Trickles or Floods…
“Praise to the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who
comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble
with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” *
When Al and I were
getting ready to move to Michigan in 2016, we were hoping to find a house
without a basement. Horror stories of flooded basements were abundant; but like
most houses in Michigan, the place we bought had one. In it was the laundry
room, furnace room, a small bathroom and three carpeted rooms. I
We didn’t have any
problems with the basement during the first four winters. The paint on the
interior of the cinderblock walls was peeling off though, with brown spots
showing through in spots—spots that looked somewhat like mold or mildew. That
was motivation enough to arrange to have it painted through a contractor who
had done some work on the house previously.
Then came a sudden “warm” spell for a few days
with rain and temperatures in the forties. The snow and ice that had piled up
around the house began to thaw. However, the ground was still frozen below the
surface forcing water down the outside of the walls.
Walking into the laundry room late one
evening, I stepped into a puddle of water. It was coming from a different
direction from the laundry tub which sometimes overflowed while running the
washing machine.
After leaving that
room and going into the furnace room, a disheartening discovery was made. There
was a small stream oozing out from the joint between the wall and the cement
floor, running under the stairwell and then into the drain in the adjacent laundry
room! Only a tiny bit of carpet was wet—most of the water was running across
concrete floors.
When Al came
downstairs to view the situation, we talked about what we should do. After much
mopping and praying too, we decided to go to bed. He planned on calling the contractor
first thing in the morning.
Before going
upstairs, I collected sponges and lined them up along the place that was
leaking. What would we discover when we woke up in the morning? I wondered.
“You’ll never believe it!” Al announced the
next day. He had gotten up early and had gone down to assess the situation.
“I have good news. It’s completely dry!”
“What?” I couldn’t
believe it. Sometime during the night, the temperature had plummeted, causing
another freeze. It was enough to stop the trickle seeping in through the crack
in the wall; and the heat from the furnace had dried out the floor.
Later Al
discovered that there was a depression in the ground outside the house dug by
our dog during the summer months. When it rained, the ice in that hole had
melted and had run down the cinderblock wall.
Our contractor friend was concerned when he heard
what had happened. Twenty-four hours later a painter named Victor showed up at
the door. In two days, he patched, scraped, sealed and painted all four
interior cinderblock walls. We couldn’t thank Victor enough for his help. He
really did an amazing job.
The basement leak could have been much
worse, causing major damage and requiring expensive repairs. How comforting it
is knowing that regardless of the size of the problem, God has compassion on us
and is with us always. All we need to do is trust Him for guidance.
“God does not leave us comfortless, but we have to be in dire need of
comfort to know the truth of his promise. It is in time of calamity . . . in
days and nights of sorrow and trouble that the presence, the sufficiency, and
the sympathy of God grow very sure and very wonderful. Then we find out that
the grace of God is sufficient for all our needs, for every problem, and for
every difficulty, for every broken heart, and for every human sorrow.” (Quote from Reverend Peter Marshall, 1902-1949)
Just as the Lord has helped us, so we
are called to provide comfort for others who are also experiencing times of
trouble.
Thank you, Lord for your faithfulness
and compassion. Use us to help others in their time of need. In Jesus’ name,
Amen
* 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV
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