storm was a brewing

last night around 7:10pm, we were in the middle of cleaning up our dinner when the tornado siren went off. nat was tempted to ignore it, until we flipped on the tv and heard the anchor say, "if you are in champaign county, you need to take cover now. this storm is very dangerous."

we could hear the wind howling as we waited in our hallway, with a mattress as a wall, and some blankets for cover. as nat went back into the living room/kitchen to get my rings, flashlight, and telephones, i asked him to be quick. we heard our bathroom window break (our neighbors shingles flew off their roof and smashed into window), and the wind intensified. we decided to go down into the crawl space. we waited and prayed. i was scared that the house might fall down on top of us and crush us. it wasn't so much the dying part that scared me, just the pain i might feel. (nat shared later that he said it would've been great to go up to heaven last night!) but i asked God to forgive me for my lack of trust and faith in Him. specifically, i asked Him to forgive me for my anxiety, fear, and worry. we also prayed for God to keep people safe and to relent the storm, and He did. the tornado warning passed, as the storm faded from thunderstorms to rain. praise the Lord! it was such a blessing to be with nat at the time, just to be close to him, pray with him, and just talk with him. i was so grateful that he was there.

this morning i saw the aftermath of the storm--broken branches, streetlight outages, power outages. it's quite amazing how powerful a storm can be. i also thought it was interesting that no matter how much technology we have, we can't guarantee our safety or the safety of the ones we love.

i hope that all of you that are in champaign-urbana came out of the storm safe and sound.