By God's Grace ....

By God's Grace .... and so thankful that my family was not hit by the trouble tornados that hit last week, April 27th.  A day I will never forget.   A tornado did hit my  hometown of, Ringgold, GA.  It caused mass destruction in our small town. 

I have seen so many news cast of places that tornados have destroyed, and I always felt for those people and said a prayer.  But until you actually witness one coming through your town, it just isnt' the same.  The pictures really don't do the devestation justice. 

Since, Wednesday night, I have prayed, cried, my heart has ached and I have just been plain numb.  I still can't believe that this has happened to us.  In all my 46 years, I have never experienced anything like this .. and pray that I never go through this again. 

I am not sure how many homes it destoyed in its path or businesses.  But I do know that it destroyed the high school and middle school that my kids attend and that I went too.  We have three high schools in our county and one of them is taking our students in for the rest of the school year.  We are going half a days.  It also destroyed our athletic facilities .. football field, wrestling/cheerleading building, athletic building and the baseball field.  My sons  played on that field - and one still does.  We are in the state playoffs and get to host the first series, but we don't get to play on our own field.  Thank goodness one of the other high schools in our county is letting us use theirs. 

That is one thing that I have gotten out of all this tradegy and it has been most amazing.  That even though we are country rivals and I mean rivals, we can all pull together in the mist of trouble.  Our coach has had numbers calls from other high schools in our region offering and sending us money, equipment and most important support.  It has really warmed my heart and of course, brought tears to my eyes.  It reminds me of my sisters growing up ... we can talk bad about them .. even hate them .. but don't let anyone or anything happen to them. 

There are so many stories that are coming out now ... survivors.  Of how wonderful  our Lord is ... at how he can put a tornado right over a house, but the people come out of ruble to talk about their experience.   Of how, people in the Ruby Tuesday's are living to tell their stories.  Unfortunally, not everyone was as lucky as some ... we did loose 8 people in this tornado, but we are so lucky that we did not loose more.   The tornado not only went over houses, but it also destroyed McDonald's, Ruby Tuesdays, Pizza Hut, Waffle House, 3 gas stations and 4 hotels.   People were stopping on our exit off I-75 to weather the storm .. little did they know at the time that they were in the path of the storm. 

You know .... there are so many lessons to be learned from all of this .... one is that we need to make sure we are saved and know where we are going and to make sure we are right with God, because in a blink of an eye we could be gone.  Also, that need to tell our loved ones that we Love Them!!!  We may not have a second chance to do that ....

I just want to finish with ... "Thank you Jesus" for protecting me and my family!!  For bringing out all kinds of support from people to help others in need.  It has been life changing experience.  One that we will never forget and it will forever change us .. for the better "I hope".