Pam Padgett - teacher
One evening a few days ago very strong rain and hail came over the
area where I live. When I realized how heavy the rain was coming down, I
went to the basement to see if any water was getting in as had happened
a couple months ago. The basement is unfinished, but the furnace and hot water heater are there and I also use it as a
storage area. There was some water at one end of the basement and as I
worked to move some things, I noticed that
the window well (outside of the window) was rapidly filling with water. Having never seen the
window well fill so quickly, I went upstairs and outside to see what was
causing this.
Outside water was rapidly rushing down the side of my house and
dumping into the window well. Just as I saw this, the window at the window well
gave way and water poured into the basement.
Although I and my animals were fine as well as the main part of the house, I was shaken by the flooded basement and kept calling out to
God asking for help.
There is a pump in the floor in one area of the basement and as the
rain lightened I went to a store to get a portable pump to help pump water out of other areas of the basement. By the time I got to the store the rain had stopped
and my attention was drawn to a rainbow.
Seeing this rainbow helped me very much! It
caused me to think about God, that HE is in control of rains (and all
things), and that HE has promised that all the earth will not again be
destroyed by floods.
Genesis 9:8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him,
saying, 9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your
seed after you; 10 And with every living creature that is with you, of
the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from
all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. 11 And I will
establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any
more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood
to destroy the earth.
12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which
I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you,
for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the
cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the
earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the
earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and
every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a
flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I
will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between
God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I
have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
Being reminded of what God has promised and that HE is in control of the rains calmed me. Later when a wave of fear came again and I cried out to God, my attention was again drawn to the rainbow and I was again calmed by thinking on God and HIS power.
In the store there was only one man working in the area where the pumps are.
This man seemed very willing to help, but he did everything very slowly.
Feeling pressure to get home and start using the pump, my flesh started
rising in impatience with this man. I asked God to please help me, and I
was helped in an unexpected way. I was reminded of a character a
comedian named Tim Conway portrayed in skits many years ago. This
character moved extremely slowly. As I thought of this character and
one of the skits I had enjoyed so long ago, I laughed to myself and found I was no longer irritated with the man's slowness.
When I got home water was no longer running into the window well and with the pumps, the water level in the basement started lowering pretty quickly.
But then about an hour later, I noticed the skies getting dark again. I
went to a window and could see many dark, heavy-looking clouds moving
toward this area. The thought of another hard rain and more water pouring
into the basement through the broken window was overwhelming to me. So I
turned to God and asked HIM to have mercy on me. The clouds came over
my house and there was a light rain for a short time, but no more
flooding. I was very grateful to God for this.