The month of July was a hard one in Texas.

For me, personally, it started with spending five nights in the hospital with my dad. My 93-year-old daddy, who has always been so strong and self-reliant, began to decline in March. By May he had fallen several times. He wasn’t eating, and I could tell he didn’t feel well.

In June, Dad was enrolled in home health care. Soon, my husband and I were spending our days juggling physical therapy, nurse visits, and keeping an eye on Dad who was beginning to look more and more swollen and puffy (in spite of a diuretic in his medicine regimen). Ultimately, it’s what sent us to the hospital where we discovered Dad had, at some point, suffered a cardiac event. This had left his heart damaged and was the cause of fluid retention. They sent us home on July 3. “Insert Read More tag”

In the wee hours of July 4, our beautiful Texas Hill Country was hit by a hundred-year flash flood. As the sun came up that day, Texans were stricken to learn dozens of people had been killed and hundreds more were missing. As I write this, more than a month later, the death toll stands at 135 with two still missing. Many of the casualties are little girls who were attending one of the many summer camps in that region. The losses felt (and still feel) very personal for all Texans.

In late July I was scheduled to attend a homeschool conference with my Family Friendly Books group. We are a collection of like-minded authors who write clean and Christian content for kids. I originally planned to attend the whole three-day conference but decided to cut it to just one day due to care-giving duties. My youngest daughter flew in from Florida to help me, and we arrived in Round Rock, Texas on a Friday evening.

As arranged, we met with my Family Friendly Book group for dinner at a nearby restaurant. We were joined by a gentleman I did not know. Mark Teears, I found out later, is the CEO of New Growth Press—a fact he never mentioned during dinner. Instead, our conversation turned to the Texas flood event and all the devastation it had caused. Mark mentioned a book his company has out that seems especially appropriate for times like this.

The Moon is Always Round (New Growth Press, 2019) is written by Jonathan Gibson, a Presbyterian minister in the UK. The story was originally inspired by the journal of a young girl who died of cancer at age fourteen. In her journal her family found a card that said simply, “The moon is always round.” Jonathan developed a simple lesson from it for his son, never dreaming how important that lesson would become. Each night as they studied the moon, they noted the different phases. It might look like a crescent moon or a half-moon or a gibbous moon, but no matter how it appeared the moon is actually round. Always.

Then tragedy struck Jonathan’s family as he and his wife lost their baby girl at 39 weeks in her mother’s womb. Jonathan struggled to explain the situation to his then three-year-old son. He reminded his son of a simple idea they had discussed many times. The moon is always round no matter how it appears, and God is good no matter what our circumstances. Even when your little sister dies before you get to meet her. Even when your dad is sick and becomes totally dependent on you. Even when flood waters rage. Even when things are tough, God is still good.

I share this with all of you because I believe this is a lesson we all need to know (deep in our hearts) and teach our children. God IS always good. It is His nature. In this world we will have troubles just as Jesus warned us. But no matter what—God is good. He HAS overcome the world. That’s an anchor we can hold on to in the middle of the most ferocious storms.

The Moon is Always Round is a beautiful book. I highly recommend it. You can purchase it from all your usual sources, but I also recommend that you support your local independent bookstore. They can order it for you, or you can order it yourself through bookshop.org. In doing so you can designate the independent bookstore you want to support, and all profits from the sale will go to that store.

Wendy Hinote Lanier is an author, speaker, and Texan who writes and speaks for children and adults. She is the award-winning author of more than fifty books for kids.

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