11/04/2024
Miracles After Devastation Along the River: Someone asked for some good things or miracles that have happened after the devastation brought on by the flooding from Helene. I have several.
The property I have been helping at is 100 years old along the Doe River and has been in the family for now the 3rd & 4th generations. We are surprised it did not completely wash away. By some miracle it did not but had 3 feet of water in it destroying many family heirlooms. One thing that survived was the stone fireplace which the grandfather built. On it was found the family Bible unharmed. From that point other miracles just seemed to start happening.
I spent hours washing and drying photos and family keepsakes along with some of these family members. They came together after many years and shared stories of their childhood summers spent there with their grandparents; stories of visiting bears, Blue Herons, Hellbenders, catching trout and crawdads all along the river.
Trees are gone and debris is everywhere now along the river but within a few hours or a few days of talking about these animals, they appeared to us miracuously. A mama bear came off the mountain and crossed the river with her triplet cubs, I spied a Blue Heron standing beside the river said by the family to be "Grandma" who lived to be 104, coming back for a visit to the river. A cousin's young son saw the biggest crawdad ever he dubbed "a lobster" and then proceeded to catch a good sized trout. Then a young daughter caught a Hellbender by hand. An ancient species, Hellbender numbers have been thought to have decreased drastically because of the flooding destroying their river habitat but miracuously this one is proof at least some survived.
The driveway at and road to the property had washed completely out. After hiking in on the first day and driving carefully through an elderly lady's yard a few days, miracuously, the road was temporarily repaired and volunteers came with heavy equipment to repair the driveway and linemen came to restore electricity in the area. Another organization showed up to gut the house after we had cleared it of most of the contents and a lot of the 2-4 inches of mud left behind by the river. No one asked them really. They just showed up at a property not many know is there down along the river. Then through all the misinformation, FEMA came through which is certainly miraculous. Often cynical, this has restored my opinion of people because for the most part it has brought out the best in them.
All this has affected not only those who this disaster happened to and still dealing with it, but also those who were just instantly and miracuously drawn to start helping from all over the country in any way they could, including me and what little I could do and those of you reading this who have watched it unfold. It has touched our lives. One family member says often, "the only constant in life is change." Helene has certainly changed life for many.
What I take from all of this and if you can take anything miraculous from all of this devastation it is this: Terrible times bring about miracles, bring out the best in people, bring people together, and bring signs from God that yes, life is forever changed but it will and does go on.
