'God is good' to Goldsboro family who survived Matthew, heart transplant

The six weeks after Hurricane Matthew hit has been a trying time for many people across North Carolina, but it will take a lot of high water to bring one Goldsboro family down.

At 209 Winslow Circle, turkeys were in the smoker and grandkids and great grandkids were in Harold Isler’s arms.

“God is good all the time,” Isler said.

God was good, Isler said, even when the unholy waters made things very bad in Winslow Circle and Isler’s home was condemned.

“It kind of shocked me, but I’m a God-fearing man and God is good. He can do anything but fail, so I stayed right with it. I said ‘we’re going to make it, no doubt about it’,” Isler said.

Despite the condemnation notice, Isler and his wife made repairs and were able to move back into the home where they have given thanks every Thanksgiving for 45 years.

“We know what God can do, so that’s why I don’t fret anything. I don’t fear anything but God, that is,” he said.

All along Winslow Circle, debris is still heaped along the curbs. Condemnation notices are still tacked on homes and some houses remain empty.

“I am most thankful for being alive and not losing the home,” said resident Camille Bryant.

Bryant’s mother just moved back into her home of more than 40 years. The kitchen, filled with foul water last month, was humid with the smell of comfort food on the stove Thursday.

Life was especially worth savoring a few doors down at the Isler home. Just as the rains from Hurricane Matthew came, Isler’s wife’s heart was giving out and she needed a new one.

“We got a call from Chapel Hill saying she got a heart, so we are thankful, very thankful, because she got a heart on October 27,” Isler said. “We have been through the storm. You’ve got to go through the storm to get through it, so we can stand tall.”