Why couldn't I be born normal, like everyone else?

Is the person I love really going to die?

This is not the job I signed up for. What now?

This is important; am I really the best person to lead it?

Why can't I get just ONE win here?

Why is God denying or ignoring my prayers?

No one ever said life would be easy. We've all been in places like this before. Maybe you've wondered some of these things yourself. A self-professed cynic, Steven Crane spent much of his life asking questions like these. Until one day, someone else - a child no less - asked a question of his own that changed the author's entire perspective.

What followed was a year-long journey of exploration that led to more than a few answers, and some new questions.

What am I missing here? Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of life's inevitable challenges, how can I flip the script? Or better yet, what if God's great plan for us actually includes storms we are equipped to weather and obstacles we're meant to overcome?

What if, when we look back at some of our hardest and most trying times, we see the bounty of lessons and blessings waiting to be uncovered? We're likely to have a revelation: I bet I can learn from that. I'm sure I could grow from that. I think I can appreciate that.

Steven Crane is the author of the memoir I Can Appreciate That, numerous essays, and more than a million words of advertising copy. A graduate of the University of South Carolina, Steven lives in Marietta, GA, with his wife Carie. Their two sons are navigating college, having, thankfully, not yet read this cautionary tale.