We’ve all heard this before, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”, but who really wants lemonade under those circumstances?  That means that something distasteful, something tart, something that makes you grimace has to happen, but then you have to take that and try to develop it into something sweet and tasteful.

Sigh …  Exactly how do you really do that? How do you tell someone to do that?  Does anyone really want to give or receive that advice?  Some things happen in your life that are literally gut wrenching to the brink of despair.  Can you make lemonade out of that? Some things happen in life that are so completely incomprehensible that it makes you question God’s love for you.  Some things hit you so hard that maybe you even question God’s existence.  What do you do with that? How do you advise or comfort someone who is in that space? How do you help in situations like that? Can you help in situations like that?

I know I’ve thrown a lot out there in those few sentences, in those 2 paragraphs.  These are real questions that real people deal with.

I thank God that I have never been in the complete depths of despair.  I have been very very sad, hurt, lonely, and scared before, but never at the deepest of the deep despair. I have cried myself to sleep many nights, I have screamed and asked God for help, and I have been at a loss as to why things had to happen the way that they did.  But at the end of the day, I still had God.  What do you say to people who have lost sight of God or who think that God has lost sight of them? How do you encourage people who have come to the point in their lives where they either think God doesn’t care or God can’t possibly exist because they don’t see Him moving on their behalf in any situation?

Sad to say, I don’t know the answers to any of the above questions.  The one thing that I do know is that God is real. I can’t explain why things happen the way they do or why bad things happen to good people or good things happen to bad people. My belief is that we each play a role in comforting and caring for one another.  God often answers our prayers through people. If we are kind to one another and are genuinely concerned about the well-being of others, that would go a long way in helping people push through the bad times. Unfortunately, often when people are going through a bad time, a domino effect seems to kick in. Have you ever received an outright blow to hit your life and as you try to pick yourself up, then another blow seems to kick you while you’re down and before you’re able to get all the way back up? It is like a double whammy. How does one recover from that? Is it possible that if we’re deliberately kind, caring, and supportive of one another, that we could aid in someone’s recovery? If we make an effort to care about others, then we would become more aware when someone is facing challenges.

In this big world that we live in so full of co-inhabitants with ears for listening, arms for hugging, mouths for smiling and encouragement, people should never feel alone. Help someone gather their lemons and help them to make lemonade by being a friend. Let’s go through life together. That’s what Jesus would do. Now what are you going to do?