How to Stay Faithful in The Face of The Storm

In our country right now we are all in the midst of a powerful and deadly storm. This storm has the ruined hundreds of thousands of lives, and altered the paths of many children. Our current economic crisis has taken away homes, jobs, retirement funds, mental health away from otherwise sound mental minds, and left in its wake, insecurity, panic, anxiety, and thoughts of death.
How do we keep faith and hope alive when we are faced with such uncertainty? I believe the first step is take one day at a time. This is a quote from Max Lucado that I am applying to my life right now. "Don't start tackling tomorrow's problems until tomorrow. You don't have tomorrow's strengths yet. You simply have enough for today. We don't need to know what will happen tomorrow."
This advice has helped me get through the closing of my business. I owned an upscale women's boutique. The economy crashed, and my boutique was hit hard. I closed the boutiqe in September. I have since taken all of my problems one day at a time. I don't focus on tomorrow, I focus on today. I am trying to teach my children to do the same.
When I closed my store, I could see the worry in my children's eyes. I sat them down and told them if God takes care of the birds, won't he surely take care of us? They are learning to have faith in the unknown in a very uncertain time of our life. I explained to them that our needs are met for today; we have a roof over our head, we have food to eat, gas in our car, and the warmth and love of one another. No, we are not going out for sushi right now, our vacations have been brought to screeching halt, and we might have to move to a smaller house, but my children and I have learned great lessons during this economic storm.
Here they are: there is nothing more important than family, nature is much more beautiful and satisfying to the soul on a Saturday afternoon than a matinee, roasting marshmallows in our fire place as a family is so much more fun than heading to Cold Stone Creamery and spending twenty five dollars, driving to LA instead of flying creates great memories withouth the hassle of getting through security at an airport, lets not forget the snacks that we get in the car are way better than the snacks we have to pay for now on an airplane, our bike rides after school are much more exhilarating than heading to Jamba Juice for a chat, now we bike ride to the park, I have personally realized Nordstrom's is not going under, I will get there again one day, and finally, we realized we don't need as much money as we thought we needed to be happy and content!
Everyday I wake up I thank God for the day ahead of me. I have faith that everyone's life will return to normalcy. I believe we all needed this wake up call. How dare we be so cavalier with our money. The irresponsiblity of us as adults was bound to catch up with us. Once again, children were the main casualties. As a child what is worse than losing your home? Not much, except losing your parent at the same time. I believe that through this storm at times we have not been there emotionally for our children due to our stress levels.
I encourage all of you to stop and appreciate whatever you have left, that the storm didn't take in it's path, and be grateful instead of bitter. Find the angel in evil, and enjoy your new way of life. Be thankful for the lesson you have learned. Finally, have faith, it will change!