Flooded

On Friday, June 21, 2024, my husband couldn’t get to work because several rivers near us had already flooded over the roads. This was the first incredibly providential thing about that weekend. I look back now with awe.  As we approach the one year milestone since that regional disaster, I want to share some thoughts I’ve compiled this year.

It’s a good thing God kept my husband home that day; He knew we had a lot of work to do. Early in the morning, we had already decided to sleep in our shop (which is on a safer lot in our town) that night, as we knew more hard rain was coming, and our land and house would likely flood. The Big Sioux River runs across the back of our property, and already its banks were overflowing. We spent the day moving equipment and a couple of days of essentials up to the shop and hunkered down. I remember jokingly thinking “Bye, house!” as I pulled out of the driveway.

My husband is a volunteer first responder and spent that night showing the mercies of Christ to our community, trying to rescue drivers from dangerously flooded roads and blinding rain. When he got home, he rescued our horse and cow from the pasture and stayed up all night holding a lead rope until we could contact a neighbor about a stall. Stewardship is a big sacrifice. I spent my night in a metal building, our boys, ages 5, 3, and 7 months, barely slept through the deafening roar of rain on a steel roof – but God spared us the trauma of fleeing our home in the middle of the night as some did, and we again see His providence.

With morning light came the knowledge that we would have to see how our property had fared. I stood at the edge of the now-surging river that surrounded my home. An angry current ran through my yard! We were again thankful to God to discover that although the foundation of our home had collapsed, the structure was sound enough to enter and retrieve most of our belongings – with an abundance of help from our church family!
I don’t think I’ll ever forget walking down to the house that Saturday morning after the flood came, with my husband and kids. I stood with my back to the boys so they didn’t see my tears, as I recorded the devastation of our home. I kept thinking of Job, feeling that I was also on the verge of physical collapse, with both sorrow and worship.

Job 1:20-22  – “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.”

God’s power blew me away. He’d merely touched the river, touched the rain clouds, and utter devastation ensued. I knew the theologically right answers. All things work together, His way is perfect, His thoughts are above mine, and so many more verses of comfort rang in my ears, but the loss still stung. 

I even, somewhat unexpectedly, struggled with the question of “why is God doing this to me?” I had tried so hard to be content, had I failed so badly that God had to chastise me? (The answer to that is probably yes, whether I enjoy admitting it or not!) My questions of why reminded me of how, when my children ask questions over and over, complain or talk back, I tell them to simply respond “Yes, mom.” My heart kept thinking “Yes, Lord.” My goal became to resemble Job and to never charge God foolishly in all of this.

I’ve struggled with rationalizing my faith over the last few years. The Bible is full of pretty crazy stories, and I felt that I should be able to prove why it’s not crazy. No amount of rationalizing or logic could explain what happened after our home flooded. I have no other explanation for the way things fell into place to keep our family functioning besides an almighty, loving Father, Who, by His providence, ordained each and every moment. Faith alone makes sense now, and I’m thankful for that. I’ll continue walking where He leads, hopefully with more strength and faith after this trial has done its work.

I used to sit in the woods behind our home and sing Psalter number 285 v 4 in my head:

“He causes the springs of water to flow
In streams mid the hills and valleys below.
Beside them, with singing, the birds greet the day,
And there the beasts gather their thirst to allay.”

But now, verse 3 seems more appropriate:

“O’er mountain and plain the dark waters raged,
His voice they obeyed, the floods were assuaged.
Uplifting the mountains, He ordered a bound,
Forbidding the waters to cover the ground. “

Nearly a year has passed now. Our new house (that my husband and I have dreamed of for years now), is still a work in progress, but God’s glory and providence continue to shine as brightly as ever. The Communion of His saints has left us speechless as our church family, and His Church universal, continues to show His love and mercy in ways big and small. It’s made us ever more eager to turn around and show His grace to the next needy saints. We learned about how materialistic we are by nature, and how God can purge that! How great is our God to work such beauty from such sorrow!

Suzie Altena