I’ve lived in Oklahoma most of my life with a short span of living in Arkansas a few years, but I’ve always been very aware of our crazy Oklahoma weather. From heat waves to snow storms to flooding and tornadoes, our ever changing weather has made a believer out of me for sure and I don’t underestimate the power of Mother Nature. In fact, I consider it a blessing because growing up in Oklahoma has made me aware of how quickly things can change in one’s life.

In 55 years, I’ve seen first-hand the destruction from the different kinds of storms we have had in McIntosh County, so I don’t take warnings lightly.

Many of my childhood memories can go back to snow storms that literally had us trapped in our house with snow drifts that were five feet up against our doors and flooding that made us park our vehicles a half mile down the road from our house and use a big tractor to get back and forth. I remember snow being over the top of my Grand Am and trying to plow through it to get to the farm to feed animals. Of course, I’ll always remember the ice storm that kept us without power for 12 days as we struggled to keep warm and I still had to drive six miles over to our farm to help feed the cattle. That year I had a brand new, black Buick Riviera that I scratched up the paint job driving over downed trees and debris to help my dad chop ice on the pond and beat ice off the hay bales but being a country girl I learned you just had to get things done no matter the cost.

However, nothing is as scary as all the tornadoes I’ve witnessed over the years and thank God I’ve lived to tell the exciting stories. Again, as a child, I can remember having to go down into my best friend’s storm cellar out at Pierce. We didn’t have a storm cellar at our house but after going into that damp and spider-filled hole in the ground, I think I’d rather take my chances above ground. But I definitely have seen my fair share of tornadoes, and swear to the fact that for years I believed tornadoes were following me like Jo from the movie “Twister.” In fact, it felt like every time my husband and I were headed somewhere, a tornado was headed there with us. We have seen several tornadoes along Highway 69 traveling to Muskogee, even taking cover in Walmart and Brown’s shoes store, two different times.

Some other scary close calls include the time I had to shove four kids in a center closet of my home as a tornado went down Interstate I-40 less than a half mile away and the time I had to run for cover into a friend’s apartment by Checotah Walmart as I watched debris go up as a tornado hit our Pizza Hut on Broadway years ago.

Probably the most scared I’ve ever been though, was when I was driving on Highway 412 going from OKC to Siloam Springs, AR, and I got caught in horrific weather in my car with my children. I had been talking to my mom who was praying for us as we hit hail and I pulled under an overpass for protection. Unfortunately, several other vehicles started trying to fit under the overpass with me and after a truck nearly side-swiped us I decided to take a chance with the storm instead.

I had finally made it past the toll booth area when my best friend called me and wanted to know exactly where I was on the turnpike. I told her I was just passing the Rose and Leach exit and she warned me that I was in the path of a tornado. No more had she said those words, when I hit the hail on the outside of that storm and it started breaking all my car windows. My kids crawled into the floorboard of my car as I panicked on what I needed to do. I knew the area well and knew I was coming up on another overpass in less than a mile when suddenly the hail and rain stopped and I realized we were in the eye of the storm. Another truck was in front of me and he slammed on his brakes as the tornado dropped right in front of us. We both drove off into the ditch and watched in horror as commercial size barns imploded to the right of us, transformers exploded in front of us as power lines came down across the road and a small farm house was taken out to the left of us less than 500 yards away. Then a stampede of cattle came charging down the highway toward us as a second tornado passed on the other side of the overpass. It was truly like we were in a movie and all I could say was “Jesus, help us!”

By this point I’m not sure who was screaming louder, my children, me or my bestie who was hearing everything happen over the phone, but that night I became a true believer in the power of prayer meeting the power of nature.

We ended up being stuck out on the highway for several hours until crews could move the power lines and when I drove back through the area in the daylight the next day I was in total shock at all the twisted metal that was up in these huge trees and how many barns and animals were destroyed. It looked like a war zone and all I could think about was how God had kept us in the midst of the storm.

So, when storms hit our state again this weekend I said a prayer for everyone affected because I still know God is the only One who can help us through perilous times and powerful storms.

Amazingly, Oklahoma is considered one of the top three states that have more tornadoes per square mile than other states and this weekend proved that fact again. As sirens sounded throughout the evening hours and into the night, turbulent storms wreaked havoc on Oklahoma for several days.

Some people were astonished when they saw twin tornadoes on Lake Eufaula at Juniper Point. The “waterspout” put people in awe and in sheer panic as it came across the lake and the other leg hit land. These crazy, punishing storms injured over 100 people and killed an infant when the town of Sulphur took a direct hit and most of the businesses downtown were destroyed. In Holdenville two people lost their lives as another tornado destroyed more than a dozen homes and one life was lost near Marietta.

This is why growing up in Oklahoma has taught me to respect the power of Mother Nature and know that at any time we better know the power of prayer or be ready to meet our Maker.