Hurricane, House Fire, and Pandemic Blessings

Lorraine Hess has learned that evangelizing is more impactful during our times of suffering than when life is easy. 

August 29, 2005, my beloved city, New Orleans, was torn apart by the infamous Hurricane Katrina. It ripped through the area damaging thousands of homes and buildings; almost 2,000 people died; the city was shut down for weeks, and businesses and schools were closed for months. I was a young wife and mother of four little boys when we evacuated to Texas. What we thought would be three days became a four-month exile. I desperately missed jambalaya and coffee with chicory, but not nearly as much as I missed my community. I was a music director, so I joined the choir in Texas, while navigating through the turmoil. 

We returned to New Orleans at the end of December, 2005. Music with my choir for Christmas was simple, but it was beautiful because we sang with a new appreciation for our ministry.  

We repaired our damaged home, sold it, and bought another damaged home perfect for a large family. We moved in one year later and called it home. 

Ten years later on December 9, 2017, a house fire changed our lives once again. I was in Cocoa Beach, Florida giving a concert when my husband called me with the chilling news. No one was hurt, praise God, but any part of the house that did not burn was damaged by smoke. 

My album, Glorify Him, had just been released seven days before the fire; the music on this album was full of praise and glory. As soon as I flew home, I snuck away to an Adoration chapel and immediately sensed God asking me, “Are you going to glorify Me even now?” I felt a surge of faith I cannot explain, and my response without hesitation was, “Yes!” I had written the music for this album to glorify God, and I wanted to be the person this music claimed me to be. 

We toured eleven rentals before finding a place to live, and I was scheduled to sing five more events before Christmas. Each venue offered me the option to cancel. How could I cancel? The lyrics to the album’s title song were, “Go in peace glorifying the Lord by your life.” I would glorify God, even during suffering, and the impact would be even greater. I finished the album tour, keeping it simple, and it was beautiful. 

Learning surrender 

Before I continue, I confess that I do not always see the glass half full. I shed many tears during that time, and I cannot accurately describe the chasm of self-pity I fell into every time I found a piece of physical memory destroyed in the rubble. I am also a control freak, so surrendering to God is like writing with my opposite hand. I had many bad days, but by the grace of God, I was learning to exit the pity parties my head kept inviting my heart to attend. Like the hurricane days, I was learning to surrender to the will of God. 

Twenty long months after the fire, we moved into our home. The same week I started a new job. (What a week!) My next album, See the Miracle, was released a month later in October 2019, and it seemed like the end of drama for a while. I was glowing in the Light of Christ, sinking into this music born from all of these life-changing experiences.  

Darkness and light 

Enter COVID-19. A new darkness appeared, yet this time, though many around me were feeling lost, I had a calmness and confidence that this, too, would be overcome by the Light. I had lived through uncertainty and threat and seen the fruits of praising God through suffering. Like muscle memory, I seemed to know what to do.  

The pandemic was in no way easy for any of us. But I could hear the voice of my merciful Father teaching me how to serve in this “new normal,” with the graces given to me at my Baptism. The challenges of the past few years were hard and often painful, but they had tested me like gold in fire — God had worked through the losses and transitions and equipped me, through music, to take life one day (or hour) at a time. 

Moving forward 

By no means have I become an expert at trusting God, but I have learned that all crosses in our lives present opportunities to grow in faith and evangelize — we can either wallow in self-pity or praise God through the suffering. This article will be published on the seventh anniversary of our house fire. It will be a day of gratitude for me, because it taught me that I can glorify God in my suffering, and “glorifying the Lord by your life” is the true test of Christianity. 

Share your thoughts with the Catholic Mom community! You'll find the comment box below the author's bio and list of recommended articles.

Copyright 2024 Lorraine Hess
Images: (center) copyright 2024 Lorraine Hess; others Canva