I don’t know if you believe or not. I do believe. 

I believe because I’ve seen God in my life. 

I believe because I’ve seen God answering my prayers.

I just had my evaluation at work. My boss is happy with me!

That’s not where I was going but I thought I should mention it.

She said she’s happy to have me in her team, and I said it was a rocky start.

She said how so, and I said, well, when I applied the first time, I got a no thank you email.

I had not included my corporate or education experiences to my nursing experience, I sent her and others an email asking for a second chance and she gave me one. 

What you don’t know is that I had prayed and prayed for months for this job, and after the no thank you email, I got down on my knees and prayed again and again. 

God answered my prayers! 

So I had an interview with her, then the panel interview. I have 4 dogs and the kid at home. 

Alright, so prayed some more, and then some more again. Show time!

The kid went outside with the dogs. Panel interview starts. Question one, I answer question one.

Dogs break a fence board and escape. 

I turned my head and I can see Finn’s tail disappearing and Lynn in hot pursuit right behind him.

I turned back to the interview, and I said: would you please excuse me for a moment, my dogs just escaped! 

I stormed out with the kid, screaming and hollering and yelling and chasing and jumping over fences and some more yelling and screaming and chasing.

Got the dogs back and into their crates. I went back to my panel interview and finished it.

I got down on my knees afterwards and asked God for his help with this position.

Well, I got a call with an offer and here we are. 

I seriously think God really wants me to work for it before He gives me anything.

In all honesty, working for something just makes it better. 

If you look back at how things have happened in my life, nothing has been just piece of cake.

So I had Friday off, I got the kid out early from school. 

Went to ihop for an early valentine’s brunch, you know, to get ahead of the lines at restaurants.

It was really cold. The polar vortex storm was heading our way. 

My friend texted saying power outages would happen. I prayed to God for help.

My panicky concern was that this house doesn’t have a fireplace. 

How in the world was I going to keep 4 dogs and the kid and myself warm during this storm?!

Well what do you think I did? I prayed, both the kid and I prayed. Yes, over and over. 

I was looking outside the window, staring at the dogs, trying to figure out how to warm up the dogs area.

I was doing a mental inventory of all the candles I had, wondering how many candles would warm up a room. 

This house has 17 windows. Big windows. I mean, I saw the challenge, and all I could do was pray.

Well, Finn was walking around, then he lifted his back leg and peed. 

Finn peed on a terracotta pot. 

The pot was surrounded by other pots. 

The pots were around a tree. Upside down. 

The dogs have been digging around the tree so I put the pots around the tree to stop the dogs. 

The terracotta pots!!!!! 

I had seen this post at Pinterest about using terracotta pots upside down with a candle underneath as room heaters!

Can you see it? This was God giving me the answer to my predicament!!!

It was so windy and so cold, the water outside was already frozen, even when I had left the faucet dripping, so I had to bring the pots inside and wash them off in the sink.

I got 4 inside, and put them over cardboard and pieces of wood, with candles under and that’s how the dogs survived the single digit temperatures in our freezing house for almost a week.

The power finally went out. Alright, so it happened. The kid and I prayed for God’s protection. 

It started snowing, it was beautiful to see the snow flying around outside the freezing window. 

Wait a minute. The fridge has no power. I just got groceries. There is no power. OMG

I went to God, again, asked Him for guidance, I mean, seriously, I needed His help!

I had to get the dogs out. Dogs meet snow, snow meet dogs. Love at first sight! 

The dogs are loving the snow and I’m like, snow = ice = cold = fridge

I ran to the kitchen, got a bunch of stainless steel pots and bowls, ran to the front and started filling them all up.

Yes, I went to the front because dogs in the back? Yellow snow? Brown snow? Yeah no.

So I shoved all these bowls and pots with snow everywhere in the fridge, nothing died.

I filled up 3 coolers, left them outside in the backyard on standby, just in case.

Filled up the tub, just in case they’d cut the water off. The water pressure got reduced, but thank God, we never lost the water, just the power.

So I have all this food, yay, and we have no power. Everything is electric in the house. 

I’m looking outside, I mean, there’s no power, what else is there to do? Look at the window.

The beautiful scene of 4 happy excited dogs playing and chasing each other in the snow of course!

The kid is hungry, I have eggs and flour tortillas and beans, how to cook them if there’s no power.

God please guide me, God please show me. Yes, that was my prayer. Over and over. 

I see the grill, I see a bag of charcoal, and I know I have a couple grill lighters.

We found this Instagram account about these guys cooking in the forest on a fire pit.

My dad took us camping a lot when I was young.

McGyver came to mind, connected the dots. Kid, get dressed, we’re cooking on the grill.

You know, I’m not here telling you omg, I’m so badass, well yes I am, but not really.

I saw so many posts of people who prepped ahead of time, and all their food got spoiled. 

Their pipes cracked or busted open or bursted open, whatever the right word is.

So many freaking out, so many in despair. 

I did what I had to do: I prayed and I used my brain. God answered my prayers.

I used what I had available. God steered me in the right direction. 

The storm was bad. 

We had no power from 3 am Monday until somewhere between Wednesday and Thursday.

None of the pipes cracked open. The kid and the dogs were never cold or hungry.

We slept and slept. We read our Bibles with a candle. We did church on the phone with spotty internet.

We played board games under the candlelight. We spent quality time together. 

The house, the kid, the dogs, we all survived. God was amazing! 

It was a beautiful storm! We got snow! First 5 inches, then 3 inches.

You have to understand we live in central Texas. This kind of storm happens every 30 years, maybe.

God helped us through! He absolutely did!

I was stressed. I don’t have another adult in the house to help out. 

I wondered what husband would do, what boyfriend would do, what my dad would do. 

I remembered boyfriend said to get all faucets dripping, and I did. Front, back, upstairs, downstairs. 

Husband was a prepper and a candle hoarder. We used a lot of his candles and his prepper advice as well.

I remember my camping days with my dad, what he did to make camping enticing for his wife and daughters. 

God brought all these past memories and showed me what I could use, and I did. 

Sometimes we let fear and panic freeze us and we can’t move or think, but I decided to let God guide me. 

I asked God for His help, and He helped me!

This is not the first time, nor won’t be the last time. 

Everything in my life was for me to tell you, God is with you if you ask Him to be with you.

God is there. God is always there. All you need to do is invite God in.

No, not everybody made it. Yes, a lot has to get fixed and rebuilt in Texas.

We made it and we did not have to fix anything and for that I’m beyond grateful!

Seriously, what do you have to lose? 

You’ve lost enough already. You’ve gone through enough already. 

No, my life has not been a piece of cake, but I’m here telling you it’s going to be fine if you hold on to God’s hand. 

I have, through every hurdle. Invite God in, hold His hand. Rest in God.

Matthew 21:22 “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”