You Can Still Find Beauty In Adversity | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Politics and Activism

You Can Still Find Beauty In Adversity

The next time you find yourself in the eye of the storm, just remember to keep looking up to the one who created it.

1
You Can Still Find Beauty In Adversity
Kaydee Arnold

If you were to ask me what the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen was, my reply would not be someone out of a magazine or any of the exotic beaches I've been blessed to go to. My reply would be quite astonishing to most, and maybe even a little bit ridiculous to some. The most beautiful thing I've ever seen would absolutely be the week of March 9 through March 19.

Those 10 days would probably be the last thing most would think of when they thought of the word "beautiful." Our town got demolished, houses were destroyed, and sentimental items of so many people were lost. Not to mention, many families were displaced, and still are to this day. All because of a flood.

Monroe, Louisiana received just shy of 27 inches of rain water. Not including the rivers and bayous that overflowed because they just could not simply hold all of the excess water. From the outside, I'm sure it probably looked devastating, and it was; but at the same time, it was beautiful. I saw the beauty of a community. I witnessed numerous amounts of people gathered around sand piles bagging sand bags just to ensure that others houses would not be lost to the rising water. I saw churches in the area, living out the Gospel and being the hands and feet of Jesus. I saw old, young and many from all different backgrounds come together and become one for the sake of others. And for the first time in my life I witnessed how God can turn a disaster into something beautiful.

During the course of all the flooding, I got the opportunity to hear a story that brought tears to my eyes and sent chills down my spine. As we were walking through a neighborhood that had been ruined to the core, handing out food to the ones effected by the flood, we met a lady who was so excited to tell us what the Lord was doing in her life. She gathered us around in her carport to tell us that a month before, in February, God had revealed to her that He was about to be doing something big in her life, as well as the lives of others around her. So she began to pray. She began to pray for God's will to be done and for his plan to be carried out. She never expected the "big" thing that God was going to do was bring a flood to Monroe. But then she told us that God followed through with his plan. She proceeded to tell us that although the houses to her right and left, and all around had about 12 inches of water in them, her house did not get one speck of water damage. To be honest, for a minute, I had to think about it and let it sink in because that was just impossible, right? Wrong. That was just God. And as the group of about six or seven college students and I walked away from the house, there was one common phrase that we just could not help but saying: Wow, God is good.

So the next time you find yourself in the eye of the storm, just remember to keep looking up to the one who created it.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
ross geller
YouTube

As college students, we are all familiar with the horror show that is course registration week. Whether you are an incoming freshman or selecting classes for your last semester, I am certain that you can relate to how traumatic this can be.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

Bonus points if it is more than two.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

12 Things I Learned my Freshmen Year of College

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

2586
friends

Whether you're commuting or dorming, your first year of college is a huge adjustment. The transition from living with parents to being on my own was an experience I couldn't have even imagined- both a good and a bad thing. Here's a personal archive of a few of the things I learned after going away for the first time.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

301767
Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause
StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less
blank paper
Allena Tapia

As an English Major in college, I have a lot of writing and especially creative writing pieces that I work on throughout the semester and sometimes, I'll find it hard to get the motivation to type a few pages and the thought process that goes behind it. These are eleven thoughts that I have as a writer while writing my stories.

Keep Reading...Show less
April Ludgate

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments