By staff writer Chelsea Pardue

Two weeks ago, I made my third journey to Tuscaloosa. My first visit was last April, less than 24 hours after a massive tornado devastated the town. My second came six months later, when some areas were already rebuilt and others looked like not even a branch had been removed from the rubble. Each time, I met new people, heard new stories, and felt entirely overwhelmed.

Somehow, I thought this trip would be a mild week full of the same stories and same emotions that had been dulled by months of dealing with the tragedy.

But this time, I met people who were in a different situation.

Tuscaloosa is rezoning. The town is buying new land for many people, who will have to rebuild at these locations. This kind of process is never a quick one, and there are people who still don’t have a place to build.

They are the hurting people, the ones who feel alone, abandoned, and angry. They are angry at the town for taking their homes. They are angry at Samaritan's Purse and other organizations because we can’t do anything about it. And they want to be angry at God, although they can’t quite bring themselves to question His plan.

Their emotions are fresh, their wounds are open, and they have not been dulled by the many months of waiting.

I met Abraham and Cynthia Lee at her mother’s house. They live in the back room. Nine months ago, they owned a house that they had lived in for 34 years, where they had raised all their children. Now it’s gone, and they don’t know where to turn. They don’t want to give up the land they own, which makes the process of finding new land that much more painful.



As we talked, I saw a new side to the story. I had spent the week talking to church officials and people who volunteered with Samaritan's Purse. Most openly admitted that they weren’t directly affected by the storm. They told me that Tuscaloosa is recovering well, that it was great to see the town come together, and that good things came out of the tornado.

I don’t doubt any of those things. Many parts of the town have completely recovered, and people are moving on with their lives. I saw firsthand that people all over Tuscaloosa wanted to help each other. And I have heard story after story about how, even though no one wishes a tornado would hit their home, people’s lives were changed for the better.

None of those things change the fact that there are people in Tuscaloosa who are still strongly affected by the storm. To the Lees, the storm happened just yesterday. Nothing has changed. They still don’t have a home.

Not every story I write has a happy ending. But not every story ends when the last period is typed on the page.

The Lees are hurting, and it hurt my heart to hear them pour out their pain. I can’t say that in a few months they will have the home they want and everything will be OK again. But I can say that they still have faith in God.

They wanted to question Him. I could hear the faint “why God?” in their voices as they talked. I also heard them loudly and strongly say, “God has a plan. We may not know what that plan is, but He has a plan.”

That faith is what gives this story the surety of a happy ending, even if that ending isn’t now. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7, ESV).

God cares for His people. He will not leave us to deal with life’s problems on our own. We face challenges, but we will always overcome. Things may not look like the fairytale ending we dream up, but things will be OK.

When things fall apart, we can live with this promise: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18, ESV).

Samaritan's Purse , Better Things Await

Previous Update: Working Together For Good

Next Update: Sacrificing to Serve