Samaritan’s Purse worked in Uvalde, Texas, where more than two feet of rain flooded hundreds of homes and properties in the already grieving community.
Nadia Gomez woke up to a day like any other on July 14. She mentally prepared for her daily routine and the tasks ahead as a mom of two. She would get her second grader to school and drop off her 1-year-old at daycare before heading to work as a corrections officer for the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office.
Torrential rain in July left Uvalde flooded. The storm damaged hundreds of homes.
There had been storms in the night, but not enough to disturb her little family. Her daughters had piled into bed with her and her husband and slept soundly through the night.
But as she swung her legs out of bed in the dark and planted her feet down, instead of floor she felt water. Water covered the room.
“It reached all the way through my bedroom and I looked out the window, and the water was up to my window sill,” Nadia said.
Outside, she was surprised to see her car was completely flooded. Sensors were blinking, the horn was blaring, and the lift gate on the back of the SUV opened and closed repeatedly. Her husband’s vehicle was full of water as well.
They’d known they were in for heavy rain and potential flooding, but Nadia and her family never expected it to be so bad that it would leave everything under water.
She and her husband gathered the girls and carried them through the chest-high water that they’d never heard come into the house. Anything that was on the floor of their home was ruined.
The belongings in many homes were ruined.
A God of New Beginnings
Weeks later, as they moved out their belongings so workers could move in for demolition of the ruined home, Nadia remained confident that they “don’t need to ask for help. We’ll figure it out, just like we do with anything else. God will make a way.”
Many vehicles were flooded.
At work Nadia is constantly telling the inmates she works with that the Lord is a God of second chances and fresh starts in life, but she wasn’t ready to accept that she could reach out for help from God’s people to meet her family’s most immediate needs. Their most immediate need was a reliable vehicle.
“My husband was like, ‘We have to get a car, how are we going to get to work, how will we haul the kids around?’ And I kept telling him, ‘Just wait. God will give us an answer. God will provide a way like He always has.’ And I’ve seen it over and over again in my life, and this time was no different,” Nadia said.
As the weeks stretched on, it seemed that the answer to their prayers was Samaritan’s Purse. When she resisted her mother’s encouragement to reach out to our team, her mother asked her, “What if this IS God making a way?”
Every single day, on her way home from work, she’d pass the church where Samaritan’s Purse our U.S. Disaster Relief teams were based.
Samaritan’s Purse volunteers worked in the community after the storm to help residents clean up.
Finally, one night, she decided to take her mom’s advice and stop in. She never imagined God would provide for her family by blessing them with a replacement vehicle for the one lost in the flooding.
During a special dedication ceremony, the Gomezes were given a brand-new SUV.
As we handed over the keys and ownership of the vehicle, Shannon Daley, a North American Disaster Relief Special Projects manager with Samaritan’s Purse, encouraged the family from God’s Word.
Nadia was grateful and surprised by the help of Samaritan’s Purse.
“While our donors have provided the funds to pay for these cars in full so they don’t have a responsibility there, we also have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus Christ with them,” she said. “And to share with them that much greater than the expense of a car is the price that Jesus paid for our sins, and to bring us into personal relationship with Him.”
The Lord Provided and a Community Is Reunited
Nadia said her husband is a newer believer, and she’s so grateful God showed Himself faithful to her family in this way as a testament to His goodness.
Nadia Gomez and her family received a new car to replace her vehicle that was flooded beyond repair.
“The Lord has provided, and Samaritan’s Purse has provided for me and my family in ways that I could’ve never imagined, and we are so blessed and so thankful for everyone who’s been working around the clock to help not just me, but others who have been affected here in Uvalde,” Nadia said.
She’s also watched the flood bring her small community closer together. Before the flood, Uvalde was already hurting. Four years ago, on May 24, 2022, a gunman opened fire in a local elementary school, tragically taking the lives of 19 children and two teachers.
As a first responder, Nadia was a witness to those tragic hours.
“That traumatic event kind of divided us. It was awful. I was there. I was a medic. I saw everything firsthand,” she said.
But the flooding two months ago actually reunited people in a way they haven’t been for years as it brought out the best in neighbors.
“Our community is healing,” Nadia shared. “It’s not all the way there. I know a lot of people are still hurting. A lot of people are still trying to find the answer and get over grief. The devastation of the flood, it’s like a double whammy. But I feel like faith is getting a little stronger.”
God Has Not Forgotten
Seeing Samaritan’s Purse show up was a beacon of hope for Nadia and for all those she knows who have been carrying the weight and burden of pain for years.
Nadia said the work of Samaritan’s Purse has helped draw people to God and reunite the community.
“It really shows that God is here. God has never left us. He’s always going to be here. We just have to lean on Him and have faith in Him. And I know that’s hard, but it’s so worth our while. Life is hard, but it’s even harder without God,” Nadia said.
She knows there are some who feel like God has turned His back on Uvalde, but her prayer is that everyone would be able to see that God never abandoned them.
We praise God that during our six weeks of serving in Uvalde, the Samaritan’s Purse team was able to celebrate more than 100 residents profess faith in Jesus Christ.
Shannon Daley says it’s been a blessing to see God work in so many lives.
“And we’re praying that as they move forward, they can remember how much God loves them and sees them,” she said. “We pray that it will encourage them to continue on, both in the recovery efforts after the flood and to further and deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ.”
