Memory Verse:
Genesis 7:24 The water held power over the earth for 150 days.
Introduction: The only witnesses to the Flood are Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives - 8 people. And then there’s the animals, 2 of every unclean animal and 7 pairs of every clean animal. When Noah and his family emerged from the ark, they offered sacrifices and praised the Lord for preserving them.
Assignment: What kind of catastrophe have you lived through? Weather? Fire? Car crash? Did you feel the oppression of the power of the disaster, or the protection of the Power of the Lord? Tell us the story of how you rejoiced and praised Him through it and after it.
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I've lived in Florida all my life so hurricanes have made an impact. I remember Hurricane Andrew it hit when I was in high school. I just remember the whole family just huddling together and the eery sound of the howling wind through the night. I also remember how in the morning and for the weeks to come neighbors would help each other and the extension cords running from one side of the street to the other b/c one side of the street had electricity and the other side did not. I also remember going down south to Homestead and passing out essentials to the people who had truly lost everything but their own lives. I wasn't a Christian then but I do remember feeling so grateful for what I had.
Fast forward a little more than a decade and here comes 2004. The year of the hurricanes. I thought we never would get through that year. God was definitely with us that year. Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. I was nine months pregnant when Frances hit us and it was difficult. That storm never arrived on time, LOL. I remember sitting on the floor in front of our door with it open so we could see to try to entertain our 3 yo. This was before the storm arrived but we had somehow already lost power. We didn't go to the hospital b/c we would have to be separated but we just prayed that our son would not make an early arrival.
Our son was born two weeks later, and then another two weeks later we were hit by Jeanne. I was hit again with the stress of having a newborn and being in the midst of a hurricane. God was good. Our house though hit by two hurricanes was not badly damaged. I did not quite learn my lesson though of trusting God completely until the next year with the next hurricane.
Hurricane Wilma came in 2005 and I again was pregnant. (We laugh that since I haven't been pregnant there's been no hurricanes that have hit us) This time the storm hit us at a much stronger angle. We had been playing in my older son's room and we went to the living room to have a snack, during this time a piece of metal from someone's patio flew and hit my son's window. The window was shattered and glass and other materials flew into the room. Miraculously the wood covering the window did not break just the glass behind it. This truly showed me how God protects us and even when we feel that our world is crashing around us He is there.
I know that in 2004 if I had damage in the house with a newborn or being pregnant that would have been too much for me. God watched over us and protected us. He again protected us from being in the room when the window broke.
  
This top one is a picture of my neighbors garage.
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