Grateful for the Flood

I’m so grateful for the flood!

Not the Noah’s Ark flood – though I should be grateful God chose to save mankind and the animals He created. But that’s not the flood I’m referring to.

I’m grateful for the flood we had for about four straight years in the house where I grew up. Specifically, in my bedroom, my sister’s bedroom and our shared bathroom. Now that I think about it, the boys’ rooms never flooded and they never had their rooms torn up. Wait, that’s probably an issue to discuss with a professional.

Back to the flood.

I lived in Idaho for eight years before leaving for college. When we moved there from the south, I thought it was weird the homes were “upside down.” The living areas and kitchen were on the main floor and the bedrooms were in the basement. It felt like someone took my two-story house in the south, sliced it in half like a hoagie bun and put the top of the house underground.

I had no sooner adjusted to the weird house structure of our home in Idaho when the basement flooded. The carpets were soaked! We had to pull back the carpet and pull up the drenched padding. Furniture had to be moved and stacked in the hallway. My parents don’t cuss but whatever the non-cussing words would be, they were used. We waited for the concrete to dry and then I’d come home from school one day and the carpet would be replaced. Good as new – until the next time. And the next. And the next.

This went on for years until the builder figured out the problem and finally fixed it. At the time, it was a hassle to have my preteen room topsy turvy. My teenage sister wasn’t crazy about her things being misplaced either.

But this week, I was grateful for the hassle of the flood.

I won’t go into the details but let’s just say a sink overflowed and we didn’t know it for hours and hours until our grand-girl came running into the living room with wet socks saying, “Nonna, the house flooded again!” You read that right – “again” – but we won’t focus on that right now.

My girls were all over for family dinner so we sprang into action. Well, most of us did. But we won’t focus on that either.

We stopped the overflow. Hubby ran for the shopvac and fans. One daughter ran for towels. Lots of towels. Someone grabbed a big trash bag. A son-in-law helped me pull back the carpet and pull up the sopping wet padding and stuffed it into the trash bag. People threw towels at me to soak up the water. The heavy trash bag was hauled to the porch. Buckets were brought in to put under the carpet to prop it up and fans were placed under the carpet tent on the highest speed possible.

 

The Templins know how to handle a flood! I’ve taught them well. It wasn’t our first flood – or even our second. There was the great turkey water flood of  ‘18 when the sink where the turkey was defrosting overflowed. There was the flood of  ‘21 when “Snowmageddon” hit Texas and water dripping off of our roof ran into the house because there was a snowbank in our flowerbed so the water couldn’t drain away from the house. A snowbank in Texas? It’s hard to plan for that. And then the flood in the laundry room the week we moved into our new house. I’m sure there were others  – but I try to focus on the positive.

Yes, I’m grateful for the floods of my youth because they prepared me for the floods of my adult life.

I think about other disasters in my youth that prepared me to deal with hardships in my adult life. Sometimes what we think is a disaster is merely a re-routing of direction or priorities.

The bad boyfriend break up in high school saved me for my hubby of 36 years.

Not getting into my first college of choice directed me to the college where hubby was waiting for me.

Losing our son opened up opportunities for me to encourage other moms who have experienced loss.

Hard things in life help shape our grit. We can rebel against them or ask the Lord what is the lesson to be learned in the disaster? What does He want to teach us? What character or virtue does He want to hone in our lives?

Are we willing to allow God to use us, shape us, mold us when the floods of life arise – or slowly seep in? Or do we shake our fist at God and turn our backs on Him – missing the blessing perseverance brings?

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” James 1:2-4

Yes, I’m grateful for the flood.

I’m also grateful for a son-in-law who grew up in Houston and helped his dad with flood clean up. The other son-in-law is new and he’s getting used to me screaming orders. Get the towels! Get a bucket! Get the shopvac! Get the fans!

What flood in your life are you grateful for?