Three-and-a-half feet above the flood plain

Our house sits in the "100 year flood plain".  I put that in quotes because I had never heard that term before we bought the house and I didn't really know what it meant.  Now I have come to understand that there is a greater chance of lots of water coming onto our property and surrounding our house.  I think the land has been flooded before.  Maybe sometime in the past 100 years.  You can tell already that I'm pretty detail oriented and I like to keep track of technical terms and what they mean.  I'll look it up sometime, and keep you posted.  But the important thing for you to know is that builder of our house knew that no one would really want to live in the middle of a flood zone, so he brought in loads and loads of dirt.  And as dirt and fill were brought in, every 6 inches of dirt would be compacted down to make the ground under the house solid.  Then after that, he built the foundation up so that our house actually sits three and a half feet above the flood plain.  

The bottom line for us meant a bit of a headache with paperwork and high rates of flood insurance and forms that needed to be submitted to FEMA.  At one point in the middle of too many things that I didn't understand, I asked God why He was giving us a really great house in the middle of a flood zone.  (Every once in a while I like to do that. I point out to God what looks like kind of a flaw in His plan.)  I started out a conversation with God by saying, "I have a really good idea. You probably didn't think of this before, but maybe you could find us a house that is NOT in a flood plain.  How about that?"  And then in my heart he whispered, "Sweet Child.  You aren't in the flood plain.  You are above it."  In my mind I could see our house, but it wasn't held up by the foundation, it was held by His hands.  Storms could come and water rise, but we would be held above the floods.

And suddenly this house seemed so fitting for us.  It is a physical picture of what we are feeling emotionally.  Walking into the storm, knowing that the waters will rise. Sometimes God calls us into the storms... to live in the flood plain and to know that His hands are holding us keeping us from being consumed.