By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
Tweet this: Stepping Out of Our Comfort Zone
Last week Houston experienced the worst flooding since 2001. With the torrential storms and downpours that brought 16 to 20 inches of rain came tornadoes. My neighborhood, friends, and church family were impacted, but we were fine. The devastation that hit the community was measured by the number of feet of water that rose in homes.
Depressing.
Frightening.
Nightmarish.
Overwhelming.
Our church had planned for weeks to have a Serve Saturday, but after the flood waters rose, the event was reorganized as a means to reach out to the community and became Flood Relief Saturday. Volunteers worked even before Saturday as mud-out teams to help church members and others in the massive cleanup.
On Saturday morning, over 1,300 volunteers met at our church with five areas of service:
Mud-out Teams
After initial clean up of homes, tearing out baseboards and sheet rock. Carrying carpet and destroyed items to the curb.
Homeless Needs
Ministering to those who were frightened and providing critical need items.
Laundromat Service
Paying for and helping with the mounds of items to be washed and dried.
Prayer Walking
Teams walked the damaged neighborhood and prayed with homeowners.
Providing Cleaning Supplies and Water
Trash bags, paper towels, water, Gatorade, and gallon bags of crisis supplies were delivered while offering encouragement and hands-on help to the victims.
We heard the same repeated comments:
“Why are you doing this?”
“I can’t believe you’d take time from your Saturday to help us.”
“Oh, yes, I need help. Thank you.”
We show our faith and love with actions that meet others right where they are. In this case the situations were a soggy mix of damaged property and saddened lives. We hugged necks and listened to stories while flooding them with the love of Jesus.
By the way, our T-shirts read, “The Church has left the building.”
The victims and the volunteers received huge blessings of peace and joy.
Have you ever helped in a crisis? What was it and how did you assist a victim?
Tweet this: Stepping Out of Our Comfort Zone
DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. She combines unforgettable 
characters with unpredictable plots to create action-packed, suspense-filled novels.
Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards; and been finalists for the RITA, Daphne Du Maurier, Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Carol award contests. Library Journal presented her with a Best Books 2014: Genre Fiction award in the Christian Fiction category for Firewall.
DiAnn is a founding board member of the American Christian Fiction Writers; a member of Advanced Writers and Speakers Association; International Thriller Writers, and the Faith, Hope, and Love chapter of Romance Writers of America. She is co-director of The Author Roadmap with social media specialist Edie Melson where she continues her passion of helping other writers be successful. She speaks to various groups and teaches writing workshops around the country.
DiAnn has been termed a coffee snob and roasts her own coffee beans. She’s an avid reader, loves to cook, and believes her grandchildren are the smartest kids in the universe. She and her husband live in sunny Houston, Texas.
DiAnn is very active online and would love to connect with readers on any of the social media platforms listed at www.jhcdev.com/diannmills.
