Our basement flooded. Three times in a 24-hour period. Eight hours of vacuuming up water, at least 100 gallons sucked up and dumped outside, only to have the waters rise again two more times. The standing water over and over was disheartening. The anger emanating from Peter was palpable.
I tried to keep a healthy perspective. No one was dead, after all. But how much money was this going to cost us? Could the problem even be fixed? We’d already had bad news about a couple other big items around our house and now this. It felt like too much.
During those first eight hours of sucking water out of the basement, I found myself vacillating between “It’ll be fine,” and “I can’t do this.” As I texted a couple friends to let them know, I felt myself leaning toward a breakdown, tears welling up in my eyes as I made myself just breathe. It all felt overwhelming.
Eights hours of cleaning, then a break for a few hours until more flooding began at 9:50 p.m. I was almost asleep when Peter texted: “It’s pouring in again,” so I dragged my aching body out of bed and headed back down to the basement. We finally called it quits at 1:00 a.m. as we realized we just couldn’t keep up with the pouring water. We needed sleep more than we needed a dry basement.
We awoke the next morning prepared to spend yet another day vacuuming water but as we trepidatiously walked downstairs, we were pleasantly surprised to find that some of the water had receded. What a blessing!
As I vacuumed the remaining puddles, I heard a voice in my spirit.
“Do you trust Me?” It asked. I was almost certain the voice belonged to God but it also sounded an awful lot like Aladdin’s. (I obviously watch too many Disney movies)
“Do you trust Me?”
“I do trust You, God, but this is a mess. I don’t know how to get out of it. Will you help us?”
“Do you trust Me?” I felt it again.
“Yes, Lord, I do trust You. Help me trust You.”
In that moment, I chose to trust Him. My Savior. It wasn’t easy, but He already knows the outcome anyway, so what do I have to lose? He already knows what this will cost us. Financially. Timewise. Relationally. All of it. He already knows. Whether it only costs us a few dollars, or it costs us our vacation plans, or if it even costs us our house.
He already knows.
So, in the midst of the flood and chaos, I choose trust. I choose joy. And I choose Jesus.