Richard J. Mouw wrote a book called Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport. There is a chapter called "Not a Stranger" in which he recounts a story of a Dutch Calvinist congregation facing a tragedy. They tell the minister trying to encourage them "No stranger did this to us". They realized that God was sovereign and in control of what they were facing. They were like Paul, perplexed, but not in despair.

It is easy to think of God as distant and not involved. It is easy to think of Him as a Celestial Santa Claus—leave your wish list and He will grant it, if you are nice. It is hard to think of Him as sovereign; as concerned with my holiness and not my happiness. It is hard to trust that the difficult parts of the journey are for my good and ultimately (and most importantly), for His glory. God knew when Julianna was born that we would be her family. He also knew that a snow storm in Memphis would delay our LOA returning to our agency. It is easy to thank Him for the birth, hard to thank Him for the snow.