How the Dishwasher Flooded My Kitchen and What I Learned -

Has your dishwasher ever flooded your kitchen? If not, you can live vicariously through me and have a laugh at my expense, plus see what I learned from the experience!

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My manic, flooded Monday

I started out my Monday just like most of my weekdays, which includes doing the dishes and starting the dishwasher.

I also had a load of clean towels to fold and another load that I was putting in the washer. As I turned around to leave the room, I stepped in something wet.

I looked down and saw a puddle of water. As my eyes followed the puddle, I realized that my dishwasher was flooding the kitchen!

The first thing I did was grab the clean towels I’d just pulled out of the dryer and start laying them down on the floor in front of the stove and refrigerator to try to keep the water from flooding underneath them.

What’s interesting was that, not long before this happened, I’d decided to go through a small stack of shirts I’d been meaning to go through, and at the bottom were 3 large beach towels. I remembered them and ran to get them.

I laid all the towels I’d just gotten out of the dryer onto the kitchen floor and made a path to the dishwasher. Water was pouring out from the bottom of the machine.

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Believe it or not all of this happened within about 45 seconds. My first instinct was to run to the dishwasher and try to shut it off, but I wasn’t about to slip and fall in all that water, so I made my little towel path first.

I jammed the CANCEL/DRAIN button, waiting for the water to stop pouring.

Nothing.

The cycle had stopped, but the water hadn’t.

I pushed the button again, hoping the machine would start to drain.

The little screen went black and unresponsive.

Water was still coming out like crazy, so I ran and got a couple of small basins to put underneath to catch the water. They were filling up every 2 minutes!

I called my sister who lives down the street, and she brought me the big metal key our dad uses to shut off the water outside at the meter.

After that, the water finally stopped pouring out of the dishwasher.

I tried the CANCEL/DRAIN button again and it actually worked! The water started draining out from inside the washer.

Needless to say, I spent the rest of the morning cleaning up.

The amazing thing is that during all of this, I wasn’t panicking. Which for me is noteworthy.

I almost never show surprise or panic outwardly and generally appear very calm and collected during emergencies or crises. But on the inside, I’m an utter wreck.

But on Monday, I was okay. I just assumed the dishwasher was shot and started researching new dishwashers online, trying to determine which would be best for us and what we’d be able to afford with our budget.

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Testing the dishwasher post-flood

Then on Tuesday morning, I just had this feeling that I should try the dishwasher again because it just might work.

First I tested some of the buttons to make sure the electronics were working. Then I put in the detergent and made doubly sure the racks were pushed all the way back and that the door was securely latched. Then I hit START.

And boy was that thing loud!

But wait, my dishwasher’s always been loud… but was it THAT loud before?

I sat on the floor and stared at the bottom of the dishwasher for 5 minutes straight before taking my eyes off of it.

Then I got on my phone, but I kept seeing phantom drips of water out of the corner of my eye.

After sitting on the floor for 30 minutes monitoring the situation, I got up and cleaned under the big appliances after the flood from the day before. It was just barely wet right under the edge of the fridge, that was it.

But there was also a lot of dirt that needed to be cleaned up. So I got out the vacuum and some disinfectant wipes and got to cleaning.

By the time I was done, so were the dishes. And without even one drop of water where it shouldn’t be!

I was so happy, but honestly not too surprised. I felt like the Holy Spirit had nudged me to try it again even when I was ready to throw in the (dish) towel.

I even did a second load of dishes later that afternoon. I watched it for the first 5 minutes, then I set a timer to check on it every 15 minutes.

No problems whatsoever!

I’m SO thankful for God’s provision.

It’s times like that when we can either freak out and get all “why me” about some circumstance that arises, or we can look to God and say “He is.”

What I learned from my flooded kitchen

Here are some of the things that occurred to me through this situation:

God provides

Right before all of this happened, I was just about to jump in the shower. But thankfully, I turned to the left instead of to the right as I was leaving the room, and I stepped in the water which drew my attention to the crisis that was unfolding.

I’m extremely thankful that I realized the kitchen was flooding BEFORE I got in the shower! If I hadn’t, I know that at least 1/3 of the carpet in our house would’ve been ruined, and there would’ve been serious water damage to the floors underneath.

Once I stepped in the water and realized what was going on, I had to trust God to keep me safe and not panic and slip so that I could deal with the immediate issue.

Thinking that the dishwasher was ruined, I had to trust Him to provide for that need and not worry about the cost to replace it.

And thankfully, my sister was at home and not at work when it happened, so she was able to come help me turn off the water.

God prepares

Wanna know something funny? Instead of being upset that I had to throw all my just-cleaned towels on the floor, I was so glad I had them and that they were clean!

The majority of the towels were mismatched and “junk” towels that we use for our senior Squishy Pug’s bed to make any accidents easier to clean up. So if they hadn’t been clean…?

Something else that happened with such weird timing is that I had just finished vacuuming the kitchen floor. I don’t do it as often as I should, but I was very glad I’d just done it before the flooding happened!

Otherwise, the floor would’ve been extra disgusting—the water would’ve moved those little bits of debris all around the kitchen and under the appliances, etc.

God grants peace

And you know what else? Through all of this, I wasn’t even worried about the money we’d have to spend on a new dishwasher. Which is not like me, let me just say.

So that was ALL the Holy Spirit giving me peace through the situation. I wasn’t panicking about any possible water damage either.

And as I shared above, the dishwasher ran fine the next day.

But what if I hadn’t decided to try to run it again? We’d have just gone ahead and spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on a new machine without even realizing the old one was still working.

I felt a little crazy wanting to run it again, thinking in the back of my mind that the same thing would happen and I’d just be so mad at myself for thinking anything different. And yet somehow I believed deep down that it would work.

I really believe it was the Holy Spirit nudging me to trust God’s provision.

Okay, so let me ask you this, my friend. Because this whole dishwasher-flooding-the-kitchen thing has made me pause and see how I can relate it to the bigger things in my life.

What is it that God might be gently nudging you to trust Him with?

How have you seen His provision even during frustrating or stressful times?

Is there any tough situation you’ve come out the other side of and can look back and see God’s preparation?

This dishwasher debacle is a small instance in comparison to some of the huge upheavals we experience in life, but it still made me pause and consider how God works even in the small things, and more so in the huge things in our lives, even when we might not be aware of them.

I hope you enjoyed reading about how the dishwasher flooded my kitchen and what I learned from it! Hopefully, it gave you a laugh and a reminder of how God is with us and providing for us through all things, even the small ones.

And on another note, my kitchen floor’s never been cleaner!

If you’ve experienced large-scale flooding with serious damage, check out these 12 tips for dealing with water damage.

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How the Dishwasher Flooded My Kitchen and What I Learned

My manic, flooded Monday

Testing the dishwasher post-flood