It was BEFORE the flood.
This season has taught us so much. Amongst the many lessons is the importance of preparation. The funny thing about preparation, though, is that sometimes, you don’t always know exactly what you’re preparing for. Sometimes, we’re led to take wise action with no clue of exactly how it’s preparing us for the future...
A few years ago, we purchased a generator. After all, we do live in Houston, which is prone to the occasional category 3 or 4 hurricane! Last year, Terence (seemingly out of the blue) decided that he wanted to have our generator connected to the electrical panel of our home. I questioned the need for such an expense, since at that time, we’d had the generator for a few years and it was still unused. Plus, I thought it was customary in a power outage to just plug in the major appliances and the few things that you need as you need them. We wouldn’t have to power the entire house, would we? But nonetheless, I didn’t argue. We made the investment to have the entire house connected to the generator on the rare chance that some major storm would come and knock out electricity for many days and we would have to cool (or warm) the entire house.
And then that winter storm happened in Texas a couple of weeks ago!
Who saw that coming?! We sure didn’t. We lost electricity for 3 days and running water for 5. Cellular service went out. It was pure chaos! The temperatures dipped into single digits... and Terence put on his ski gear, moved the generator out of the garage and powered it up, keeping us (and our pipes) warm.
We didn’t know how that investment would pay off. Or when. But let me tell you, the return came in ways we didn’t see coming.
That’s also how it is with relationships. The investments of time, energy, resources, kindness, and love that we pour into our marriages and families do generate a return. The question is WHAT ARE YOU INVESTING?
Over the past year, in this season of COVID, we’ve seen a return on investments that we’ve previously made into our marriage and our children. We’ve seen the fruit of the good seeds planted and identified more investments that need to be made.
Be mindful of the investments you’re making into your family. Comment below or email us at contact@LivingLifewithTheHoustons.com to let us know how we can help you along your journey.
With Love,
The Houstons
By the way, so many of our Texas neighbors didn’t fare as well as we did. In addition to your prayers and warm wishes, we invite you to join us in supporting the Houston Food Bank, which supports thousands of Houston-area families. You can donate HERE.