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By Marie Harrison

For spring break this year, my family made a last-minute decision to head to Universal Studios in Florida. We have a big trip planned for the summer to coincide with my son’s high school graduation and because of this, we hemmed and hawed about whether or not to also go somewhere for spring break. But then, we learned that once my son enters the Naval Academy in the fall, his spring breaks are not guaranteed, and this very well may be our last one as a family of five.

So, we did what we do best. We waited for my son to get out of his Calculus 2 class, we loaded up our car to the actual brim, and we drove nine hours down to Florida for a week spent riding roller coasters. And spoiler alert, we had the very best time.

I am grateful that all of my children love the thrill of a roller coaster as much as their parents — the wilder, the better. Front row on the Velocicoaster as we are shot out of the start at 70 mph, before we proceed to barrel roll over the lake, all while hoping the magnetized safety harnesses do their thing and hold us in, there’s really nothing better. And after a week spent walking 20,000-plus steps per day, eating ice cream for breakfast at 9 a.m., and redefining the definition of windswept hair, we were finally done and ready to head home. But that’s when things got interesting.

As we watched the news reports, the weather all along our drive home was supposed to be bad. While we had driven nine hours down with minimal stops and minimal delays due to traffic, suddenly it began to look like the drive home would be much longer with wind, rain and storms for the entirety of our drive.

Once again, we did what we do best. We made a last-minute call. After riding roller coasters all morning, we headed back to our hotel, packed our bags quickly and checked out, hoping to drive through the night and beat the weather and the traffic that would most surely come if we waited one more day. And for most of our drive, we did beat the traffic and the weather.

But as the day wore on, and the outer bands of the storm began to approach, the wind began to pick up significantly. At one point, as we drove over a bridge, my large SUV, loaded down with people and suitcases, got caught by a gust of wind that very nearly blew us into the other lane of traffic. Scary. And as my husband gripped the steering wheel tighter and fought against the wind to keep our car in its proper lane, he noted that none of the trees in the forest surrounding the road were moving. To look at the trees, you would think nothing was amiss. They weren’t bending to the wind, the leaves weren’t flying off the branches, the trees looked calm. But out the passenger side of the car, I happened to catch a glimpse of an American flag, erected in the middle of a field, flying proudly. This flag was most certainly feeling the effects of the wind. Despite its large size, the flag was whipping every which way, violently being thrown from one side to the other, hanging on to the pole for dear life it seemed. And that’s when it struck me, perspective is everything.

Both the trees and the flag were in the same storm. Both were subject to the same wind. But depending on where you looked, you got a very different perspective as to the strength and severity of the storm. And as I thought about this, I realized that this is exactly how all the storms in our lives play out — where we look in the midst of the storm has the power to change our opinion. In the middle of the storms and tribulations that life throws at us — sickness, job loss, family troubles — we always have a choice.

If we look to the trial, if we focus solely on the storm threatening to take away our sanity, things look bleak. It can be hard to see a way out. It can be hard to think we will ever overcome and survive.

But, what if instead of looking to the storm, we look instead to Jesus. If our eyes are fixed on Jesus and not the trial standing in our way, we realize nothing can defeat us. In Christ, we are all more than conquerors. Jesus defeated death and sealed the gift of eternal life for all of us who believe in Him, no storm or trial or tribulation here on Earth has any power over us. And much like Peter learned in Matthew 14, as he fixed his eyes on Jesus and walked on water, when we choose to focus on Jesus, when we choose to look to the one who has conquered every storm, we, too, are conquerors, capable of defeating whatever this world may throw at us. We just have to know where to look.