Within hours of the devastating floods that struck Douglas County on September 21, 2009, FIA began to receive calls for help. Even now, six months later, we are still doing flood-related work as long-term recovery continues. From time to time, we would like to share some of our flood stories.
In the week after the flood, Paul Zachos and I visited a kind lady who lives in Douglasville’s River Walk Subdivision to receive a trundle bed. During our visit, the donor started crying and said, “I need to give you something.” She returned from her house and gave us an envelope marked, “To Someone Special.” She said that the suffering of the flood victims had gotten to her, she found a misplaced $100.00 in her home, and gave it to us knowing that we would give it to the right person.As time passed, we served many flood victims but the $100.00 remained un-given.
Then we came to the West Cobb neighborhood you see in the attached photograph. We were there to bring Karla a bed for one of her children, and she told us how the water inundated her neighborhood. She was separated from her children and the fire department refused to let her go home as vehicles were starting to float off the pavement. Two firemen were sent into her home to rescue her children. Every house on her street was submerged on the ground floor level. It looked like a war zone with debris scattered and workers at all the homes cutting sheetrock and putting it in dumpsters. Karla is a single mother on Social Security Disability, her sole source of income. As we stood in her driveway surrounded by wrecked homes, I knew she was “The Someone Special.” I gave her the $100.00 and said, “Jesus loves you and your family very much.” Karla started crying and drew her children close saying, “See, I told you that God would answer our prayers.”
At the point of leaving Riverwalk, the Holy Spirit touched someone special to give us a misplaced $100.00 and sent us to a flood-ravaged West Cobb Neighborhood to someone special for whom the money was an answered prayer. This is what we love about putting our faith in action; we get to be that answered prayer for someone special.