We had just finished a conference called “Unified Front” at Rock City Church as the news of a potential hurricane came. The vision the Lord gave me for the conference was of a flock of birds flying in a V formation. He was showing me His heart for unity among His people. People unified with one mission; to live out the nature of heaven on earth.
This looks like love--A love backed up with action.
A month ago I assumed the vision I was given was solely for the conference, but I now realize how fitting it was for what was to come.
Personally, my husband and I had many reasons to pray and believe for protection as the storm approached our home town. We own two coffee shops on the coast called Coffee Waves, our home sits right by the bay, and we pastor Rock City Church located in Flour Bluff. Basically our entire lively hood was at risk. We prayed, along with so many others for protection from hurricane Harvey. As we all know, the storm ended up shifting and hitting various towns on the coast, leaving Corpus Christi with only minimal damage and lots of power outages.
My happy place, however, was left in ruins. Port Aransas holds a special place in my heart. So many of my memories while dating my now husband are there. It was in this town that I took my engagement pictures, got married, and lived our first year of marriage. Our shop, Coffee Waves is such a treasured place full of memories for locals and tourists alike. To this day, Port Aransas is our first pick for date nights or an overnight get away.
When we were able to get to the shop and see the magnitude of destruction our hearts were saddened and our minds overwhelmed. The day was dark and gloomy which mirrored the feelings for most who came to town that day. Where would we even begin and how?
As business owners, every day that our business is closed income is lost and employees are without a job. All funds saved previously are used towards rent, bills, and employee salary's that do not stop due to a storm hitting. The thoughts of “How will we afford all new equipment with no insurance?” and “Should we even rebuild?” came to mind often.
That first Wednesday, without full power at our church we came together to thank the Lord, worship and pray. Our strength renewed and hearts full of peace as we continued to face this challenge.
His mercies are new every morning. Joy comes in the morning.
The following day the sun came out and volunteers began to come in floods to help. On the first day of work, all debris was cleared out of the shop. The following day all damaged drywall was removed. Every day we were overwhelmed by the love and support of both strangers and friends. We began to see the light. We knew then that we had to rebuild and we were going to trust the Lord to provide.
As a unified front, people continue to come help those in need. Much like Jesus, they’re not doing an interview of the person before helping them. They're not asking the people what their beliefs are or pointing out their flaws first. They are just doing what they can to meet a need. No questions asked and no expectations of something in return. It's such a beautiful thing to see! People unified with a mission to show love. And this is not just happening in Port Aransas, but in all of the coastal towns as well as Houston.
In the midst of our personal struggles, we still wanted to give back to those in need. We decided to start serving coffee from the parking lot free of charge. As time went on, other local businesses started serving lunch along side us. Along with a hug, lunch, and coffee we also have members of Rock City Church there to offer prayer. People show up in tears as they are coping with such recent trauma. Coffee Waves has became a hub within the town. A place of hope and love.
Rock City Church has been collecting relief funds that are being used to help victims of the storm. Our teams have been working within various coastal towns on a daily basis...being His hands and feet. If you would like to give torward that fund, you can click this link.
This unified front of love has been so encouraging for all of us. Please continue to keep us, and all of the others affected by Harvey in prayer as we all regain normalcy and start the process of rebuilding.
Together lets also pray and believe for protection for those in the path of hurricane Irma.
We are not exactly sure of what is next and how everything will come together again, but we do know with all certainty, that the Lord has this. He will make a way and we will rebuild even better than before. I know first hand how great the Lord is at restoring what was lost. I can't wait to share the rest of this story with you all.
After all, the Lord is writing a beautiful story of our lives and every good story involves hard times that eventually get overshadowed by the beautiful.
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