Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.  1 Peter 5:6-7

A genuine concern for many writers is losing what they have spent a significant part of their lives creating. So, when my computer files were hijacked last week, and are now being held for ransom, it was an unexpected crisis.

I received a note on my computer which said, in essence, we have encrypted all your files and if you want the code to unencrypt them go to this website and pay x amount of dollars. Virus threats were popping up all over my screen and infecting my computer in spite of the security software I had installed.

My son, who is an IT director and highly skilled in computers, came to the house and was able to clean out most of the viruses. He then used a special program to try and recover some of my files.  But during the time that the program was running, more attacks disabled the remote viewing program he was using.

I agonized over the fact that I had been careless in not backing up my files to a flash drive or external hard drive; that I had not invested in better security software, or that I hadn’t paid more attention to the fact that there are unscrupulous and selfish people out there who have no problem hijacking your life, or some part of it, for their own gain.

Today I received another ransom “note”: If you do not pay the current fee for the encryption code, the fee will double. You have 88:43:13 time left. Those large numbers flashing on my screen reminded me of explosive timers seen so often in high-action movies.

At this point, I’m almost hoping the computer self-destructs at the appointed time, because I would throw it in the fires of Gehenna before paying a dime to release my files, in spite of the half-written book manuscripts, hundreds of columns, personal and business records and saved photos of my grandchildren.

I have accepted the reality that I have to start over.

Fortunately, books – the kind you actually hold in your hand – do not come with a danger for hijacking, and for me, they are a continual source of inspiration.

To stem my frustration with the loss of my files, I searched for a book to read.

I came across a beaten-up copy of a paperback that will probably never make the New York Times best seller list, but is one of my favorites. “Lessons For Our Lifetime,” is a compilation of stories and a wealth of wisdom from the residents of the Atria Retirement and Assisted Living centers nationwide.

Featured residents, most of whom were born in the very early 20th century, share their experiences, and the wisdom gained, of living through the stock market crash, the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor and WWII. While they spoke mostly with wisdom about America, their encouragement is meaningful for our personal lives, as well.

Hannah Miller, who was born in 1917 in Brooklyn, spoke of her memories of Black Tuesday and the stock market crash of 1929: “I was a young child in the fourth grade. Our teacher thought we should be allowed to have a bank account, so we had brought in a nickel a week for 11 weeks. We lost all the money. I thought that was no way to teach kids to save.”

It was, however, I thought, a hard lesson that would teach children about the reality that life can change in an instant, often in ways so devastating or challenging that we can’t imagine how we will navigate the future.

Reading through the pages of the book, illuminated with faith, wisdom and encouragement from those who had suffered through the horrors of a world war and profound personal tragedy, I regained the perspective that my loss was insignificant in the scheme of things, and certainly a problem that is surmountable.

I reflected on the words of Ruth Corbin Martin, born in 1918, when asked what stuck with her from her experience of the stock market crash and the Great Depression. She responded, “What has been accomplished since we were founded and what we will do tomorrow.”

That reminded me of something my dad, who also lived through the Depression, always said to me: “Rely on God and never underestimate tomorrow.”