About the Author

Michelle Ami Reyes, PhD, is an author and activist. Her first book, Becoming All Things, is the recipient of the 2022 ECPA award. Michelle writes at the intersection of multiculturalism, faith, and justice. She lives with her family in Austin, Texas.

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things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
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Comments

  1. I just discovered your blog. How uplifting and REAL your post for today is ! I was almost bankrupt because of a man made flood coming from a hydro electric power plant nearby. So I definitely related to your story. Thanks for sharing and God Bless

    • Thank you for your comment! Since our own experience with that flood, I feel that God has made me more sensitive to these sort of emergency-type experiences, and I love hearing how God has worked in other peoples’ lives as well through things like floods. So, I’d love to hear more of your story too!

  2. Michelle, thank you for laying aside your privileges and security to minister in that bleak setting. Sharing in their life, even to the point of enduring a flood alongside them, reminds me so much of the Philippians 2 emptying-out love of Jesus. I know it’s not the path you would have chosen at that time or that you had planned for yourself, but it’s a blessing to read your gracious response to God’s plan for you and your family.

    • Amen! Thank you for your encouragement, Michele. I think also of how Christ came down as a man to earth to share in our sufferings and to sympathize with our pains and, if we are going to minister to others, we must follow in his example.

  3. Michelle,
    Though not actual floods, I have gone through floods of trials…one right after the other. It is in times like these that we cry out, “How long, O Lord?” I believe God knows us well enough that He knows it sometimes takes a flood or a fire or a crucible of some sort to get us to lay down our self-sufficiency and truly turn to Him. It’s sad that we don’t cry out to Him until our back is against the wall, but He doesn’t chide us and say, “Oh, so now you want my help?” Like you revealed in your post, He shows up in big ways. He comforts us and holds our hand to see us through. He reaches out to us through others, and He is faithful to never leave us alone. He will bring us THROUGH the valley. Thank you for this poignant reminder today.
    Blessings,
    Bev xx

    • Bev, I love your comment that “it sometimes takes a flood or a fire or a crucible to get us to lay down our self-sufficiency.” How true! I certainly felt that through our experience with the flood. We were so helpless in so many ways, and we had to fully rely on God. There was no other way. Such encouraging words. Thanks for sharing them!

  4. Thank you so much for this clear reminder that God is Forever Faithful and He is using these light and momentary afflictions to make of us more for His glory than we can ever imagine. So we celebrate our great Lord God today and give Him the praise that He is due. For great is His Faithfulness both now and forevermore.

    • Hi Martha! I love your comment on joy and the reminder to “celebrate our great Lord God.” I think of Paul’s exhortation that “in everything give thanks”, and I read this as meaning that our thankfulness can and should always be rooted in the sovereignty and faithfulness of God. It’s certainly not easy to be joyful in the midst of a flood, but what a good reminder and challenge for us, even in the everyday trials of life!

  5. Sometimes our faith is tested and we must preserve through it. I truly believe that a life without struggles or difficulties will never allow us to look towards Jesus and be reminded that He loves us and it is through Him that we will overcome anything. I am thankful for my dark moments, these moments change me to whom I am today. Praise the Lord for your message to remind us to remain faithful and to see that even amidst the chaos in our lives, God does have a plan for us. Thank you for sharing.

  6. What a gripping story Michelle, it can be hard when we’re faced with life’s scary moments. But as you know, God is with us during those times, and will carry us through them. Thank-you for sharing your’s with us, and how God helped you through it.
    Have a blessed day all,
    Penny

  7. I think one of the primary ways God often redeems our pain is by using it to allow us to step into the trials and heartache of another. Your story so beautifully illustrates His faithfulness in that way! Love reading your words here today, Michelle! Looking forward to hearing more from your wise and timely voice. xx

  8. Praise God for your faithfulness in pressing on for Jesus! When my hometown flooded, 5 foot deep and my parents were elderly & destitute… a church group from states away came and gutted out wet moldy walls, packing things that were above 5 feet and circles of praying with people went on! Jesus showed up on their doorsteps and I couldn’t get there feeling broken as they did. BUT GOD didn’t stop talking, no electricity for weeks but relief came to towns that were beaten down and hungry for months and into years.. mom prayed to Jesus 3 years later in my living room with me& my husband!! Salvation is near friends.. keep on keeping on for those lost souls who are flooded in the muck & mire this world offers, much love to all mission work for Jesus \0/

    • Sadie, what a powerful story! I can’t imagine what that whole ordeal was like for you and your family, but I praise God for how He used that flood to draw your mom to Himself! Praise God! We can’t always see how He is working in the moment, but when we look back and reflect on these trials, God’s hand usually becomes very clear.

  9. Michele! WOW!
    I am just praying our Lord and Saviour for family like yourself who give so much.
    I feel so foolish for I pride myself in thinking that just because my husband and I are foster/adoptive parents, we know how rough it is here in America.
    You make me realize just how much work there is right in our own back yard.
    Thank you and many blessings to you dear sister.
    Love , Maggie

    • Thank you for your comment, Maggie! I’m so grateful for the (in)courage community and that this is a place to share each other’s stories and learn from one another through them. I’m grateful that my story could be an encouragement for you, and I’d love to hear more stories from people like yourself and what God has taught you through being a foster/adoptive parent! We all need each other!

  10. God bless you and your family, Michelle, as you minister in difficult circumstances, yet with great faith and positivity. ‘Love your concluding line: He will make himself great in your life. Such hope-filled, expectant words, from someone who knows what she’s talking about!

  11. Michelle,

    Thank you & your husband for willingly moving into poverty to spread the Gospel. That is much needed in this world today. People are hungry for a saving grace. Everyone will go through trials, tribulations, fires floods on this planet. God said in this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome this world. Praise God. A few years back my mom was bedridden with dementia. My dad took care of her 24/7. It was during that time he read the Bible daily. He talked with my pastor & said “You know those 10 commandments? I have broken them many times. I need repentance. He got re baptized (dunked this time).” God works out our trials for His good. After mom died he started coming to church with us. It was a blessing to bring him weekly. God will comfort us in our trials & tribulations. I know He was there for me when my dad’s dementia got bad & he was hospitalized. I cried out to Jesus & He heard me. He healed my dad and gave him 1 more year of good health to enjoy. That last year was better than the last 2 prior. God works all things for His good to those who are called by His name!

    Blessings 🙂

    • Beth this is amazing Word today as I wrote earlier about my moms flood and how she prayed 3 years later. What I didn’t say is she never went to church or read her bible that I know if. She lives with my sisters family and no one goes to any church of faith there. She has 4 th stage breast cancer for a year now and we thought last year was good bye but I knew heaven was her next home, I thank God He is answering our prayers as she traveled out west last winter and is here down south this spring! She is still needy, confused and can’t get up for church ever but we say grace and talk if God’s Word whenever we can! Hopefully I will read the Word this week to her
      Thanks for the encouragement I hope you have a wonderful weekend

  12. Oh…Michelle…I cannot imagine this horror, and yet, your response is testimony to God’s goodness, grace, and faithfulness. What a beautiful reflection of Him in you (and your husband), the Christ hurting people in our world are desperate to see. Thank you for demonstrating an otherworldly love and trust; how you lived out your profession gives glory to God :). xo