Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Woodrow Kroll
Is it possible to take sour circumstances and turn them into something sweet? Yes and here are 3 ways you can do that.
Lemons into Lemonade
My wife once bought a bunch of apples only to have some of them get too soft for our own liking so what did she do with them? She made an apple crust pie. Overripe apples are perfect for that. Same thing with bananas that go bad…they’re perfect for banana bread, or my favorite, banana pancakes so why can’t we turn lemons into lemonade? We can use our trials, suffering, and pain to make us more tenderhearted and make us much more prayerful. God can give us beauty out of ashes (Isaiah 61:3). James wrote that we should count it all joy “whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance” (James 1:2b-3) “and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Rom 5:4).
Comforting Others with the Comfort we Have Been Given
Paul wrote that God “is the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ” (2 Cor 1:4-5) so if we go through a particular trial or loss that someone else is going through or has gone through, we can comfort them because we understand what they might be experiencing. It’s not a matter of “if” but “when” we go through trials for every believer does but when we do, we can comfort others, perhaps by sharing our own pain or loss with them. For example, I know of a couple who lost a child and another woman was able to sympathize with them having lost her own child.
Evil Used for Good
The evil, despicable way that Jesus was tortured, suffered, and died on the cross was used for our good because by His death we can be saved. What men did as evil God made into the ultimate good. I had a friend who was betrayed by a close friend of his…this friend had the opportunity to show the love of God by forgiving him and what this man did to this friend of his was evil but this friend used it as a way to share how God’s love was displayed on the cross because Jesus died for us while we were still His enemies and were wicked sinners (Rom 5:8, 10) and if not for the cross, we would never have peace with God (Rom 5:1; 8:1).
Conclusion
Why not take what life throws at you and use it for good because “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). It doesn’t say all things are good or that all things will be good but God uses even bad things to work together for our own good. It all depends on how we look at it…or our attitude.
