It is not often that I feel completely powerless. I am a person of great faith. I know that faith can move mountains. My faith in a simple yet desperate prayer to the Virgin Mary in Her basilica in Rome spoken in haste on June 27, 2012 not only healed my knee problem for the duration of that vacation. It healed my knee problem PERMANENTLY. I know all about faith. My faith has held me up during some rough times.

Sunday night was incredibly frightening for my family and myself. The evening began with some rather severe storms & we all went to bed hoping we would be able to sleep through the thunder & constant lightening flashes.

We live on the far north side of Houston, Texas. You may have heard of us on the news the past couple of days due to the weather.

At 12:43 AM my husband’s phone went off with a weather alert. I have lived in Texas since 1995 and this was the first tornado warning for me after having moved away from my home state of Illinois where I experienced a number of tornado warnings and one actual tornado.

When my husband yelled out, “TORNADO WARNING!” my very first thought was this:

“My family & our home are safe. We are safe. We are protected.”

I jumped out of bed & yelled for our daughter to wake up. We all headed downstairs.

We do not have a basement. Most new homes in Texas are no longer built with basements (which is really stupid if you ask me). Instructions are to go downstairs if you live in a 2-story (we do) and take “shelter” in an area away from any windows.

Well, our house has 21 windows so that’s kind of difficult! We have s designated spot, which is just inside the interior garage door next to the doors that lead to the laundry room, the downstairs powder room, my husband’s office, & the closet under the stairs.

We closed all those doors & simply huddled there with our dog. I prayed.

Suddenly I thought, my cat! Where’s my cat! I sent out a quick prayer to the goddess Bastet, who actually blessed me with the gift of this specific cat, & I asked her to please keep her safe & to bring her to me. Not five seconds later there was my cat seated at my feet where she remained until we received the all-clear and went back to bed!

That was a miracle in and of itself.

Unfortunately, at 3:45 AM we were awoken a second time, but instead of a cell phone alert we heard IT.

An actual tornado!

When they say it sounds like a freight train, they aren’t lying. I Have heard them three times in my life, twice as a child, so this was my first time hearing a tornado as an adult.

When I was a child my chief concern at the time was to get my 3 cats in the basement. I had an Australian Shepard named Desiree who was smarter than some humans I’ve known. All I said to her was, “Desi! Cats! Basement! NOW!” The dog took off as I was opening a window in each room to ease the pressure on the house. By the time she came for me my mom and all 3 of my cats were safely in the basement where we waited out what was to be my closest encounter with a tornado.

Sunday night we heard the telltale freight train sound. Neither one of us had been able to fall asleep due to all the thunder so we both jumped up immediately & again yelled for our daughter. Again, I said the same thing:

“My family & our home are safe. We are safe. We are protected.”

Once again, I didn’t see my cat so again I prayed to Bastet. My cat showed up immediately and again, miraculously remained safe at my feet for the duration.

We heard the trees outside being whipped by the wind. Our lawn furniture was flying around the yard & my husband was worried they’d break a window, but I told him, no, don’t worry. Our house is protected. We’ll be fine.

And so we were and are. Even my car, which was parked outside, was fine. No damage, yet through our subdivision there are uprooted trees and destroyed fences.

We could hear the tornado as it ripped on through our subdivision. I prayed for everyone’s safety and am happy to report it took the path of least resistant along 3 retention ponds. It did not hit any houses directly, though a few were side-swept & did unfortunately sustain damage.

Our 17 year old daughter attends high school. Unfortunately, the tornado made a beeline for her school. Portable buildings are tossed around and the second story of her school is flooded because the roof was in the process of being repaired. Today is her second day of no school with word that tomorrow the school will most likely also be closed.

 

I won’t say I wasn’t afraid of the storm because that would be a lie; however, I will say that I know my faith saw us through. My faith in the protective wards I have buried at the four corners of our property helped me tremendously. While my husband was visibly shaking I was relatively calm.

You never realize just how powerless you are until Mother Nature unleashes her fury, but with faith you have all the power necessary to overcome anything.

I took all these pictures today in our subdivision. Based upon the path of destruction the tornado cleared a path parallel to our home and was only SIX HOUSES away from us.

We are blessed, but many in Houston are without homes today due to the floods. Some have even lost their lives. Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers. I am so thankful that we are all fine and our home seems to be fine as well.

Praise the gods for their protection. I had been smelling frankincense for the past two days and haven’t been burning any incense or scented candles so I knew something was up. I guess that was their way of telling me not to worry. All will be well.

And so it was.

Many Blessings,

Nefer Khepri, PhD., R. M-T.

Award-winning Author & Artist, The Egyptian Lenormand

Tarot & Lenormand Readings, Spells, & Visionary Art