Steven and Louise received significant damage to their house after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. This couple was deeply touched when CAM volunteers came to help clean up and repair their home.
In September 2019, Tropical Storm Imelda washed ashore, dumping huge amounts of water in parts of Texas damaged by Hurricane Harvey. Louise contacted DRS chaplain James Lengacher with this message: “Please . . . stop whatever you’re doing, call your family, and pray.” Steven and Louise’s newly repaired home stood in Imelda’s path.
Our chaplain called his family and together they prayed. Soon after, Louise sent a picture of their street, filled with nearly three feet of water that almost reached their mailbox. Rescuers helped Steve and Louise evacuate their home. They waited out the storm in a hotel.
“God performed a miracle. The neighbor across the street had 4½ feet of water. But I only had an inch!”
Several days later, our chaplain received this message from Louise. “Praise the Lord!” she shared. “God performed a miracle. My house only has an inch of water. I already cleaned it up and there was no damage.” She continued, “The houses on either side of me had two-and-a-half feet of water in them. The neighbor across the street had four-and-a-half feet of water. But I only had an inch!”
Eager to see this miracle for himself, our chaplain traveled to Texas with other DRS staff and visited Steven and Louise’s house. With a transit, one DRS crew leader estimated that 23 inches of water should have flooded Steven and Louise’s home. But there was only one inch. “When I heard that, I cannot explain what went through my heart,” our chaplain shared. “But that is the God we serve today, who is able to do abundantly above all that we ask for.”
This miracle also impacted Steven and Louise’s neighbor, who had received four-and-a-half feet of water in his house after Imelda. After Hurricane Harvey, this neighbor had emphatically refused offers of help from DRS. “Those Bible-thumping people are not coming to my house!” he had exclaimed. But after hearing the story of Steven and Louise’s miracle, his words were different. “Those Bible-thumping people can do my house.”
City officials also came to view this miracle. They, like everyone else, marveled.
