Hello from Jeanette! Today my family woke up to our first major winter storm of the season. It closed schools (including the University) and kept most people home shoveling snow. My sons and I had to scoop the driveway twice before my husband got home from work and then he still had to clear more. Early in the day we got hit with another type of storm—the news that the store where my husband works will be closing in four weeks. They promised to transfer employees to other stores but we know there is a chance that some will find themselves out in the cold. So we’re tapping into what we learned through this past year of one storm after another and trusting that God will not only get us through it but use it for good.

It just so happens that I finished reading a memoir last night that left me amazed over what some people can survive. What startled me even more was that so much unbelievable poverty and neglect happened to one set of siblings—and that they weren’t a made-up family. Someone had endured all this and lived to write about it. This memoir, mixed with my crazy morning, reminded me that every storm has potential to both test our ability to persevere and provide opportunities for later. I’m glad that I couldn’t relate to the book that I finished last night—that I simply got to sit back and marvel at another woman’s strength and resilience. I knew that our two surprises were nothing compared to what some face each day. But maybe someday one of my life storms will become a story that leaves a reader saying, “She’s been there too! And according to this she survived in one piece! I guess I will too.”

So if you are in the midst of a life storm right now—either one that just hit you in the face without warning or one that has been raging for years—thank God for the hope that someday you will be able to say that you lived to write about it. And someone else will be grateful that you did.