“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38,39)

Life in New Orleans necessitates a particular attunement to storms, something Jesus and his disciples could probably sympathize with. Ask people here, and they can probably tell you who their favorite meteorologist is, how badly their house flooded during Katrina, and their standing record for days without electricity. The point is that storms happen. And sometimes they’re devastating.

Today, Louisiana gardeners pay homage to the miracles of survival after trauma and healing after destruction by planting Peggy Martin roses. When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, Peggy Martin’s home in Plaquemines Parish sat under 16 feet of water for weeks. When she was finally able to return, Mrs. Martin found her home and cherished garden utterly destroyed. All that remained, amidst the muck, was the rambling heirloom rose climbing up over the tractor shed.

That rare variety of rose had qualities the others didn’t: The ability to draw on stores of nutrients in hard times, the ability to resist the poison of salt water, and deep roots unmoved by flood waters. Trauma can leave survivors feeling uprooted, abandoned, or permanently damaged. But the promise of Romans 8 tells a different story. The floodwaters may be real. The losses may be profound. The scars may remain. Yet none of these things—not violence, betrayal, fear, shame, grief, or even our own doubts—can separate us from God’s love.

You can support the survivors around you by reminding them that, even when trauma has stripped away what once seemed beautiful and secure, God’s grace continues to nourish what remains. In time, what survives can bloom again—not because the suffering was good, but because God’s love is stronger than all that seeks to destroy us.