When Life Gives Us Lemons
It sure is easy, when things aren’t going the way we think they should, to find ourselves siding with the opposition! Without realizing it, I found myself it this very spot.
It all began one rainy afternoon, in a time not long ago, in a city exactly like mine, on a bed in my bedroom. Where a husband (actually my husband) had committed the unpardonable sin of forgetting that his wife is always right. Feeling the injustice, and looking for a way to justify my offense, I retreated to the bedroom to complain—I mean pray. Yet, when I eventually quit whining, I realized that the Lord was quiet. He did not respond to whining. I tried crying. Then asking for the Lord to fix that man He gave me! Still nothing. The pity party began to feel rather lonely.
Finally, after the tears had run dry and the Kleenex were soggy, I listened. In those new few moments I heard, “Let’s talk about you.” In the most gentle way, the Lord told me about all of the good things that He had put on the inside of me. He would not discuss the wrongs of another with me, because His love covers a multitude of sin. As I wrote down the things that He told me, joy and peace exploded on the inside of me. The situation had not changed but I had changed.
Isaiah 26:3: “He who keeps His mind stayed upon the Lord is kept in perfect peace.”
The Truth Sets Us Free
The whole time that I was focused on the bad, the wrong, the hurt, my thinking took a downward spiral. Anger, frustration and turmoil played with my emotions. Yet within minutes of mediating on the truth of God’s word, my heart was free again. The truth literally sets us free.
John 8:32: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Romans 8:6: “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
I learned an important lesson that day. Our thinking produces fruit in our lives, and if we want to taste the good stuff, it comes from planting good seed. The joy of the Lord is our strength, and it’s one of those things that the enemy tries to steal from us when we get distracted by focusing on all the junk that’s going on rather than on the Lord.
Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”
Keeping our minds stayed upon the Lord plants good seed. You can often tell the type of seed people have planted by the look on their face and the words that they speak. It’s that tell-tale lemon sucking expression that gives it away! If we don’t like the fruit that’s in our life, we can to pray for a crop failure and replant!
Be encouraged today that the Lord has uniquely planted in you gifts, talents, ability and purpose that position you for victory. Life may give us lemons, but we don’t have to suck them! We can start agreeing with His promises today, and we will see the fruit of them in our lives.
Check out the link to my confession card: