When Life Gives You Lemons 

“When life gives you lemons you’re usually supposed to make lemonade. But sometimes whenever you squeeze the lemons, the juice squirts in your eye and it burns and stings you. This is very painful so you quit. You say, “I’ll do it later, right now I need to take a rest.” But what you don’t realize is that while you’re tending to the pain more and more lemons pile up. Pretty soon they surround you and they mock you. They say, “You’re such a failure. You’re worthless. You can’t do anything right. Your kids are hungry because of you. Your husband left you. Your wife went off with another man. You lost your job. God doesn’t want you and he never did. You’re such a sinner. You can’t even fix your own life, yet alone your family.” This gets to your head and you believe all of it. You realize that the little sting of lemon juice feels more like you’re swimming in it. Pretty soon you’re buried alive in those sour, bitter lemons. You become depressed. But you need to wake up and realize that you can change all of this. God is with you ALWAYS. He will never leave you. He is by your side every step of the way.

When you realize this, the pile of lemons start to move slightly, then they shake, and then they collapse onto the floor. Out comes a brand new you filled with power, joy, and a stronger faith. Then you take one of the lemons and you start you squeeze slowly at first. The bitter juice stings a little and says, “You have no friends.” It hurts but you know it’s a lie because God is your friend and he is with you ALWAYS! Your cup is a quarter full. When you see how much you accomplish you grab another lemon. “You’re ugly.” These words sting, but you know it’s a lie and it’s not about looks, it’s about your spirit inside you. The cup is half full. You get another lemon. It says, “You are worthless.” This one burns, but you know that God made you for a purpose and you know that he uses you. The cup is three quarters full now. You’re tired and weary but you're almost there. “Your past makes you weak, that’s why you’ve failed in everything you do.” This one makes you want to give up so bad you cry just thinking about it, but you know the past is the past and you know you have not failed in everything you’ve done. The cup is all the way full. You realize that you’ve done it. You taste it and you say, “Why God? I’ve tried and tried. I pushed through the pain and I’ve had faith in you all the way, but my life is still sour and bitter! Help me Lord!” God acts like sugar and he sweetens your life. You taste the lemonade and it eases your pain and soothes your mind. You love this feeling so you drink more till finally it’s all gone. You long for the refreshing taste. God gives you lemons so that you can make the lemonade. Thanks God!!”

Haley Henson

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Let Your Mortality Be Absorbed in Life!

“There are times you feel numb. Other times you hurt from weariness. These are the times when "seeking Yahweh" takes effort. You sit, just a puddle of nothingness, and wonder what next. You hear a still small voice saying "just rest in Me," yet you know the effort of resting in Yahweh is more than you can do. You wish you could just lay down and never get up until this malaise passes. But that still small voice says "this will never pass until you seek Me." So you go to The Word and say "Here am I" and He finds the passage for you. You learn what others before you have had to learn: "We know that if our house on earth, this of the body, were dissolved, yet we have a building of Elohim, a house not made with hands, eternal in Heaven, and on this account also we GROAN, and WISH to be clothed with our house from heaven, if indeed when clothed we will not be found naked. For while we are here in this house, we groan under its burden; yet you desire not to throw it off! No, you desire" -- thanks to that Holy Spirit that draws you away from fleshly things -- "you desire to be clothed over this house, so that its mortality may be ABSORBED in LIFE!" Wow! The concept -- of His cloak of Love, Understanding, Comfort, Vitality, and Peace, wrapped around me and then soaking up all my nothingness so that all that is left of me is Peace, Vitality, Understanding, Comfort and Love -- is a concept that, when I meditate on it long enough, becomes real for me, in this moment! My weariness is gone! My numbness is gone! I am revived! Yes, after seeking Yahweh for just a few minutes He reminds you that life, CHAYAH, is real and it is here and it is preferable to death.”

Melissa Rawlins