October Storm, as the subtitle suggests, provides a glimpse into a life filled with pain, loss, gratitude, and joy. The death of a nine-year-old daughter to Leukemia provided the pain and loss. God’s power to restore souls provided the gratitude and joy.

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But the pathway from pain and loss to gratitude and joy is neither quick nor easy.

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The book contains 28 windows providing peeks into the five years between Catie’s Halloween Day 1985 diagnosis and her death on Halloween 1990. Some of the glimpses are humorous, most sobering, all real.

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Each of the 28 episodes contains human hurt, biblical insights, and a glimpse into God’s ability to restore souls. 

Several themes emerge during this 28-day journey. They apply to all of us enduring life’s storms. Whether facing a storm yourself or walking through a storm with a friend, the author’s advice provides handholds to cling to as the storm howls.

• Storms do not define us; how we respond does.

• Faith requires moving beyond what we know and clinging to Who we know.

• Greater than the storm is God’s strategic love for us.

• Gratitude changes nothing except my perspective, and that changes everything.

• Preparation in the calm provides protection in the storm.

 

The precious story of Catie confusing the words of the classic hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy with Hold Me, Hold Me, Hold Me is worth the price of the book. Bolin weaves a tapestry of hope using the threads of both God’s powerful holiness, and his loving care. The mystery is not resolved accept in the truth that the holy God wants to hold us close in the darkest storms.

 

In the foreword, Tim Kimmel states, He showed me how you keep the worst part of my life from ruining the best parts of it. The biblical insights provided in these short, powerful stories may help you survive a storm, or it may be the lifeline you throw to a friend who is enduring a storm’s blast today.