A low grumble rolled through the house. It took only seconds to go from dreamland to all-out panic as I realized what was happening. At 3:59 on Wednesday morning of this week, an earthquake shook the far west suburbs of Chicago where my husband and I live.

In the seconds after the quake, my husband and I bolted out of bed and ran into the hallway. Then, the “what-ifs” started. What if the city of Chicago was in ruins and we were on the outer edges of a terrible disaster? What if the stores ran out of food and worse yet—baby formula? What if the water supply became polluted?

When I finally snapped back to reality, my husband and I grabbed the kids and raced downstairs to turn on the news. The early-morning anchorperson announced that the tremor had been a 4.3 on the Richter scale, with the epicenter just 8 miles west of us. Later reports claimed it was a 3.8 with the origin just to the north.

My experience with a puny little 3.8 earthquake gave me a new perspective on the terror and devastation in Haiti. I realized that thousands of people actually lived through all the things I feared might happen. Their trouble was infinitely more serious than ours; the Haitian people endured a 7.0 quake.

Has something shaken your calm recently? If so, remember that “[God] comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others” (2 Corinthians 1:4). Experiencing trouble can sensitize us to the needs of the people around us; God is pleased when we draw on life’s trying times to console and come to the rescue of people who are hurting.