The Great Frozenness.

I grew up with sisters who recited lines from The Neverending Story with enthusiasm and wit. I of course, being the baby sister, quickly learned to jump in on these quoting games, and by default,  declared an eager love for this now classic film. The film's journey is one of an enchanted effort to stop The Nothing from the destruction of human dreams and fantasy. The Nothing, the great invisible Nothing, threatens to take over the peaceful land of Fantasia. 

Now my parallel may be a bit of stretch. But this past month in Glennallen has been, and continues to be, horrendous. There has been an invisible disaster haunting our lives, absorbing our strength, breaking us down. As savage as an invading forest fire, as overwhelming as a tidal wave...or some might think...but entirely unseen. Entire neighborhoods have become "dry" or without running water as the underground mazes of aged pipes have frozen solid. Foreboding, frightening, frustrating, infuriating. The Great Frozenness of this winter is still wreaking havoc.  We joke about how next year we'll all wear t-shirts that boast of surviving this mess...

And yes, I know, millions of people live peaceably without running water all around the world. But this isn't the expectation in our little town, so there remains the push and the strain to deliver what so many would consider a luxury to begin with...

With old pipes, the only solution has been to blast hot water at the underground ice blockages until inch by inch ice turns to water...and eventually frozen obstruction is cleared so water can move through the ground and up into bathrooms and kitchens once more. It has been an unusual winter. This doesn't happen every year. There has been less snow (meaning, less insulation), and there were some really cold spells (which happens) and then a power outage which stalled some really cold water for enough time for ice to get established. For my husband, to whom people are looking to for a quick solution, this has been a nightmare. Overtime days have turned now into strings of overtime weeks. Houses that had running water have lost it again. Some people have been without water for nearly a month. Stress, fatigue, complaints, angry words have almost become a new intolerable normal.

Please join us in prayer during this crisis time of The Great Frozenness.

Please pray for us, for Tim and I, for the neighborhoods of staff and friends of Cross Road and Alaska Bible College. For encouragement, for Christ's peace to reign in all circumstances.

Tim has been carrying a heavy burden. Pray for renewed strength, for Christ's help and sustaining power and grace. 

Pray for me. I have been hit pretty hard by this Frozenness event, even if we do still happen to have running water ourselves. Pray for me; that I'd learn to surrender and trust in all things unknown and uncontrollable. There is a lot going on right now, even beyond the ice. Between the darkness, nightshifts, and my husbands work demands, I have felt emotionally strained to say the least. I have been a wreck, exhausted and more a woman of doubt and defeat than of faith and hope. Four months into marriage, the Frozenness launches a thick chapter of growth & big decisions. And so I invite you intercede on our behalf.