Dear Lord – In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey I cannot forget this image of the six-year-old boy who was victimized by a flood.
In the aftermath of the flood, the house he lived in was damaged. He was totally paralyzed after ingesting the fecal polio virus in flood waters. Leaving his normal life behind, he was quarantined in the hospital, was separated from those he loved and eventually in adulthood was confined to an iron lung for five long years.
Jack after polio 1955
God, I know that I am much older now. But in me that six-year-old boy pictured here still dwells. The boy is forever thankful for what that flood intended for bad was transformed into good by Your unfailing love.
God, that boy learned that a tragedy, like Hurricane Harvey, is a terrible thing to waste for Your children. It is an unwelcome opportunity to know and serve You better.
God, the six-year-old boy asks that You please send Your angels down from Heaven to deep in the Heart of Texas to bend over all victims of this flood to comfort them as You did him.
God, please have Your angels deliver to all victims the same Holy message the boy received from You at age six. That because of You and Your love, Harvey will not be the end of their lives but surely be the beginning of deeper, more joyous, spiritual and complete lives because of You.
God, in Your Grace, please do for them what You did for that six-year-old flood victim.
God, please help each victim learn what that prayerful six-year-old boy did.
In You the boy learned that his life did not end with that flood. It truly began.
Amen
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Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 120 lawyer full service firm in Houston, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to BendingAngel.com.
Jack, I am crying as I read this. Your life and what you have been through is such an inspiration. You have chosen to lift others up your entire life, lighting God’s path for others. You truly are one of God’s Angels.
Knowing what you’ve experienced and how you have grown so spiritually while living through it is truly an inspiration to your friends. Most people could never be so strong.
Thank you Jack for your attitude, Your inspiration, and your love of the Lord which brings us all closer to Jesus in your daily messages.
We love you and your family Jack and thank you for sharing this heartfelt story of part of your life’s journey. I continue to be in awe of you, your strength, and endurance. Having “Saint Dorothy” by your side is a blessing I know you hold dear to your heart. She is simply …”the best”. May God continue to bless you and your special family.
Thank God for putting His people everywhere, in every corner of our population. From the rich to the poor, from the church to the streets, from the home of righteous to the den of the wicked – God has peppered His entire earth with small beacons of hope and light everywhere. Jack, I am a Family Law Paralegal who has lost everything in this last month. I lost my job almost a month ago after standing up for my values for the second time…I lost our only income with that as my husband is now disabled and cannot work, I almost lost my will to keep on after a couple of weeks of searching diligently for new work…thinking “why on earth do I even want to stay in Family Law?…I should just look for something different and avoid the headache and drama..” and then this week I lost my home and all of its contents. Then today, I go to a local church where we are displaced and cry out before God, “Lord, I love you even if you take the breath out of me…I will use my last to worship you!” And then to come home and glance here on LinkedIn to see this. Thank God for you. This is just the inspiration I needed. There are righteous people everywhere…even in the legal field..even in Family Law. Even when those closest to me mock me and make jokes about being righteous and working in this field which only “tears families apart.” Family Law has been my mission field. I have been exceptionally blessed by helping people in their darkest hours. But even the righteous have to be reminded that they are not alone and there is hope for the future. There is light…even when all seems dark. Just as Elijah thought all was lost and he was the only one left out of the whole of Israel, God revealed that there were 7,000 more righteous right there with him. How marvelous His ways and how incredible His mercy! Thank you, thank you, thank you brother. God Bless you!
AmandaLynn- My prayers are with you. May the angels wrap their wings around you and your pain. Please email me your cv.
You are and inspiration to me too.
God bless you, my sister-in-Christ.
Thanks for your words today and for sharing your heart with me and others in God’s community of angels, spiritual and in the physical.
Jack