I may not have been born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could. 

My grandparents-- my kinfolk -- are all from Texas. I've got Texas blood, from my Dallas mom and my Fort Worth dad. I've lived for 32 blessed years in the great Lone Star State.

And I've never seen anything like this. Like what is happening this week.

These pictures are from Houston, Austin and Dallas.

And here in my own hometown of Grapevine, the lake has risen--which has been dramatically BELOW normal for years. 

But, here are some current photos, thanks to this rainy spring.




It's hard to wrap my brain around. Mostly because Texas has been in a drought for several years. A serious drought. Like, some Texas cities at the highest level of water restrictions with no where else to go. And a water reserve numbered by the days left. DAYS.

My beloved Texas is experiencing it's own feast or famine situation. And my heart breaks for the families grieving.

Grieving the lives that have been lost. 

When my college friend posted a photo of his friend from high school--long before it hit the news, my heart sunk. The man had been found. His family had not.

And literally, the weight of it has kept me up all night. I have felt a burden unlike anything since I watched the photos and video coming out of New Orleans in 2005 from Hurricane Katrina.

I don't know these people. But I am lifting them in prayer, thus hoping to bear their burdens with them.

I am standing on the promise of Isaiah 43:1 for the people impacted:

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.

Won't you do the same?

Won't you continue to pray for the families, the rescuers, the first responders, the volunteers, the insurance adjusters, the ones left behind, the ones losing all they owned, the ones without a home or a place of business?

Won't you please not forget the families facing the unimaginable because the likes of these floods have never been seen?

Won't you ask God to prompt you by bringing them to mind throughout the day?

Won't you remember that these are real people with huge losses and lives devastated in the wakes of these floods?

Won't you consider how else you might help? Financially or by offering your time to gather and send supplies or to volunteer in other ways that you discover?

We are safe and sound in our south Grapevine home, no where near the flood waters. But so many others are not. And the forecast includes rain for the next five days here in DFW and much of Texas.

Won't you pray with us for all that are passing through the waters? That they might have eyes to see and know that God is still with them. 


Ways to help the flooded areas:
 Food bank in Hays County (where Wimberly is):

 United Way of Greater Austin area

 Salvation Army

 Austin Disaster Relief Network

 Central Texas Red Cross

 SBTC Disaster Relief Crews