We can be quickly overwhelmed by the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina — the death and destruction.

But as Christians, we know death does not have the final say.

I was only 8 years old during this disaster — and I found hope triumphed as I witnessed the horrific aftermath.

I will never forget the car ride home after our two-month evacuation in Shreveport, Louisiana, taking in all the plastic blue roofs, trailers as temporary homes, grass overgrown nearly as tall as me, and spray-painted numbers on hollow houses (I quickly learned what those numbers meant: how many people were found dead or alive inside).

In spite of all this heartbreak, the one thing I wrote down in my pink-striped journal was, “There are daisies everywhere! That means there is hope.”

I could not help but look for the glory of God amidst the destruction. Growing up in a Catholic household, I was very familiar with the reality that resurrection comes after death — restoration follows destruction. The years of restoration meant a call to be watchful and vigilant, to be sensitive to the work of God among us. I learned from a young age to hope beyond my circumstances — to expect miracles.

Yes — the local landscape had changed and we mourned the loss of many lives, but the community support was unmatched. We took care of each other. Roofs were repaired and some of our favorite restaurants came back. In moments of discouragement, the Lord drew near and wept with us.

Twenty years later, God is still restoring.

New Orleans refuses to be defeated or overcome. Our funerals close with a brass band second line, and when we lose the playoffs, we have a magnificent parade.

There is something about growing up in a hurricane city that causes you to cling a little tighter to the hope the Lord promises amid storms (Isaiah 43:2, Psalm 107:29, Mark 4:35-41).

A quote hung in my childhood bedroom that continues to settle me in times of suffering and destruction: “Sometimes God calms the storm, but sometimes God lets the storm rage and calms His child.”

As Pope Leo reminded the faithful this week, “This is what true hope consists of: not in trying to avoid pain but in believing that even in the heart of the most unjust suffering, the seed of new life is hidden.”

God never abandoned New Orleans and continues to reveal his Providence through the restoration he has brought about in the last 20 years. Let this be a time of anticipation and expectation of miracles for New Orleans in the Jubilee Year of Hope.

“The Lord your God is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing
as on a day of festival.
I will remove disaster from you,
so that you will not bear reproach for it.”
(Zephaniah 3:17-18)