Wrestling Hurricanes: Navigating Life's Relentless Storms for God's Glory

By Tiffany Haines, Dennis Rainey and Sally Meredith

An honest and incredible account of one family’s journey through a medical mystery and raising kids with special needs.

It is a journey that led Tiffany Haines to the answer for every one of life’s “why” questions. And, spoiler alert, the answer is simply the glory of God. For parents of atypical children, Wrestling Hurricanes speaks to the highs and lows of a chaotic life, which no one else can understand. For the Church, it provides an authentic example of how Christ followers can choose to react to life’s storms. For every person who has asked why, it provides a clear, compelling, and biblical answer. In the end, Wrestling Hurricanes can be a foundational, modern story of resilience by which small group and ministry leaders can teach not just the Gospel, but also share God’s ultimate plan for now and eternity.

“A compelling story of faith, courage, and perseverance of how one woman battled her storms by following Jesus.” —Dennis Rainey, cofounder of FamilyLife

“Ms. Haines writes in a way that few of her contemporaries have yet to capture. Wrestling Hurricanes enlightens the mind, inflames the heart, and engages the will. That is why it is not only a map into the peaceful eye of the hurricane but also a truly life-changing experience.” —Dr. Barry R. Leventhal, distinguished senior professor, Southern Evangelical Seminary, and Mary P. Leventhal, leader of women’s church ministries

“This book will inspire, bring answers, and give renewed faith to parents of children with emotional struggles and women dealing with cancer.” —Lana Bethune, family advocate, former member of House of Representatives

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Mar 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781631953064

Book preview

Part I

"No man knows how bad he is

till he has tried very hard to be good."

—C.S. Lewis

CHAPTER 1

The Calm Before the Storm

Hurricanes are large, swirling storms with winds clocking seventy-four miles-per-hour or higher. That’s faster than a cheetah—the fastest animal on land. In our country, we have advanced warning and communication systems for imminent hurricanes. We’re aware of their approach days, sometimes weeks in advance. In many countries, communication systems are not set up to reach much of the population. In outlying mountainous areas, rural villages, and remote coastal regions, hurricanes are seemingly born out of the bluest skies and grayest-green waters, the only indicators being a line of spiraling clouds on the horizon and increasingly treacherous ocean currents first noticed by the local fishermen. At that point, it’s too late.

I never really questioned my childhood blessings. I always assumed life was good because I followed the script. There was no trauma, no crisis. I never perched on the margins of moral or emotional meltdowns, even as a teenager. I had several areas of anxiety and stress as a child, but there was a certain ease to everything I did, and I attributed all this to my ability to play by the rules. I concluded that my safe and easy life was the result of my ability to be—and do—good.

I walked through adolescence as if I could do no wrong, as if I could control the world with all its swirling circumstances, because I believed I did. At least it seemed that way. My formative years were mostly quiet and chaos-free, a time when things seemed calm, much like the silence before an argument or the ease before the difficulty—the lull before a storm.

I was a top student, a star athlete, and a church-attending kind of girl. From birth to my mid-twenties, I lived in what I now know explicitly as the calm before the