February 5th

February 5th will forever be a celebration of life for me.

It was on this day last year that we found out there was a life growing inside of me.

And it was on this day six years ago that God spared the lives of my best friends when an EF-4 tornado ripped through their dorm rooms.

When I told Spencer on the evening of February 5th that we were pregnant, I couldn’t speak before I started bawling.  (Not tears of joy I might add.)

When that awful tornado came through Union, it left behind complete devastation and destruction.

But in times of dark uncertainty, God provides hope.  He provides His Word.  He even provides miracles.

In the times when chaos encircles us, God allows us to rest in His unchanging character and in the love of the Church community.

The theme of my life has always been that God is good and faithful.

And He is always good and faithful.

In every circumstance.  Expected and unexpected.

No matter what happens between sunrise and sunset or between sunset and sunrise.

He is good.  He is faithful.

And He is God.

If Katherine wasn’t healthy, and if the students and staff at Union University weren’t protected He would still be good and faithful.

But K is healthy.  And every life on that campus was spared.  Miracles?  Indeed.

Was there any reason to think K might not have been healthy?  No.  But after experiencing pregnancy and childbirth, there is no doubt in my mind that every child is simply a miracle.

Was there any reason to think that there were lifeless bodies among the rubble after an EF-4 tornado stormed through Union’s campus?  Absolutely.  But God had His hands around each person there.

I fully know that God gives and He takes away.  He doesn’t always spare lives.  There are times to rejoice and times to mourn.  But in everything we are called to give thanks.  And in everything we can rest in the truth that God is good and faithful.

So today, I choose to celebrate life.

I choose to celebrate the brightest of mornings that comes after the darkest of nights.

February 5th will forever be a reminder to hold my little one a little closer, kiss my husband a few times more, say “I love you” every time I think it, and fully trust in my good God.

You can read the first hand stories from the February 5th tornado in Tim Ellsworth’s book, 
​God in the Whirlwind.
(This is an affiliate link. Thank you in advance for your support!)

Watch more about that night at Union on Youtube with videos like this one.