Sometimes life throws the most intense curve balls. Children are afflicted with incurable diseases. Parents traveling home from a party are killed in a car crash leaving their 3 young children orphans. An earthquake kills hundreds of thousands of people in what feels like the blink of an eye. Terrorists drive planes into buildings that buckle and crumble. An unexpected lay off. A spouse walks out.

Some people are completely undone by events like these. And others seem to have a resilience that is almost inexplicable.

Having endured a fair number of Life’s Curve Balls myself I have often wondered what sets apart the people who soldier on from those that crumble under the weight of trials and tragedies. In story after story that has been shared with me the common denominator seems to be faith in God – and an understanding that there must be a purpose to it all. Viktor Frankl, the concentration camp survivor and psychiatrist, wrote about this in his book Man’s Search for Meaning.

This faith, this purpose-focused understanding, is what has been my anchor in times of trial. I don’t have to KNOW what God’s plan or purpose is – but I can believe that He has one. And that belief can make all the difference in the desire to keep on keeping on.

When my marriage fell apart and I was trying to reconcile all of the whys and whats about it, I came across a book called The Blessings of Brokenness by Charles Stanley. That book challenged me to change my focus from “why me God?” to “what do you want me to do with this, God?” That shift in thinking helped me see a future that had been hidden from my depressed view.

If you are in the fire of trials or tragedy. I highly recommend this book.