JACKSON, Tenn. — Beth Williams was huddled with fifteen other girls on the bathroom floor when the tornado hit.

“The dorm wall was ripped off just seconds after we made it to the bathroom,” Williams said.

Just five minutes before the freshman education major was sitting with the president of Kappa Delta along with her two roommates watching the weather to see if they should cancel their weekly meeting.

“My friend said we didn’t need to be worried because the sinks always suck in before a tornado actually hits. Right after that the sinks sucked. I thought I was going to die,” she said.

Williams willingly points out that even with all the damage that people are remaining upbeat.

“Looking at the damage there should have been fatalities,” Williams said. “Everyone is upbeat because it is a miracle no one died.”

In the face of real danger personal faith plays a part in the lives of those affected and how they react to the adversity. While this incident happened on a campus in Jackson, it is event that many can relate to.

While none went unscathed over 40 percent of the dorms were destroyed. Though 51 students were transported to the hospital that night, the school suffered no fatalities.

Highlighting the importance of her own experience, Williams related the story of how her resident assistant prayed as they young ladies waited in the bathroom for the storm to pass.

“The RA prayed and said that God had gotten us this far and he could keep us the rest of the way,” Williams said. After the prayer was finished one of the girls started to sing “Amazing Grace,” but was a little shaken so her roommate started singing. The group made it through three verses before stopping to exit the heavily damaged building.

When they emerged from the bathroom the walls of the outer room had been blown away, but all the girls walked out to safety.

Most of the girls were barefoot, so in a rush to get out Williams and her roommates began handing out pairs of shoes from their closet to everyone they could before taking refuge in the main commons area.

Williams was wearing a pair of black flip-flops with green polka dots with her sorority letters embossed on them.

“I got them [flip-flops] for Christmas. They are my favorite…I’m glad I had them with me,” Williams said.

The night of the storm, Williams and four other girls went home with a family from a local church in Jackson.

“Most people are concerned with the loss of their computer,” Williams said. “Because you have things you can’t get back, like photos.”

Her hometown church has made donations to help Williams and her sister replace some of their lost items.

During this time she is thanking God for the small blessings. When she arrived home this weekend, she had realized she left a pair of jeans in the dryer.

Within a matter of seconds an EF-4 tornado had destroyed much of the Union University campus.

“This is our third tornado in 10 years. We thought the one in 2002 was horrendous,” said Brittany Howerton, managing editor for the student newspaper, the Cardinal and Cream.

She had been off-campus at a night-class when the tornado hit. In the days after the tornado she stayed busy writing and waiting to hear if she could retrieve items from her second floor dorm room that was heavily damaged.

“I can see that my mug collection is still sitting on the bottom shelf…my computer looks like it is still sitting on my desktop,” Howerton said.

In 2002 the damage was tagged at 1.7 million, but Howerton pointed out that the estimated 40 million in damage has dwarfed the previous tornado repairs. Every year in November, there is a day of campus and community remembrance to pay back the kindness shown by the community to the students in their time of need.

Howerton talked about all those needing help without much focus on the fact that she had lost nearly all her personal belongings in the storm. She shared Williams’ belief that this event has brought the campus closer.

Their personal beliefs have created a reaction focused on what can be gained and not just what was lost.

“The Lord has been gracious and something good will come of this,” said Tim Ellsworth, Director of News and Media for Union University.

He praised the selfless work of the resident directors and assistants in not only their preparation, but the execution of their plans.

“They’re heroes for the work they have done,” Ellsworth said.

Days after the event, it was nearly impossible to find someone that was not helpful or looking on the bright side. Even clean-up volunteers laughed with each other as they shuffled through debris to bag the trash.

“Right now we are in the process of identifying how students can collect their belongings and letting them know how they can pick it up,” said Ellsworth.

Around 70 percent of the 3,157 students have gone home, but the rest are staying with friends, faculty and staff in the area.

Many students have lost everything, and, due to many requests to help, Union has announced that they will be accepting gift cards from places like Lowes, Wal-Mart, Target and similar stores to give to students.

Through it all, those affected by the tornado at Union don’t act like victims, but victors of adversity. Williams mirrored what many others had said in different ways, “God really had his hand on our campus. It’s a miracle.”