We have social programs, credit cards, bankruptcy, insurance, hospitals, therapists, churches, grocery stores, lawyers and GoFundMe sites. We have so many cushions to keep us safe and warm today. In the 1800s, life wasn’t so cushy.

Author Laura Ingalls Wilder writes about her family’s survival in 1880-1881, when a seven month blizzard stopped the trains in Dakota territory. Every two to three days a howling blizzard scoured the walls of her wood house. Laura fought back her worry as her family’s coal, potatoes and flour ran out.

“Never be afraid,” Laura’s father told her.

But with the monstrous sounds of the blizzard ceaselessly clawing at the thin walls, worry kept surfacing. There was no radio, no television, no music to keep out the battering. Pa’s hands were too cold to play his fiddle.

Finally, one evening as the shrieking winds started up again, Laura in desperation threw at the devilish weather the only thing she had left, a song. She broke out in a hymn. She sang of Paul and Silas in prison. Her family joined in. As the fire burned down in their little stove, they buried their worries with worship.

What a great idea! Worry can’t batter us down when songs are lifting us up. As we sing we can trust God to dry up our storms too.