Rebuilding After Disaster

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Earthquakes.

Floods.

Tornados.

Fire.

Tsunamis.

Storms. 




There are so many tragedies and the ability to digest everything we see from all over the world is too much.  Throughout the spring I've watched the news reports that show images of homes, neighborhoods, cities, countries devastated by events that are completely out of human control.  It is overwhelming to think of the losses. 

Betrayal feels like that.  It is a personal storm over which you have absolutely no control.  The only choice is how to respond.  From this point forward, life will be defined as before and after.  The landscape of trust and pillars of security are destroyed.  What was previously safe, comfortable and familiar has become a wasteland where survivors guardedly sift through the wreckage hoping to identify anything left of what they once knew. 

With physical disasters, the damage is tangible, visible and apparent to all.  The personal and emotional disasters of betrayal are not visible to most others, but they are just as, if not more disorienting.  For me, the filter through which my life is lived is forever changed.  The world is a lot more broken than I realized based on my sheltered upbringing.  Because I understand this brokeness more, I am learning to extend more grace to those who act in destructive ways.  I see that the hurtful deeds are extensions of their own unhealed brokeness.


Betrayal.

Deceit.

Adultery.

Abuse.

Pride.

Hate.

Revenge.

Like natural storms that blast away the protective walls we thought sheltered us, these storms of attack blast away security and self worth.  But just like the rebuilding that happens in our physical world, self worth and security can be rebuilt as well.  Do you see what is left behind when the floods recede, when the debris is cleared and when the earth stops shaking?  Foundations.  They are always there - sometimes cracked, marred or broken - but there. 

What I learned when my world fell apart was that people fail.  I fall short.  The unknown really can hurt you.  But I also learned that people show up.  I am stronger that I thought possible.  God never changes, never falls short and let's me know exactly what I need to know exactly when I need to know it.  He can be trusted and is not surprised by the choas that surrounds me.  He is my foundation.  When the damage is cleared away, it is on this security that I rebuild.

Have you experienced natural or personal disaster?  Has your foundation emerged intact? cracked?  marred?  How do you begin rebuilding?  Where do you find solid ground when all of life is swirling?