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The Flood Finding hope in the storm by Lindsay Dyer Unrelenting and merciless rain pounded around me. I was driving on New Year's Eve, everything I owned piled into my car. I was trying to escape south Louisiana and head north. Hope for a new beginning. Water covered every road I turned on. I was running out of time. It would be dark soon. Desperate, I tried for a shortcut. All I needed to do was drive through the underpass to get to the other side of the interstate and beyond. Under the bridge, water was beginning to collect, pouring from the side of the interstate above. I could make it, if I went quickly. Moments later, water began to rise. The engine stopped. My life changed forever. I crawled through the window and jumped into waist-high water. Rain gushed on top of me, below me, all around me. My brand new car and all my possessions floated under the bridge helpless, hopeless. Ruined. In this moment, when the darkest clouds covered me, and I couldn't tell where the rain stopped and my tears began, I remembered Isaiah 43:2-3: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, Your Savior. My Savior had an unusual plan for me as I stood there, drenched and stranded in a city I was trying to escape. I wasn't just angry that my material possessions were gone, and I wasn't just scared for all the mess I would have to figure out and clean up. I felt hurt that I could love God so much and such things could still happen to me. In that moment, I remembered the words of Isaiah, but I struggled to believe they were true. And just as I was about to punt the little hope I had left, I heard a whisper ... "I am with you. Fire or flood. Wind and rain. I am here." His words spoken to my heart didn't stop the rain. I opened my eyes, and my car was still flooded, abandoned under the bridge. Yet, I understood what Noah must have felt, seeing his dove return to him at dawn. A Hope inside of us knows that the moments we feel we have nothing to bring to God are important because they remind us that we never have anything to offer Him. Yet, He wants us. He is with us.