Until It Hits Home

DEDICATED TO MY WESTERN IOWA FRIENDS WHO WERE HIT WITH DEVASTATING WEATHER THAT LEFT PATHS OF DESTRUCTION IN THEIR LIVES. 
Prayers and Peace - Jett
 
When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways-- either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.

We travel through our lives bumping into constant reminders that we are only as safe as the world allows us to be.  We read about the tragedy of terrorism that demolished the Twin Towers in a planned attack on our country by hatred for Americans.  We read about the violence in our cities that have multiplied between gang members that are killing hundreds of innocent people caught in the line of fire between two rival gangs and their hatred for each other.  The unwarranted beating of an American War Veteran with no purpose or motive that took his life on American soil after surviving two wars on foreign ground.  The killing of a college student in Kansas while he was running to maintain his athletic frame merely because three teenage kids wanted to know how it felt to shoot someone.  Many tragic lives are lost daily, for no better explanation other than the  hatred that lives inside our souls.

We read about robbery's by gun point at banks, shopping malls, corner stores and  gas stations because someone is desperate for money, food, drugs.  We read about home invasions and the theft of someones property, personal possessions they  have worked hard for, simply because a criminal feels entitled to whatever they want.  We read about car jackings and muggings and pick pockets and all sorts of violence that have altered the lives of so many.

We count our blessing that it wasn't ourselves that have been the victim of senseless, countless, often random acts of violence or assaults against our person or the possession we have in life.  We also count our blessings when tragedy misses us.  When someone else falls ill, when someone else loses a loved one, when someone else was robbed or beaten.

We count our blessings .. until it hits home.  It is then that we lose sight of the blessings in our lives and are overwhelmed with feelings of loss.  We look at everything that has been taken away from us, our home, our pets, our land, our livelihood.  We feel beaten by life, we think about all we have given and all that has been taken away.  We feel alone and we feel empty.  We feel singled out in life as a victim of the unknown where there are no answers.  No reasons.  Only questions.  Why? What did I do?  Where do I go from here? How do I move on?

While it may seem odd to hear someone tell you to keep counting your blessings and focus on your faith, that would be my advice to you today.  When everything has been taken away from you, you still have yourself, you still have your family, you still have your friends, and you still have God.  Now is not the time to lose faith in the life you live or the God that gave it to you.  This hardship and tragedy was not a test by God of your faith in Him, but a call from Satan so you question God's love for you. 

Now is the perfect time in life to count your blessings, look into your past and remember all the times you felt defeated and all the times you defeated that feeling coming out a winner.  How you came out stronger each time and moved forward with the same blessings you have today.  While it has to be devastating to lose your personal possessions and even the lives of your family pets, your home, your livelihood and your dreams, you are still surrounded by those that love you, those that need your love, and the love of God.

"For the road you travel on and all its detours, is the road you chose to be on.  All roads eventually have roadblocks and all roads eventually need repairs, but all roads lead to a better world where one day everything you have lost in your heart along the way will one day be yours again." - JMP

Please know you are in my heart and in my prayers in your time of need.  As devastating as mother nature has been to you in this recent storm tragedy the blessing that remains is the love of family, friends, and strangers have for you in this trying time of your life.  You are not a victim, you are a survivor and like the storm that took away the life you built in years gone by, this too shall past.  And when you start counting your blessings in life again, you will realize how blessed you are.  You will see that survivors are not victims because they see the diamond in every piece of coal they are handed.