When life gives you lemons, what do you do? Of course the old saying goes you make lemonade when life gives you lemons, but that is not always so easy.
Lets face, how many of us really want to turn lemons into lemonade. I would venture to guess that most of us want to turn the freaking lemons in an usable pulp. In other words we want to smash those freaking lemons so they are completely unrecognizable and useless. We are not about being all cheery and optimistic when life throws us lemons.
You may be going great, a person that says smash the lemons. No, I did not say smash the lemons, I said that most of want to smash the lemons. However, that is not what we should be doing.
So many of us just react to the situation without really taking the time to understand why it happened. God seems to intervene at just the right times when we can no longer handle the lemons because we generally realize that we cannot accomplish this on our own and have hit rock bottom or very close to it.
I remember the time when my wife and I were driving home. I was in a rental car and she was behind me in the truck. I stopped to let her by so she could pull into the driveway first. She slowed up, but passed. About that time, a car going 60+ mph blew through a stop sign. Now I could have take those lemons and been sour for the rest of my life, or I could just say thank you God for telling me to pull over.
I am reminded of the verse:
1 Thessalonians 5:18 New International Version (NIV)
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Notice is does not say be happy with all circumstances, or cheerful, but it says to give thanks. We can be thankful without ever being happy or cheerful.
Are you experiencing lemons in your life? What are doing? Are you being thankful? Are you praying and asking God what you should do? Are you so upset that you are ready to smash the daylights out of those lemons? I know this is not going to sound very comforting, but take a deep breath and count to 30 or more.
You need to calm down so you can get a better picture of what is going on. You may need to seek advice from others. You need to take time to be alone with God to see what He has to say.