HAVING A HIGH capacity for taking good things for granted, it’s been helpful—if humbling—to be reminded recently how fragile my hold on “normality” is.

It all started with some kind of bug that left me in bed for a weekend, sweaty and feeling quietly sorry for myself. When things hadn’t improved after 36 hours, my wife drove me to the local urgent care to see what they might be able to suggest.

I left with some antibiotics and a steroid shot. I was sufficiently out of it to think of asking about any side effects, never having had steroids before. Insomnia, it turns out, is a leading one. Over the next four-and-a-half days, I napped a total of 90 minutes.

As someone who usually zonks out within minutes of my head hitting the pillow and can sleep through pretty much anything, this threw me into a bit of a tailspin. And to make matters worse, my sleeplessness coincided with a distressing personal situation that left me fretting over a broken relationship.

I lay there for countless hours, unable to switch my brain off. Instead, I went round and round and round inside my head in an endless loop. Replaying and regretting what had been said. Rehearsing what I’d want to say next time. It was utterly miserable, like having a valve in my head stuck open, pouring out despair. At one point I thought I might actually be going crazy.

Having been in this limbo once before, some years ago, I knew what I needed to do: “take every thought captive” (2 Corinthians 10:5), as the apostle Paul wrote. But that can be easier to say than do; gritting my teeth only seemed to increase the tension.

Rather than try to shoo away the negativity, I decided to replace it. Every time I’d find myself slipping into “replay” mode, I’d mentally recite the promise of Isaiah 26:3: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

There was no instant improvement, but gradually I found the grip on my mind being loosened and a sense of peace returning. With it came a renewed appreciation for the good health and good sleep I usually enjoy. Knowing others who struggle with both in an ongoing way, I’m freshly grateful for the goodness of God I can so easily be presumptuous about.

Yes, He is good and wants to bless us, but a more-than-cursory reading of the Bible makes it clear that He doesn’t promise His children life will always be a walk in the park. There’s also that shadow of the valley of death (Psalm 23:4). Yet His great promise is that He will always be with us, wherever we are.