My petunias, I said, my poor petunias they are ruined. But looking out my window the next morning, I saw a miracle my precious petunias were standing up as proudly as ever, and the blooms were as beautiful as ever. You can imagine how I was lifted up when I saw how they had lifted up. My plants feel flat under the lash of the storm, but they rose up again. Men and plants can fit their lives to many ill winds which blow, can meet misfortune or adversity, face up to it and last it out.
Nations can do it.
No failure or defeat is final, unless one surrenders and gives up. You may have suffered some misfortune, but God can transmute your misfortune into good fortune. This is the lesson that came to me from seeing my battered petunias triumph.