A fine, naturalistic story by John L'Heureux with an odd conclusion

John L'Heureux has another in what appears to be a series of multiparty stories set in the 1950s in an I named small city - which seems to be in the NE, maybe a city like Lowell or even Boston? - and that examine issues of Catholicism and faith, particularly one working-class families- this one called The Rise and Rise of Annie Clark, in current New Yorker. The stories seem to be set in the era and locale of JL's childhood. In the store the eponymous Annie is introduced to us as a beset-upon 40ish woman treated unkindly by the world Andy finding little solace in her faith. She's bedraggled and looks 20 years older than she is. She has a husband who drinks and four teenage children who are crude and disrespectful - all in all not your typical protagonist esp for a story on the NYer! She seeks consolation from a priest, who offers some platitudes and pushes her off, dismissively. Finding her life intolerable , Annie leaves her family and seems to want to move in w her sister, who is much more conventionally successful and content. But her sister has her own life, and she laughs off Annie's troubles. Annie splits for Florida - a disaster - and returns to her home town, dejected and w a withered faith. The final scene of the story, as Annie is heading back to her abandoned family - which she learns has coped just fine during her absence - he stops to pray, anencephaly something strange happens, which will not divulge except to note the foretelling of the title.  Personally I cannot accept this ending, and I wonder what JL has in mind here: why have such a fine, naturalistic storyntake such an odd turn? I can't figure out if the author is devout or if he's mocking one of the characters for  his diminshed view of grace. Is the conclusion a revelation or a misperceptions? It depends in part on who's witnessing the final scene - us? A priest (with weak vision)? Annie herself? The Lord works in mysterious ways - but should writers?