“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
— Psalm 34:18
This March, I had the opportunity to serve on a disaster relief trip with Samaritan’s Purse. Some people from my church community supported the trip through prayer and financial gifts, and I’m incredibly grateful for that. Looking back, it’s clear that the week wasn’t just about traveling somewhere to help rebuild homes. It was about seeing how God moves in places that feel completely broken.
Our team traveled to Lahaina, Maui, where a devastating wildfire destroyed thousands of homes and forever changed the community. Standing in that town, it became obvious very quickly that there is no such thing as an earthly paradise. Even places that look beautiful carry the weight of suffering and loss. The only true paradise is the one God promises beyond this world.
We stayed at a local church that had become a center for relief work. Two large trees frame the walkway leading up to the building. One side of each tree is burned and blackened from the fire. But the side facing the church is completely untouched.
Every day when I walked past those trees, I thought about how God works in the middle of devastation. Even when things look destroyed, life still remains. Grace still shows up.
Our work during the week was simple: help build homes for families who had lost everything. Through Samaritan’s Purse, these homes are rebuilt completely free of charge for the homeowners. Families can choose the design of their house, visit the construction site whenever they want, and eventually return to a home that is fully restored.
The phrase that kept coming to my mind all week was “paid in full.”
The homeowners receive a house they could never rebuild on their own. They didn’t earn it. They didn’t pay for it. It’s given freely.
And the more I thought about it, the more it reminded me of the gospel.
Christ paid a debt we could never afford. Grace, like those homes, is given freely.
During the week we had the chance to meet some of the homeowners. One home belonged to a man whose extended family would all be living together there. Standing in the living room, you could see the ocean through the windows while our team painted and cleaned up around the construction site.
Another house belonged to an elderly couple in the community. In Hawaiian culture, elders are often called “Auntie” and “Uncle,” and that’s what everyone called them.
Auntie shared her story with our group. When the fire came, her family had only minutes to escape. To survive, they jumped into the harbor. She was eighty years old when she jumped into the water to save her life.
She told us that for a long time she didn’t think she would live long enough to return home.
But now she will.
When we showed her the progress on the house, she became so overwhelmed that she fainted. Thankfully she recovered quickly, but the moment stayed with me. You could see just how deeply people long for restoration.
The next day, Uncle showed up with donuts for our entire team to say thank you.
After everything they had been through, they were still thinking about how to bless others.
Moments like that made it clear that what was happening there was bigger than construction. God wasn’t just rebuilding houses. He was restoring hope.
And somewhere in the middle of all of it, God began working in my own heart too.
Serving in Lahaina made me realize how much I want my life to be about more than comfort or routine. Throughout the week, I felt God nudging me toward taking a gap year between finishing my undergraduate studies and starting graduate school in order to serve in missions.
I don’t know exactly what that will look like yet. But being in Lahaina reminded me that God often works most clearly in places that feel messy, painful, and broken.
Sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is simply show up, serve where God places us, and trust Him to do the rest.
Because even in the ashes, God is still rebuilding.
#MauiStrong
Lots of thoughts,
Audrey 🤍
Leave a Reply