Rachel Lloyd is director of the Academic Success and Advising Center and the American Indian Center for Excellence at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology/global studies from Drury University and a master’s degree in psychology from Pittsburg State University. Rachel was a member of the executive planning team for her community's poverty task force and regularly advocates for minority and LGBT students. She is married and has a teenage daughter.
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Tornadoes, Butterfly People, and Finding the Sacred in Collective Stories
Screenshot of woman who found her dog amid tornado rubble in Moore, Okla.
In the chaotic scenes depicted of Moore, Okla., last week, it was difficult to find God — but a video of the precious woman who claimed she prayed for her dog after he emerged from the rubble went viral on social media throughout the day. People will cling to these random moments when the divine is revealed in often peculiar ways. These moments will turn into stories that will comfort and contribute to the survival of a community that is finding strength it didn’t know it possessed.
Communities have probably always overcome unimaginable circumstances in this way. It may even be the phenomenon that propelled widespread circulation of many of the biblical accounts that were first narrated orally. They often illustrate an oppressed community that finds God in unexpected occurrences.