Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. —James 1:2 (niv)
After a bad storm unexpectedly blew through Mandeville, Louisiana, I went outside to survey the neighborhood. A couple of tall pine trees were split in half, and debris was everywhere. “Looks like a small twister went through here!” I called out to my neighbor who was walking her dog. “Sure looks like it,” she said. “How’d you make out?” “Awful!” I said. “The wind ripped off some siding from the back of the house and put some deep scratches into the bedroom windows. A bunch of fencing is down in the backyard, and my purple martin birdhouse is knocked down. I’m sure my birds are gone for the season. The storm uprooted my tall Queen Anne palm by the pond too. It survived so many hard freezes over the years, and now a storm uproots it. It’s just terrible.” I sighed, shaking my head. “How’d you do?”
“A big tree fell through my roof and crashed into my kitchen,” she said. “I’ve got lots of water and structural damage.” “Oh no,”I said.“I’m so sorry.” “It’s okay,” she said. “I’ve been praying about whether or not to remodel my kitchen.” She smiled. “Looks like I got my answer.” “Wow,” I said, “you sure have a great attitude about it.” “I’m not going to let anything—even a pine tree in my kitchen—get in the way of my faith,” she replied with a smile. “I’m keeping in mind the quote that I hung in my kitchen: ‘I got this one, okay? Love, God.’” She tugged at her dog’s leash to coax him on. “Thank goodness that quote survived the storm. We will too.”
