OCTOBER STORM
LESSONS LEARNED OVER A LIFETIME REFLECTING ON PAIN, LOSS, GRATITUDE AND JOY
Is there hope after unimaginable sorrow?
October Storm is a deeply moving and spiritually grounded reflection on grief, resilience, and enduring faith.
Written by Dr. Dan Bolin—a seasoned ministry leader with over four decades of experience in Christian camps, radio, and international nonprofit leadership—this book offers readers a month-long journey through the most painful season of his life: the loss of his nine-year-old daughter, Catie, to leukemia.
Structured as a daily devotional from October 4 to October 31—the month of her birth and passing—each entry unpacks the raw emotions, lessons, and surprising gifts that emerged through years of sorrow and reflection.
Drawing on personal experience, biblical truth, and timeless wisdom, Bolin walks readers through themes such as sorrow, strength, hope, and healing, while providing practical encouragement for those navigating storms of their own.
Far from a memoir written in the aftermath of loss, this is a seasoned perspective—crafted over decades—that invites readers to see God’s comfort in suffering and to rediscover joy on the other side of heartbreak.
With academic credentials from Seattle Pacific, Dallas Seminary, LeTourneau, and Denver Seminary, Bolin writes with theological integrity and pastoral sensitivity.
Ideal for anyone facing grief or walking with others through it.
October Storm, as the subtitle suggests, provides a glimpse into a life filled with pain, loss, gratitude, and joy. The death of a nine-year-old daughter to Leukemia provided the pain and loss. God’s power to restore souls provided the gratitude and joy.
But the pathway from pain and loss to gratitude and joy is neither quick nor easy.
The book contains 28 windows providing peeks into the five years between Catie’s Halloween Day 1985 diagnosis and her death on Halloween 1990. Some of the glimpses are humorous, most sobering, all real.
Each of the 28 episodes contains human hurt, biblical insights, and a glimpse into God’s ability to restore souls.
Several themes emerge during this 28-day journey. They apply to all of us enduring life’s storms. Whether facing a storm yourself or walking through a storm with a friend, the author’s advice provides handholds to cling to as the storm howls.
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Storms do not define us; how we respond does.
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Faith requires moving beyond what we know and clinging to Who we know.
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Greater than the storm is God’s strategic love for us.
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Gratitude changes nothing except my perspective, and that changes everything.
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Preparation in the calm provides protection in the storm.
The precious story of Catie confusing the words of the classic hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy with Hold Me, Hold Me, Hold Me is worth the price of the book. Bolin weaves a tapestry of hope using the threads of both God’s powerful holiness, and his loving care. The mystery is not resolved accept in the truth that the holy God wants to hold us close in the darkest storms.
In the foreword, Tim Kimmel states, He showed me how you keep the worst part of my life from ruining the best parts of it. The biblical insights provided in these short, powerful stories may help you survive a storm, or it may be the lifeline you throw to a friend who is enduring a storm’s blast today.
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