Florida, parts of Georgia and the Carolinas continue to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Idalia, which struck last week. The Sunshine State is still assessing the complete damage of the storm, with numerous images of flooded roads and damaged homes filling the internet. Despite the damage, numerous people have volunteered to assist affected areas, particularly through the Christian organization Samaritan’s Purse. Volunteers began helping clear downed trees and debris as early as Friday, with hundreds continuing to sign up to assist. Edward Graham, Chief Operations Officer of the organization, told The Christian Post that God always provides. “God always brings us people because we’ll stay there sometimes for years doing rebuilds afterward, and we use volunteers for that. God’s given us what we need to be able to respond,” he said. 

Apart from meeting the physical needs of those affected, the organization also meets the spiritual needs of those it helps. One such person, Bry, shared her own testimony to the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team. She shared how her niece had gotten up in the middle of the night during the storm to go to the bathroom, only for a tree branch to be plunged through her bedroom just moments after leaving her bed. Had she still been in her bed, Bry is sure her niece would be dead. She hopes the experience will bring her niece and her family to Christ, stating she believed that it was God’s providence that protected her niece. “That wasn’t luck. Only God could do something like that,” she said. 

That spiritual support bears fruit, as other ministries in Florida and Georgia report seeing people accepting Christ during recovery efforts. Members of Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief reported 9 salvations as teams worked to clear debris. “When people get into these kinds of life-or-death situations, they start thinking about their own mortality. When a hurricane hits, people need hope, and Jesus is that hope,” said Bob Sprinkel, a Disaster Relief volunteer. He added that “God is at work in these situations. These hurricanes, God uses them to bring people to Him.” To date, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp estimated that the state had experienced $35 million worth of damage. In Florida, Florida Baptist Disaster Relief is also hard at work helping victims of the storm. “Our faith is strong. Our members are out in the community helping their neighbors with clean up,” said Pastor Christopher Arnold, a new volunteer of Disaster Relief. He stated his church was blessed with the minimal damage it received considering the storm, with no reports of deaths in his community and the interior of the church being protected from water damage despite the storm tearing the roof. “The power of prayer really works,” he said.