Katrina Revisited

Doubting has really gotten a bad name in most Community of Believers.  Now that I am older I have discovered doubt is often the very doorway to faith.  A good example of this has been my first hand experience in Hurricane Katrina and the life of New Orleans.  My family and I stayed in one of the local hotels as Katrina devastated our beloved city.

After the first few days of no response from FEMA and other government agencies we began to doubt in God.  We were praying for help, but no one came.  Our fears continued to mount and we pleaded with God.  Still the response if any was very slow.  What is the use of prayer if God doesn’t act?  Little did we know God was using our growing doubts to reveal our faith and its power in our life.  We were putting our trust in our government rather than God.  The largest natural disaster in the history of our country was too big for FEMA to handle and rightfully so.

Slow but sure God answered our prayers and used our doubts to lead us into faithfulness.  Church organizations of all types, sizes and shapes responded.  They came as workers with supplies to help us rebuild.  They provided shelter to the homeless.  They spoke words of hope in what appeared to be hopeless situations.  Individuals continue to come to enable us to restore our lives, even though it is four years later.  They have shown us that when we doubt God it is often because we are expecting God to come in a way that is limiting rather than life affirming.  When we truly say “Your Will be done!” we are suddenly touched by the power of God.   Prayers are answered in the Realm of that which cannot be Seen, not in the realm of that which can be seen.

Obviously God created the human condition filled with doubts.  I believe this happened so that we could learn how to see how faith really works.  This is what Katrina taught me and continues to teach me.