I’ll never forget last summer: within one week’s time we had a huge money situation arise (our tax refund had mistakenly been sent to someone else’s bank account and it seemed there was no hope to get it back), a situation with our home (electrical issue during the summer when it is over 100 degrees out is not good!), and my husband had pumped gas for one of his vehicles into a gas can and left it in the back of our family car. Apparently, the container had a small hole in it and it leaked gas everywhere stinking up the car! A few days after that, this same car’s battery died on us while we were out shopping. Of course, we didn’t have any jumper cables or anything. Afterwards, my husband and I were talking about how life had been lately and how it can get you down. In all seriousness, he looked at me and said, “When life gives me lemons, I make lemonade!” I was laughing because he sounded so serious and so proud of himself but he was right. He is definitely a lemonade maker (while I’m usually the one sucking on the bitter lemon and complaining about it!).

It got me thinking, though: how do we turn those bitter life moments into something sweet?

In all of those situations that happened that summer, we saw how God used them to show us a bit more of Himself. In the tax situation, we saw that He quickly got our money transferred back to us in a way that everyone had told me wouldn’t work. The electrical issue at home was corrected quickly and even when the car battery died, God sent someone who offered to help us and we were able to get a new battery installed right away. Even the gasoline smell went away after a week or so!

It was frustrating at the time to go through one thing after another, but we were genuinely able to see how God make lemonade out of our lemons. Believe me, we didn’t just glide peacefully through these situations. We struggled. We prayed- a lot. I cried. But looking back now, I see just how those situations worked out for our good and His glory.

It does take some work to make lemonade out of lemons. Here are three ways I think help us to do so:

Open Our Eyes

It’s so easy to look around and see all the bitter. Life can sometimes be full of sorrow. And even without sorrow, life can be difficult. Being an adult is hard! Day to day responsibilities (bills, raising children, work, etc.) can wear on a person. I tend to overthink and run a situation through my mind constantly so that I am always thinking of it and it takes a toll. I’ve been learning that I need to take my eyes off the situation and look to God. Look at situations through the lens of His love and faithfulness. He gives His light to shine in our dark places. Let’s not stay stuck in the dark and let circumstances rob us of seeing things clearly.

Change Our Words

Honestly, this is a big one. Have you ever noticed that once you start complaining it’s really hard to stop? I’ve been realizing that though it might feel better in the moment to vent and complain, it actually feels worse in the long run. It ruins my day. It makes me start focusing on every little thing that’s not perfect and it steals my joy. If we can change our words to ones of praise and thanksgiving, we’ll feel better! God inhabits the praises of His people! I’m not saying we can’t feel what we feel. Sometimes bottling things up makes it worse, but if we feel the need to complain we should take our hurts and frustrations directly to the Lord.

Make a Choice

We will have the opportunity to decide how we will let life’s sorrows and difficulties effect us. Will they make us bitter or better? Will we make lemonade or keep sucking on the bitter lemon? It’s hard, friends! It really is. Sometimes we have to be reminded that in order to have the sweet, we first need the bitter. When life is falling apart, or when we feel like it’s just one thing after another, we can take it as an opportunity to turn to God. God’s presence can be felt so clearly and it’s usually in a time of trouble. He’s promised to be faithful and to be our refuge. We can make the choice to go to Him and ask Him to make the sour into something sweet. We know that in all things He works together for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28). I love this quote by Shauna Niequist:

“Bittersweet is the idea that in all things there is both something broken and something beautiful, that there is a sliver of lightness on even the darkest of nights, a shadow of hope in every heartbreak, and that rejoicing is no less rich when it contains a splinter of sadness. Bittersweet is the practice of believing that we really do need both the bitter and the sweet, and that a life of nothing but sweetness rots both your teeth and your soul. Bitter is what makes us strong, what forces us to push through, what helps us earn the lines on our faces and the calluses on our hands.”

Nobody wants hard things to come their way. But we can know that whatever lemons life has handed to you, God is there to help you make lemonade. We know His strength works in our weakness and He can work to bring sweet out of even the most bitter situation. Know that if you’re facing a barrel of lemons, God is still there. Let Him show you how to make some sweet lemonade.