A Change of Heart

For two weeks I got the privilege of serving & living in a community in Louisiana.We went along with Samaritan’s purse, to do hurricane relief work for the past two hurricanes that have hit a small town called DaQuincy. Never did I expect God to move there in the ways that he did. 

When I heard we were doing hurricane relief (which consists mostly of manual labor) I wasn’t super excited. Like wasn’t excited at all actually. To me, cleaning up peoples yards after some storm seemed like a silly use of our time. How much does a fallen tree being removed from a yard do for these people? Surely they have bigger worries than the aesthetics of their town right now. And boy did the Lord change my tune, and totally wrecked my heart while we were there. 

Though most of our jobs consisted of moving trees & clearing debris, oftentimes we would get to talk to the people. These homeowners who had been living in fear for weeks after this devastating storm had hit, and wanted to share their stories. Those are the moments where I figured out it was all worth it. When they would express to us how much they had been through, and how heavy their hearts had been. Getting to sit & listen to these people was so sweet, and helped change my heart. 

One of my favorites of these encounters was with a lady named Lou, and her son Tracey. Their roof had been ripped off of their house & fallen trees laid all over their yard. When the work had been completed, Miss Lou had invited our group to come back to her home that night for a home cooked meal! I couldn’t believe it. Even though we were just there to move trees, she felt moved to invite us into her home. The time came for us to head back to her home & Lou pulled out all the stops. She covered the tables with her nicest linens, had freshly brewed tea waiting to be iced, and had made gumbo for us all! I had never felt so humbled of my own thoughts. As much as I had believed that this work didn’t matter, I could tangibly see how much it did matter. It mattered to Lou and Tracey. It mattered to Billy & Deedee, who couldn’t get the work done by themselves. It mattered to Leroy, who didn’t have anyone he could call on to help him.

The Lord used all of these encounters to show me that serving others in ways that seem useless to us, can mean the world to others. Sometimes getting out and doing the work that you don’t feel called to can totally change your views. I want to encourage you to do the things you don’t want to do & let God show it to you in a new light.