Thankful Thursday

I haven’t  made a Thankful Thursday post in quite a while, but after making it through last night’s awful storms unscathed, all I can do is thank God this morning…and of course, pray for those who are facing such devastating losses today.

We were under a tornado warning a little after midnight. It was alarming to see the destruction north and west of us then to see the weather map showing our county and two neighboring ones in the path of a tornado. Thankfully, Jonah slept through it all beside me, but I had to wake Donnie. Then I rounded up Zach and Eli into our room, ready to hunker down in the hallway if we had to. Zach and Eli hadn’t even been asleep yet, because they were worried about the weather, poor souls.

Eli came into our room wearing his Darth Vader helmet and his heavy winter jacket. I wish I had gotten a picture of my little man, all suited up to face the storm! But I couldn’t understand the heavy coat, as it was rather warm in the house. I realized he’d been talking about putting on that coat ever since the storm began. Then he showed me why:

He explained that because the jacket’s logo indicated it would keep him safe against all these elements: water, rain, snow, sun and wind — even though it didn’t specifically have a picture of a tornado, it would probably work just fine against that, too.

Bless his heart. Isn’t that precious?

I love that boy…

Anyway, the tornado went south of us, and the guys were back to sleep by 1:30. I was too wound-up to sleep til after 3, but it’s not like I’m not up that late half the time, anyway, writing.

This morning, I saw these pictures on the site of the paper I write for, of the road leading to a friend’s house. It just slays me to see huge oaks like that, plucked up from the ground like flimsy weeds. How wonderful that there were no casualties nearby.

I just keep thinking of the meaning of grace, God’s unmerited favor. There’s no reason we were spared when others are suffering so much, why our prayers were answered and others weren’t. Feeling very solemn today and asking God to comfort those who are hurting in the wake of this terrible storm.