#LightTheWorld Day Nineteen - Jesus Calmed the Storm and So Can You

Storms are part of life.  The pictures above are from some of the worst ones we have experienced while in our current home.  Most of them were taken after a terrible windstorm in December 2011; the others were taken a couple of years ago when we lost power and electricians from my dad's company were sent out to fix the connections.  This year, we had a spot of bad weather in September that identified several holes in our roof; I didn't get great pictures of that event because I wasn't up for crawling on the roof.  We have also had leaky water mains and ice storms; the kind that freeze your car doors shut.  In all of these instances, we have been blessed by those around us willing to brave the storm.

When we were searching for our current home, Centerville was the last place we thought we'd end up.  We had searched high and low in the south end of the Salt Lake Valley with no luck.  This was before the housing bubble popped and things were still super pricey.  We had several things on our list that we wanted to find in our new home; some we found, some we didn't.  We just didn't think we'd find it in Centerville.

The things we didn't find:

• a finished basement
• a vinyl fence
• walk-in closet in the master bedroom
• a front room with overhead lighting
• a wrap-around front porch
• a rambler
• a cute street name; I have lived on 6000 West, 2920 South and 780 South; no cute street names for me:(

The things we did find:

• four bedrooms on the same floor
• a laundry room upstairs so I didn't have to walk through it to enter my house
• funny, quirky and charming features
• a jetted tub (love the size, hate the jets)
• three car garage
• room to grow
• hardwood floors
• neighbors with nice yards

From the moment we moved in, we had lots of visitors.  We enjoyed several loaves of bread and lots of plates of cookies.  People stopped by to welcome us to the neighborhood and invited our kids to play.  In fairly short order, we had been to peoples homes for barbecues and back-to-school breakfasts.  There are lots of great things about my neighborhood.

Now, you'll remember that one of "must-haves" was neighbors with nice yards.  We made a conscious decision to move into an established neighborhood this time around because in our old home (a new subdivision), we had several neighbors who didn't spend any time working in their yards and it got old to drive past weeded lots to get to our home.... with grass and trees and rosebushes.  While I will not pretend that I don't have weeds that grow in my yard, we do make an attempt to keep them under control and keep the "gateway to the neighborhood" looking good.  Matt and I have an agreement... he pulls the weeds and mows the lawn and I make sure that the yard and porch are sufficiently decorated for festive occasions.  The Fourth of July is when I am in myIt's been a nice thing to be able to introduce myself as the house near the crosswalk and have folks tell me how much they love our yard.

Now why do I say all this and what does it have to do with storms?  Well, I bring it up because I live in a neighborhood where people like living.  Because of this, they (we all) are invested.  And since we're invested, we have the opportunity to serve each other.  And the service rendered to me and my family during these storms has made all of the difference in our lives.

There have been lots of crises in our lives that I don't have pictures of.  We had only lived here for three weeks and while we were out of town, the water main on the street flooded and our wonderful neighbor Rob Wall came to the rescue and took care of things so that we didn't come home to a flooded basement.  Come to think of it, Rob has saved our bacon more than once.  Rob was the one who helped me to survey the damage after the monstrous windstorm.... which of course occurred while Matt was out of town.  It was Rob who showed up on my porch ready to tarp my roof in September.  Rob is one of those guys who make the world a better place.  We have had neighbors shovel and plow our driveways and help us to chop down and remove trees that have been knocked out in storms.  We are so blessed to have people who will jump in to help solve our problems.

Besides these physical rescues, we have been the recipients of so many acts of love and service that I will never be able to feel worthy to accept them.  People have fed my family, given my kids rides, helped them with homework and provided a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on.  My children live among people who care for them like their own children and everyone watches out for each other.

As overwhelming as life gets sometimes, it is always helpful to remember that we are not on this mortal journey alone.  We have folks to help us and we, in turn, are blessed to be able to help them.  Short of sounding super cheesy, these experiences really remind me of the song "Turn, Turn, Turn" by the Byrds.  We do what we can, when we can and know that God will put people in our lives to help us when we need help most.

I am beyond grateful for the neighbors who brave the storms with me and who help me to feel safe and secure despite the wind that howls around us all.