of the intersections, but not all.

Our kitties seem unaware of what’s happening around them. They blissfully continue to sleep and eat. And the fact that I have a safe home that can sustain life in a way that my pets don’t realize anything is different is something that many many people don’t have right now.

I feel both blessed and grieved. Thankful for my home and yet filled with deep sorrow for those who have lost everything. It is possible to feel both simultaneously.

Gratitude and deep grief can be housed in the same vessel.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We need Your strength. We need words straight from heaven to speak when no earthly word seems adequate. We need heavy doses of wisdom and discernment to navigate each day. We need to keep shining light a city set on a hill. Lord, keep our oil lamps lit. Show us how to return to You again and again to get the fresh fill we need need for each moment.

In Jesus’s Name,

Amen.

Blessings and His Provision,

Vanessa Lynn

And if you came across this post and you haven’t yet accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, may I encourage you that by choosing Him you receive eternal life in heaven, BUT ALSO abundant life NOW. Following Him is the most precious adventure you have ever taken!! All you have to do to get started is to pray and receive Him as Lord. The Bible says to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and believe with your heart the precious gospel message that Jesus taught. Repent of your sins which means simply to ask Jesus to forgive you and then choose to walk away from them and go in the New Direction that God is calling you to. Confess or speak that you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for you, that He was resurrected from the dead, and ascended to heaven. And that you recieve Him as your Lord and Savior. That you are sorry for your sins and you recieve His FULL and complete forgiveness for every wrong you’ve ever committed. And that you are choosing to follow Him now and leave the ways of the world behind for the things of Jesus!!! And if you mean that with your heart, you are saved and set free to live a new life free of sin! The Bible says you are now a brand new creation! Old things have passed away and new things have come!!! The Bible also says that all of heaven rejoices whenever a person is saved!!!! Just imagine the party being held in heaven on your behalf right now!!