Berylessence - One Year Later

Today marks the one year anniversary of Hurricane Beryl. So I dusted off the blog post I did last year and added current reflections...

Hurricane Beryl was like an unwanted, unneeded college course I did not sign up for, but for some reason, had to take, and I didn't discover this until the very last minute.

But I thought, "Hmmm. How hard can it be?" Famous last words...

I figured out very quickly that my expectations of the magnitude of this storm were far too low.

Yes, I was completely unprepared for the essence that was Beryl. "Berylessence" was shocking.

Lesson 1: There is no such thing as "just" at Category 1 hurricane.

There are so many other variables than the measurement that results in the category label. Beryl's level of ferocity shattered my ideas of what it would be like. Wow. Beryl came blasting in. I remember how surprised I was, listening to the wind literally howling outside, and watching the gales of wind blow the rain horizontally. Scary.

Fortunately, no damage. Blessed.

Along with the Category 1 Hurricane lesson, God had some more to teach me. He is so good. He lovingly and gently, and not so gently, pulled me along to teach me stuff I had no desire to learn. But He insisted, because He knew what I needed to know.

Lesson 2: The reluctant Generator Girl

The aftermath of Beryl was a new chapter for me. Power went out, and I waited and waited and wondered when/if it was time to set up the generator. I am NOT mechanically inclined at all. And I'm not exaggerating. At all.

So, I reluctantly became... "Generator Girl". This is what I wish I had looked like, with the cute red getup. Confident, not stressed at all, even having fun with it.

Not. I was terrified on so many levels... thinking of all the worst case scenarios, from the generator blowing up to other such disastrous imaginings.

God is continually oh, so patient with me. Thank God.

Before all this fun began, I took every step to prepare, and I gathered information from trusted sources. I had all the "book knowledge." I'm super talented at preparing.

Then, finally, after waiting all day hoping power would come back on, I got the generator gassed up and running with some help from neighbors and friends when I ran into a couple of issues.

Lesson 3: Learn-As-You-Go

Another lesson I learned was that no matter how prepared you think you are, there are always things you cannot know or understand ahead of time, so you learn as you go. And I hated that! It's so... messy. Unpredictable. But hello, this is how life is, so I buckled down and added more knowledge to my toolbox while making various adjustments along the way.

Me being me, I made notes throughout this ordeal, hoping I won't need them anytime soon, but, they are here, at the ready.

My learning curve was not a nice arc. No, I drug my feet, stomped my feet in frustration, and every step forward, or backward, felt awkward, because it was.

But, I pretty much successfully ran a generator for eight long days, and I never would have dreamed that was a possibility. God knew I could do it though.

This experience was fear and stress filled. Yes, that's my tendency with all new experiences.

But what was different here was that with God's help I realized I needed to keep going in spite of how I felt.

Yes. I want to remember what happened last year when I figured out that I needed to move the generator from where I had it set up in front to behind my house. It was on wheels, yes, but it was heavy for me, and not easy to move. And because I live in a townhome, the shortest distance was to take it through the house. So I did that, and it was a pushing pulling maneuvering nightmare, pretty much. So frustrating. But, at one point, this thought came to me: "Jesus, You died on the cross for me. A horrific, tortuous death, for me. The very least I can do today is move this thing to where I know it needs to be!" And I did. I chuckle now remembering that, but, this is the mindset that helped me to keep moving forward in that circumstance and others that followed.

Remembrance is a great tool for growth. If/when it's needed, yes, I want to draw from the detailed notes I took. But way more important than that...in this circumstance, and in general, I want to draw from the many examples of God's ongoing faithfulness to me, in every season, every situation, never leaving me no matter how I feel. I long to get to a point that I can face something new with more trust in Him and less fear, because I know that even when I don't want to embark on a new learning experience, He delights in taking me with Him.