Hurricane Harvey 2017: my social media

Hello friends! My family and I are safe and we thank God for it. We are blessed to be in our home and as you know, many have been displaced and have lost so much. One thing that you can do to help is to pray that God will help us get stable so we can start the long recovery process for this area. 

Today I want to tell you about my social media use during the hurricane. Here's how I am managing my time. Our priority is to heed to the wisdom of God and authorities so that we can be safe. We also want to be sure to keep our family feeling loved and cared for during these days of uncertainty. These two things take up a lot of time which is understandable.  I went back to work last week so I've been working a little bit from home during the hurricane. 

My social media post (Facebook) before the hurricane looked like this: 

this was my last stop pre-Hurricane Harvey

I was looking for things in my prep list and posting photos of water in case my local friends still needed it. I also thought about posting my prayers at the end of most days.

I realized that my family and I were going to God in prayer on a regular basis. I also realized that it would be nice to share small snippets of our hearts in that way. So I kept posting.

I hope you know that I was afraid at times. I had to go back to the basis of my belief system and decide that God is the One who has the final say on my life. These hurricane days have been days of self-examination and total surrender to God's will through trust.

I also reminded myself of God's character. He really is faithful to His Word and He is amazing at keeping His promises. I hope you know that this stuff doesn't "feel like magic." Some of my prayers these hurricane days came from a place of pain and uncertainty. The more I reminded myself of God's character, the easier it became to turn my trust around to Him. Again, not a magic formula for this but that's how I've been working things out.

I have been fascinated with the fact that the Bible is filled with people who felt what we in the path of Hurricane Harvey feel. I'm also glad when I find hope at the end of those passages.

This may sound silly to you but I kept thinking "'yet' sounds like a great word to me: I shall yet praise Him." This small word reminded me that storms do not come to stay. While we will deal with the aftermath for a long time, it is encouraging to hear that there's hope for the future.

I journal a lot and I have had this habit for years. During these uncertain days I looked back at some of my journals and I found Isaiah 46:4 in one of them. For some reason, this Bible verse jumped out of the page in the past and it was such a blessing to read it again yesterday.
My mind wonders when I get up from my place or prayer. I start to feel nervous again and I have learned to 'trick myself' to focusing on God's promises. I made a poster with Isaiah 46:4 in it and I posted it in front of my kitchen sink. I spend a lot of time washing dishes, so this verse is the one thing I stare at many times during the day.
I meditated on Isaiah 46:4 and I found comfort in knowing that the God who made me will carry me and deliver me.
Today I am sensitive to the fact that there are psychological effects to what we are going through here in our area. I am praying that my friends and I will find the help we need. I'm a proponent of counseling because it has helped me tremendously through the years. When you pray, remember there are invisible things lost during a hurricane. Pray for peace to come again, for restoration and for continuing help. I appreciate that my friends.
I hope this post gave you an idea of how I used social media with the little time I've had. As always, my heart's desire is to spread hope online, one social media platform at a time.
Pray without ceasing for us as well as for the entire world. One thing I know: God is for us.