By Dana Mueller

 The second morning of work came quicker than I would have imagined.  Thankfully, God gave us all refreshing sleep, so we were able to work at full capacity all day. We returned to Gerald and Gloria’s house, with a couple extra hands to make the work go a little faster. We tackled taping and mudding the drywall, and as I’m writing this, the team is continuing with it. Our goal was to finish the mudding so we could begin painting tomorrow. Even without paint, having the drywall up gives the house a realness to it, so that I could picture a family living there.

I still know little about the couple who is receiving the gift of the makeover. I know Gerald and Gloria are an elderly couple, they took care of one of their fathers before the storm, and Gerald uses a wheelchair.  They don’t know we’re completely rebuilding their house.

The first night, when the Operation Blessing team told us about Gerald and Gloria, I knew we would be building for people who couldn’t do it themselves. Maybe they wished they could do it themselves, that they didn’t have to ask for help from strangers. Maybe they were shocked by the offer of help. I know they’ll be shocked Monday morning when they arrive back home and the house is whole.

And I guess what God really showed me today was that this is what help from Him feels like. I can’t rebuild my life on my own. I want to be self -sufficient most of the time. It really is a struggle for me to ask for help from people, let alone from God. I’m continually shocked by the magnitude of His grace and blessing, which always goes beyond what I could have asked for. He alone is the one who makes me whole, and gives me the realness that I’m looking for. 

It’s funny the lessons God teaches you when you least expect it. Sometimes the lessons are presented in classrooms, church services, or talking with a group of friends.  And sometimes they come while you’re mixing mud in Texas, trying for the fifth time to get the mixture of powder and water right, watching a team of your closest friends work tirelessly for someone they’ve never met.

I think those are the lessons that really stick with you. I know this one will stick with me.

Tags: Dana Mueller

This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 10:26 am and is filed under Disaster, North America, OBI Volunteer Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.