How to Make Lemonade

Read This: “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28)

Think: Nothing says summer like lemonade. Last year some kids in my neighborhood set up a lemonade stand and sold it for two dollars a cup. Some say rip-off, others say brilliant! They made close to $250 in a couple days. It’s amazing that a lemon, a fruit practically inedible on its own, can be turned into a much loved beverage with a little sugar and water. Okay, make that a lot of sugar.

God is about transformation too, taking sour situations and adding that sugar and water to turn them into something good. Acts 16:16-35 tells us about a time Paul and Silas were severely beaten and thrown into prison for preaching the gospel. “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the rest of the prisoners were listening to them” (25). Suddenly there was an earthquake and the jail doors were opened and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer was about to take his own life when Paul assured him they were all still there. Through that experience, the jailer and his entire family came to know the Lord and were baptized that night. Verse 34 says the jailer “was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.”

What an amazing picture of what God can do when our hearts are in the right place. Paul and Silas could’ve been sulking, questioning, or even angry. It would’ve been easy to try to sleep off the pain after being beaten, or whispered their prayers so as not to disturb the other prisoners. But Paul and Silas kept their eyes on God, putting themselves and even the comfort of others aside for the sake of the gospel. And because of their powerful testimony, the jailer and all his family were saved.

All of us have had some lemons. Maybe there are some sitting on your shelf now and you’re wondering what you’re going to do with them. Maybe it’s a job you don’t like, a marriage on the rocks, finances, anything else. No matter how big or how sour that situation is, God can use it for good if you let him.

Ask: When has God turned your lemons into lemonade? What are some potentially good things that can come from a hard situation you are currently experiencing?

Pray: Ask God to trust him with the sour situations in your life so he can transform them into something good.