Incredible

I occasionally pick up an O Magazine from the newstand at the store, and sometimes find inspiration in a story inside. In the May issue I was impressed by the incredible strength found in a woman named Christine McFadden.

This woman went out for a walk early one morning and when she returned, she found all four of her children shot to death by her ex-husband, who had also shot himself dead.

Now I don't have children, but I can imagine the horror that must have invaded her life that morning and probably still is there. This woman has fallen in love again and remarried, plus has just given birth to twin girls, and is 49 years old. What I find most incredible is that she continues to live in the house in which her children died, surrounded by photos of them throughout the entire place.

I think what her story impressed on me most is that regardless of what bad thing happens to us we are fully capable of surviving it and moving ahead. Usually faith will be tested in the process, and sometimes it will emerge stronger. Other times it will dissipate and never be fully recovered.

But the fact remains, as evidenced by Christine McFadden, that the world keeps spinning whether we want it to or not. We have to hurt for as long as it takes and then gradually emerge from the horror.