Reflections on the Cabin Flooding

Time and again, we heard the same statements from the various people who came to the cabin after the pipe burst and subsequent flooding:

• Wow! You guys are way out here. I didn’t even know this area existed!
• I can’t believe how much work you did.
• You guys have really good attitudes about all of this.

The first one always made us chuckle. It’s one of the reasons that we loved the property. It’s away from the craziness of the city, but we still have excellent neighbors who look out for each other. It’s something special to have a tight knit community that enjoys helping one another.

The second one made us grin as to us we didn’t really have another option. We’re not the type of people to sit around and not do anything when there is work to be done. It’s our cabin, and we obviously wanted to take care of it to the best of our ability. Sitting around and not doing anything would have landed us with a severely damaged cabin filled with mold and mildew. Um, no thanks!

The third one is the one that really made us smile because it meant that we were achieving our goal to honor and glorify the Lord in all that we do – in the good and the bad times. Trust me when I say that there were some extremely frustrating moments during all of this. At times, the task ahead of us seemed daunting and never-ending. We’re nowhere near the end yet. In fact, we’re probably looking at around 2 months for the rebuild to be completed according to the contractor. We knew that having a bad attitude would only make things worse and hurt us.

In that moment when we walked through the door for the first time and saw the mess, we knew that we had a few choices to make:

• Have a good attitude that allowed the Lord to shine through us or have a bad attitude that did not cast a good light on our Savoir.
• Sit around and allow someone else to clean up the mess or jump in and start tackling the job as soon as possible.
• Enjoy our time at the cabin or be bitter about not being able to relax as planned.

While we didn’t actually sit down and discuss the choices, we did have to consciously make the decisions. We decided to work together and make the best of the situation. As I said previously, that doesn’t mean that we didn’t have moments where we became super frustrated or felt like quitting, but we were able to remain in a good mood for most of the time. When I look back at the worst of it all, I know that we didn’t do it all in our own power. No, the Lord was definitely with us.

I know that many people were praying for us, and for that, I am truly grateful. There really is something powerful about knowing people are praying for you. You almost have this bubble of protection, this light that surrounds you. It’s a mighty thing. I’m certain that it gave us strength many a time. It also helped us not go down a path of negativity. It allowed that silver lining to shine just a little brighter, so we could see it more.

I know the next couple of months will not be easy. Oh, it will be fun to pick out new flooring, paint colors, and fixtures, but the construction process is sure to hold its pitfalls. We are still waiting for approval by the insurance company on the estimate from the construction company, so there is uncertainty there. Once that gets approved, we will be doing many things by phone/email as we can’t be there all the time. For someone who likes to physically be part of all of these things, that’s going to be difficult. D and I have always done things ourselves around the house, so this is a new thing for us. It’s going to be an interesting journey. We appreciate the prayers and support that we’ve received more than I could adequately express.