A few (ahem) years ago when I had two babies (I now have four and my baby is 20) I began having double vision and intermittent blindness. The first doctor (quack) told me it was psychosomatic and I needed a psychiatrist, not a neurologist. Remember when doctors were demigods who thought their word was Gospel? It was back then. Anyway, I was eventually diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and on vast amounts of steroids to keep the blindness at bay. Well, they did that, but they also rendered sleep impossible. So I needed something quiet to do at night when the rest of the house was sleeping — I couldn’t read because my eyes were jumping — but I could type. I started writing a novel. That was in 1996 and my first novel (Strong as the Redwood) was released in 1997.

Who would have guessed that having a disease that kept me up at night would give me a job that I could do from home while managing symptoms and raising kids? Isn’t God so good? Not to mention that He gave me my people. My best friends are writers that I have known since the Internet was ushered into our lives. We were the original online dating app — finding friends through writing loops.

One of those friends (Cheryl Hodde) of many decades helped me rewrite my second novel — a romance about a heroine with MS. It releases today and it’s such a proud moment for me. Because I have the benefit of perspective now. I can look back and see why God allowed the triumphs and the traumas in my life. He knew what I needed, not what I necessarily wanted.

A God perspective is so crucial when the world feels so unstable as it does today. One day, we will look back at the triumphs and tragedies of 2020 and understand how it grew us. Currently, it’s looking the way MS did back in 1997. I cannot see the upside just yet. How about you?