It was a moment of utter desperation when I met Patrick three months ago.

He was hunched over on the debris littered ground sobbing as he told me how he’d been separated from his wife and children in the chaos of Typhoon Haiyan.

I was struck, here was a 27-year-old man begging for the Lord’s mercy. He worried that his wife and children were among the bodies I’d seen cast alongside the road, on a horrific journey to Tacloban.

“I’ve been everywhere to look for my two children, my wife and my mother but I can’t find them,” he told me while gasping in between sobs.

It was a scene of absolute misery. I was crushed – my heart torn as I took in his situation, a young man my age who had seemed to have lost everything he held dear. As he huddled on an empty bag beside an uprooted tree I shared a few of my biscuits and some of my water, just to help him fill his hungry stomach.

As he started eating the biscuit, I stood up to leave. But before I started to walk again, a little voice told me to one more moment with Patrick. I asked him if we can pray together and he said yes. We covered our hands on top of each other and embarked on a prayer that left us both in tears.

“Lord, I know what we gave him is not enough but please give him comfort and his family. Help him find his mother, wife and two little children,” I prayed.

It was all I could offer before I had to continue with our assessment team in Tacloban. For the rest of the day, I encountered more and more bodies. I witnessed  people sobbing and grew more devastated by all the destruction.

When I left Tacloban a few days later, and World Vision began providing disaster relief assistance to the thousands of survivors, I would continually conjure up Patrick’s situation. To me, he was the face of the disaster – and I continued to pray for him.  

Soon thereafter, I urged my friends and family to pray for Patrick as well. I posted his photo and story on Facebook and asked for prayers for him as he searched his family. I asked for prayers to give him strength and courage and all for all the typhoon survivors who have the same story as Patrick.

As time wore on, and the weeks unfolded from Haiyan, I started to think less about Patrick and his family.

But just last Sunday, almost three months ago after Typhoon Haiyan, I was requested to return to Tacloban and prepare for a visit from World Vision Japan guests.

As the plane landed, I felt goosebumps. The experience of walking through and over the debris and bodies two days after Typhoon Haiyan was vividly returning to me. I continued to work planning the visit, but the experience was never far from me.

A day later, with a teammate, I rolled  into a local eatery for a late lunch. As I ate chicken curry I looked up and caught a familiar face.

It was Patrick. He was working as a server at the small restaurant.

A lump swelled in my throat. He smiled widely and took a seat at our table

 “By God’s grace, I found my family and they are safe. Our prayer was answered, Ma’am,” he said.

My heart sang. I was overjoyed.

I was trying to control my tears. I am amazed and still overwhelmed at how God revealed how powerful He is.

“As soon as I found them, after five days of being hungry searching for them, I knelt down and raised my hands thanking God for answering our prayer. At that time, Ma’am, I was about to give up and gave myself another three days to look for them. I was just praying that in case I couldn’t find them that they would just be safe,“ Patrick told me in the restaurant.

I asked him where his family was now living and Patrick said, “We live in a World Vision covered area and my family received relief goods from World Vision. We are very thankful to receive them. I wouldn’t have known where to look for food for my children if World Vision hadn’t help us.”

When I heard him say those words, without hesitation I asked to visit his family.

This afternoon with my colleague I visited Patrick’s home, catching him as he was hanging his children’s clothes to dry. We met four-year-old CJ and two-year-old James Patrick. We greeted his wife Ana Rose who just came from washing the laundry along the river, just a few meters away from their small makeshift house covered with a tarpaulin (waterproofed canvas).

His wife Ana Rose shared how they survived after Typhoon Haiyan.

“We had been hungry for almost a week. Most of the time, for days after the typhoon, my neighbours would just share a plate of rice for the four of us but of course we couldn’t eat much because our priority was for our children. We didn’t care if we are hungry as long as our children were not.

“The good thing is World Vision came and gave us relief goods with 30 kgs of rice, sardines and kitchen utensils. They gave us blankets, mosquito nets and a tarpualin that we use as our roof because our house was totally damaged by the strong winds during Typhoon Yolanda (local name of Typhoon Haiyan). We really didn’t know how we would have survived if World Vision didn’t help us. Thank you so much to all of you and to God for helping us to survive and for keeping our family complete,” Ana Rose says as she smiles while Patrick prepared lunch of CJ and James Patrick.

Tonight, hours after leaving Patrick’s home, I can feel God’s presence – even in the aftermath of the storm. Truly, God is real. God answers prayers and He never forsakes his children.

Thank you, Lord, for the answered prayers.